Wiper motor mounts

[LuckyDevil]

I was looking into buying an electric wiper motor for the coupe from Newport Engineering and they have two different kits. One kit is for cars originally with vacuum wipers, but you cant use the factory radio box, I guess for interference. Then other kit is for cars originally with electric wipers, but you can keep the radio with no problems. So.... my question is.... are the mounting brackets the same or would the kit for the originally equipped electric wipers not fit on my Plymouth?

Here is a link to their site.

http://www.newportwipers.com/products.php?year=1946-48&make_id=15

[LuckyDevil]

I guess I found a question to stump the Mopar Gurus.

[randroid]

Lucky,

I don't think you stumped anybody other than there aren't any simple answers. I put the electric w\w motor from a '51 Dodge in my '48 P-15 and needed to off-set it several inches to clear the cowl vent lever and make new arms for the wipers because the assembly is offset and the Dodge was several inches wider than the Plymouth. When it worked it was great but due to me not aligning the ball joints properly the arms would disconnect themselves, and that was my fault and not that of the design. I will get back to it before I get the car back on the road because such a conversion is most easily done with the dash removed and that will be done for painting for nothing is easier to work on than the wipers with the dash out. I'll be able to adjust the offset more accurately when I can see it from anywhere other than below and I bet I'll be able to get the hood cowl to work fully.

I haven't gotten there yet, so instead of telling you how I did it I can only tell you how I didn't do it, and that's not much fun to read. My initial reason for pulling the dash will be for painting it, and I hope to get my Lady Wife Lynn involved with it because she's intimidated by the car (she likes the '67 Bug I built for her) and by getting her involved even that much may be like getting her to stick her toe in the water for the first time. While the dash is out I want to replace the remaining original wiring, one strand at a time, but if I have everything on hand it should take less than a day to do. That's when I'll be looking at the wiper motor placement. At $250 for the motor perhaps you might be wanting to replace some wiring, too, just to see what you've got ahead of you.

Nobody's evading or being stumped by your question; I answered as best I could in as short a space as I could and look how much space I've taken, and that's without giving you an answer. Give a few of the guys a few days to cogitate on this and maybe we'll both learn something.

-Randy

Edited May 15, 2010 by randroid

[Captain Neon]

The simplest and easiest route is to have your vacuum wiper motor rebuilt by Ficken Wipers. I never knew a vacuum wiper could work so well until he rebuilt mine.

http://www.wiperman.com/

[BobT-47P15]

What Capt Neon said.

Its real tough to put an electric motor on P15 wipers.

I don't know the real technical reasons.....but the old

original vacuum wipers can be made to work better.

Ficken wiper service is THE place to go.

[james curl]

I installed a Newport Engineering electric wiper motor in my 48 P-15, I just removed the original vacuum motor and bolted in the Newport unit using the original push/pull rods and retainer. I have no problem with my cowl vent leaver. All of that said I have an aftermarket radio by Bendix installed by the dealer when the car was new. The cable driven radio is mounted on the firewall just above the steering column and the head is in the original location as the MoPar factory radio. This information is totally useless if you have an original MoPar factory radio installed in your car.

[LuckyDevil]

Well, I just got an email back from Newport and she said all they have to do is put a different bracket on the wiper motor and it should work with the factory radio. Thanks guys.