DrDoctor

I’m involved in rebuilding a Trico vacuum wiper motor in a P15. The data I’ve read indicates that brake fluid is NOT recommended due to it deleterious effect upon paint. Other light oils may tend to gum up with age. But, ATF has NO deleterious effect upon paint, it won’t gum up, and it’s viscosity is excellent for these wiper motors. Thx.

Thom, I didn’t forget you, or my obligation to respond to your request for a part number for the P15 Trico vacuum wiper motor. I’ve been rebuilding (at least attempting to . . .) ours, and the only number(s) I can find on it are U.S. and Canadian patent numbers—no part/stock/item number anywhere on the housing, or even inside any housing cavity. The only number(?) other than the patent numbers is on the actuator arm (the one that turns it on and off), and that’s “47”. Unfortunately, I’m not able to find any documentation to determine what, if anything, the “47” refers to. I tho’t it might refer to the year of the vehicle, but ours is a 1946, albeit one of the last ones made as a ’46. Just to add insult to injury, I’m entering the re-assembly stage, having fabricated the ultra-thin leather parts for the paddles, and the shut-off, but this project’s now plagued by FUBAR—the drawings and notes I made during the disassembly process have vanished. I suspect they fell into the trash bucket next to the work bench, and are most likely now permanent residents of the local landfill—SNAFU!!! So, it appears as tho’ I’m not going to be of much, if any, help to you and your Trico vacuum wiper motor needs. And, I DO apologize for that. Best regards to you . . . .

Could you perhaps fabricate one of these on your own — take a proper-sized bolt, and file the end opposite of the threads. I did something similar “back in the day”, and I remember welding a thin piece of metal to the top that fit into the window channel. Then I just put it back together, using the glass to hold the new piece in place. It worked like a charm for many, many years. Should clearance on the new/reworked piece become an issue, any glass shop can grind your glass for the necessary clearance. Or, if you replace the glass, they'll take care of any clearance issues for you as they fit everything back together. Best regards . . . .

Yeah, I know I’ve said it before, but it begs to be repeated — I KNEW there was a reason why I quit going to car shows, as a participant, and as a spectator. And, as for kids — they’re just children, and as such, have yet to “pay their dues”. Thx.

Thomba48, I’ve got mine out of the car, and I’ve got it completely disassembled, since I’m going to try to rebuild it myself. if I’m unsuccessful, well—I’m no worse off than is was before I began this escapade. My “plan B” is to put a 6v wiper motor intended for a “T-bucket” in the car, and run both wipers, or if it can’t power both of the wiper arms, I’ll use it for the driver’s side only. Anyway, I’ll be in the shop this afternoon, and I’ll try to find the number, and if I do, I’ll pass it along to you. Thx.

Greg51T&CWagon, That’s GREAT!!!!! Now comes the challenge—where to locate a dummy drum fixture. I think that doing so maybe problematic. So, I’m really warming to your idea of creating a dummy drum fixture by making openings in a brake drum. I’m of the opinion that it’d be less stressful than trying to fabricate one from scratch, or trying to locate one already made. By chance, did your Motor Manual make any mention of where such a dummy drum fixture could be obtained? Again, Thank You for the drawing, and for the idea of modifying a drum. Warmest regards . . . .

Young Ed, I love the luster that your car has. Ours was metallic black (yep, metallic . . .) that was too shiny (it looked like it’d been dipped in plastic), as well as the obvious inappropriate color for a “restored” post-war car. I’ve painted many cars in my time, but I just don’t want to do that anymore, so a friend of mine did. It looked great—black—but it looked like it’d been dipped in plastic, which wasn’t at all what we wanted. Our goal was to have the car look like what a 16 yo kid would have in 1966. We wanted it to have a luster like what your car exhibits, but he went nuts on polishing. So, I let it get very, very dusty, and I wiped it down with a shop rag. Then I let it get very, very dusty again, and repeated the wiping routine. This process worked! The dust knocked down the plastic-look shine, and we got the luster we wanted. Best regards . . .

I’ll have to confess to my work bench getting pretty crapped-up while I’m working on something — auto-related, or not — despite my best intentions. However, upon completion of whatever it is I’m dealing with, I break out the ol’ scoop shovel, and have at it. I never tho’t about this until now, but I realize why the exam rooms at our office were so orderly — the nurses picked up after us doc’s (the desk in my office wasn’t a disaster, but it did leave something to be desired). I don’t think any nurse is gonna deal with the work bench in my shop. Best regards to all . . . . .

Hmmmmm . . . . . Gentlemen, it seems as tho’ the reaction to that red brake gizmo is significantly more positive than the first time I presented. For that, I thank each and every one of you. I looked all over the internet for it, and got bingo results. On the larger photo I have of it, it doesn’t look home-made. I tho’t, and still do, that using some ¼” strap, and some heavy-walled tubing, one could be fabricated, but getting the concentric tolerance close enough would be the major problem, which is why I’ve not pursued fabricating one. Does anyone know where such a tool could be acquired? Or, do you think one could be constructed that could be maneuvered to be closer than “close enough for gov’t work”? Best regards to all of you . . . .

Greg51T&CWagon, I saw this nifty tool in the accompanying (sorry, but I don’t recall exactly where I saw it), and tho’t it’d make adjusting these Lockheed brakes a snap. When I inquired here about where to find such a contraption, it didn’t go well. I still think it’d be a great item to have, but I seemed to be the only one who tho’t so. Warmest regards . . . .

Don Smith, Thank you for the clarification. So, as long as the ground wires are connecting to the common body—all is good, just don’t allow the actual ground wires to contact one another. I’ve learned something today. And who says you can’t teach an old doc something new???

Don, I trust your expertise—please make no mistake about that. However, could you please explain how a positive and a negative ground can be run together??? I’m certainly no electrical expert, and the only difference I can see in the example you presented is the voltage of each system, ie: 12v (neg) and 6v (pos). What am I overlooking? Many thanks in advance to you!!!

Ebruns1, Don’t worry about “wasting band width” (that’s a ridiculous remark . . .). And, don’t worry about occasionally “going off-topic”. Everyone tends to do so—it’s human nature. The site gurus do an incredible job of managing this site. Some people just get their undies in a twist over the most inconsequential things. Just ignore them—I do, and it makes the experience here so much more enjoyable!!! Note: searching the site for previous threads on same/similar topics isn’t the easiest thing to do. Oft times it’s easier to make an inquiry, and let someone steer you in the direction you need to go. I’ve found that the number of helpful/cooperative individuals here far and away outnumber the . . . . . “others”. Best regards to you . . .

Rereaves, As I mentioned earlier, our car’s 6v/neg ground when we got it. Exception of the radio, things worked fine when we got it, and still do. The insulation throughout the car was extremely brittle, and falling off of the wiring, so I rewired it using a Ron Francis Wire Works “Git It Runnin’” harness, leaving it 6v neg, and have had no problems since that project. I installed 6v quartz halogen headlights, and that made a terrific difference. I installed turn signals, and wired the tail lights to illuminate along with the trunk light. I had to reverse the wires on the ammeter, since the polarity’s reversed. I’ve heard a lot of comment re: wire gauge when using a 12v harness in a 6v car. The “Git It Runnin’” harness from Ron Francis Wire Works has that issue addresses, and in the several years since the rewiring’s been completed, not one problem encountered. Having done all of this, would I change the polarity back to positive? NOPE—can’t imagine a reason why I should even consider it. Just my thot's on this. Warmest regards . . . . .

Thomba48, Kinda true—I found a few vacuum wiper motors that would fit a ’46 Plymouth, but none of them worked. Since I already had one of those, I couldn’t rationalize why I’d need another one. Regards.

Rereaves, Our car is a 6v/neg ground (it was that way when we acquired it), and everything works just fine, with the obvious exception of the radio. Since it grounds thru the case, when it was reconnected, the tubes fried, and we now have a rather large worthless burnt lump. If you change the car back to positive ground, I think you’ll have to re-polarize the generator. I don’t know about the starter, or the voltage regulator, as I’ve heard conflicting advice. If you’re converting to 12v, it’ll be negative ground, and you’ll have to deal with the voltage change, with the polarity change being a moot point in such a conversion. if you're keeping the car a 6v, I’m VERY interested as to how you proceed with this. Best regards . . . . .

Thomba48, Boy, can I relate to that sentiment!!! Our current car is a semi-exception, tho’. The vacuum wiper motor didn’t work too well, and I couldn’t find a replacement. My neighbor had his rebuilt, and it works, but above 50 mph, it doesn’t. We can’t figure out why, either. So, I’m going to try to rebuild ours myself. If it doesn’t work, well, I’ll be no worse off than I was before I began this exercise. My “plan B” is to purchase a 6v electric motor from Mac’s, and fabricate the mountings myself. So, one way or another, I’ll get it accomplished. Best regards . . . .

He doesn’t drive the car all that often, and uses the radio even less. I just took the faceplate off of our burnt out hulk of a radio, and put that back into the dash. I put a new speaker in place of the rotted original one. The previous owner hacked a couple of speakers in the rear, but they wound up on the trash when I rewired the car. I’m in no hurry to deal with a radio, since we hardly drive the car anymore—not sure if we’ll keep it, or kick it to the curb. . . .

A friend of mine had his 6v/pos radio converted to 12v/neg. it was very pricey, and to add insult to his injury, while it works OK, in no way would anyone consider it “user friendly”. His opinion—he’d never do it again. Lesson learned. As an aside—our car is 6v/neg, and the previous owner connected the 6v/pos radio, and instantly ruined it. I’ve got a heavy lump on my garage floor with burnt tubes as a testament to his ignorance. Thx.

The wiring harness from Ron Francis Wire Works—“Get it Runnin’”—is designed to work with a 6v system. Our car has had that particular system in if for several years with NO problems of any kinds since installation. Plus, their support is First Rate!!! Thx.

Ebruns1, Per my tire chart, a 205/75R15 radial tire is the equivalent to a 6.70x15 bias-ply tire. Regards . . .

Don, I looked at the photo of the back of the speedometer, and I was so curious that I went and stuffed my head underneath the dashboard to look at ours (it really wasn’t as difficult as I’m trying to allude, since I took out the vacuum wiper motor, and the wiper linkage, to rebuild the vacuum motor myself, and if it doesn’t’ work, I’m no worse off than I was before . . .)—it doesn’t have that tube as the one in your provided-photo does. Regards . . . . .

Mmcdowel, I can understand your frustration. Altho’, I can tell you’re much more patient/tolerant than I am, as I would’ve tossed in the towel on that process after the first year. Warmest regards to you . . .

I had a similar problem with an old Plymouth many, many years ago when I was a snot-nosed kid in hi-school. I’d pour water on the fuel pump when it vapor-locked in the driveway while in the driveway (I called that car the “vapor-lock king”), and then it’d fire right up. Eventually I moved the fuel line from the tank, and the one from the fuel pump to the carburetor, further from the engine, and took some old rubber hose, split it, put it around the now-rerouted fuel lines, and held it in place with bailing wire. Pretty—it wasn’t!!! Effective—it was!!!

I also purchased an Airtex fuel pump from Rock Auto several years ago. Price was reasonable, delivered in a few days, and it works like a charm. I don’t trust Amazon—too many stories like mmcdowel’s. lastly, welding on the fuel pump’s actuator arm is really not a good idea, as that’ll ruin the eccentric lobe on the cam shaft that pushes on the pump’s actuator arm.