I’m prepping a load for the chrome shop. I’m having a spare windshield frame for my Model A coupe chromed so I went over it to be sure it’s a good candidate. It has some random holes in the upper bar. Which ones are factory and how are they used? My coupe has one hole for the wiper shaft (aftermarket) and two unused holes. None of the holes in the spare frame correlate to the holes in the coupe frame. Can anyone tell me what holes are stock, what size and accurate locations? It’s a ‘28-‘29. Thanks.
No answer for your real question, just a reminder.....flush out the inside of your frame to neutralize the acids from chroming,or you will have internal rust problems big time.Just a bit of advice in case you havent done this before.
Rob a bank first,I made a back bumper for my model a 2 blades 2 bolts spacers between the blades,45 inches long it was 700.00.
I cleaned up and took this frame and the one for my ‘33 pickup in to let him tell me if they were worth plating. He said that they would take some copper to get them nice but he’s seen much worse. I need to chop my pickup ws frame but I didn’t want to cut it if he didn’t think it was worth plating. Same with the A frame, I didn’t want to fill the holes if it was just going back up in the rafters. He quoted me $300-$350 each depending on how much copper work was required to make them nice. I dropped off some other Olds Buick stuff too. Pretty much ate up the tax refund, but there’s no substitute for chrome on a hot rod. I’ll have to ask him about neutralizing whatever they dip them in although I’ve never had problems in the past. I’ve had the ws frame chromed on all of my old Fords. I have seen other peoples cars with what looked like corrosion from the inside of chrome parts though. Worth looking into. Anyone got a stock Model A closed car that they could get a picture of the driver’s side upper windshield frame?
30-31 Can't really help with a '28-'29 and just put this pic up as a comparison because dang it I forgot what all those holes are for on this one as well. I was going to use an aftermarket wiper motor I have and will have to see how it matches up with the frame.
My coupe windshield frame has three holes, one about 3/8” and two equally spaced from the big one on either side of it about 1/4”in diameter. The two small ones are empty and the larger center hole has the aftermarket wiper motor shaft in it. Thanks for posting the picture. I think that I’ll pull the wiper motor out of the coupe tomorrow and see what I can figure from there. Thanks again…
Oh yeah, the HAMB does it again! That’s what I was looking for. It doesn’t seem like all of those holes are necessary for the aftermarket wiper unit but now that I understand the nature of the layout I can make an informed decision on which ones to fill and not fill. Thanks kadillackid. I actually don’t like the wiper motor that the PO installed, it’s bulky and in my line of sight. Anyone have any suggestions for a better wiper system for a Model A. My immediate plan was to make sure that the holes were there and in the right places but I was going to leave off the wipers opting for Rain-X and a rag. After all, I do live in sunny California and this time of year it gets more bugs than rain.
The aftermarket one I am using actually came as a pair. I've had these on the shelf for 10 years, never tried one. Took a few pics to show the dimensions. Looks like only 1 hole is used for bolting it on and 1 hole for the shaft.
To kill off the chroming chemicals on my 32-5 W frame I filled it with Penetrol and left it for a week or so. That's what my glass guy suggested and he did the same with his 32-5W frame. Chroming the unchopped brand new United Pacific frame cost me $550 so I'd like it to last for awhile.
It’s not cheap to get these things plated but in my case it looks like they will sure earn their money. Would Penetrol be similar to Gibbs? Being a California native, I’ve never worried much about wipers on my hot rods, I can’t remember ever using them when I did have them. Mostly I needed a defogger for the inside on cold, damp mornings.
It looks like the frame I want to chrome plate is a 1930 made for vacuum wipers. To fit directly onto my coupe as it is, I need to fill all of the holes and just drill one new one for the wiper shaft. Piece of cake. Thanks for the info.
This has been posted a lot on the Ford Barn but there's a YouTube model A guy by the name of Paul Shinn, turns out he's in Valley Springs also.....just found it out (and his channel) and thought I would post it. BTW here's more window frame stuff I found over the years (the hole id was already posted).
On my little bro's A coupe, and I think he did the same on his pickup, he filled all the holes in the windshield frame and put the motor in the header above. The wiper arm has a hinge and spring, so even if he opened the windshield frame it would still work fine. Keeps all the parts out of your vision, and even lets you hide the motor a bit more behind upholstery.
According to the blurb on the can Penetrol as the name suggests is a penetrating liquid which is what you need it to do, get in and around the complex windshield section. It's readily available here from the large hardware stores at reasonable cost whereas Gibbs is only available from select importers and is not cheap.
Just use Murattic Acid or swimming pool acid and line a piece of rain gutter with plastic and let it soak. It does come off right down to the bare metal, then neutralize it and then lightly prime it or oil.it for your plater. They chemically strip all old chrome - if they intend to do it right. Some shops leave the Nickel and plate over it to save $ .
I used this type of wiper motor on a cj3, it can clear off a light rain but it's pretty light duty and is more of a "windshield wiper to be legal" thing. Phil
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