46 P15 Vacuum wiper linkage connection to vacuum motor

[3046moparcoupe]

I pulled the vacuum wiper assy out of our P15 a couple of years ago and boxed it up awaiting the day I would find myself at the step of getting it back on the car and working. This winter I pulled it from the box, laid it out on  the table and snapped the attached picture before taking anything apart. At 1st glance things looked pretty straight, except the linkage grommets were missing.....After taking it apart and seeing multiple problems with the old motor, and learning of the New Port Engineering electric replacement - I opted for the new electric wiper motor setup. 

Moving along carefully with the new parts, I have found myself questioning if these original linkage arms were attached correctly (when I removed the motor), or possible swapped in respect to left hand versus right hand. Recently I've found multiple examples (pics of arms, complete wiper assy's, etc..) and they don't seem to match up with what I have here in the attached picture. Also, in respect to the installation drwg diagram I received with my new Port Kit - unless I'm just being old and crossed eyed, I'm not getting things to match up.

If I'm remembering correctly (in respect to the attached picture of my old vacuum wiper assy), the way it is resting in the picture would be correct if you were sitting in the car looking at it mounted up, only difference would be that it should be rotated 180 degrees...(so the wiper bowl would remain on the bottom just like in the picture but the curved linkage arm would be on the passenger side) ??

Again, If I'm remembering correctly (which would no doubt be a 1st :), flipping the unit as described above would put the curved linkage arm on the passenger side.

When I look closely at the cast end brkts on each linkage arm, they are marked LH & RH. The curved linkage arm is marked LH and the straight arm is marked RH..If these LH/RH designations are in respect to being inside the car they are opposite of what I have here, if they are in respect to standing in front of the vehicle looking towards the car, they make sense. ??

Lastly, I have attached a picture from New Port Engineering's Installation instructions, which appears to show the curved linkage arm as being on the passenger side, however the curve in the linkage arm makes it's curve upwards, you can see in the picture that the way my arm came off the car, the curve is opposite that pointing downward..??

Not trying to be lazy, as a little getting out there and trial and error fitting might make this all come to light, just trying to outsmart that old evil Murphy (Murphy's law:), and eliminate fitment problems down the road when these are gonna be much harder to get too...

Thanks in advance for the priceless help I have received here on the forum with this project and my P15 education..

Steve

 

[3046moparcoupe]

Well after checking my post and reading through the thing myself,...I was reminded again of what Plymouthy has patiently told me numerous times....." I am real prone to overthink things",...even my post was so busy with detail it was hard for me to follow upon reading it back,...sorry - ( it comes from 27 years of writing tech installation notes for construction crews in the telecom industry),...

so I thought I better get out there and just try and wing my way thru it....so excuse the ring, I went out and started test fitting the linkage arms to the new motor, and in respect to 1: the exterior chrome bezels, 2: the offset hole openings in the cowl, and 3: the fact that the new wiper motor drive arm is gonna always come to rest in the park position (where it is right now),...there was only one way the arms would mount up... best as I can tell I'm good to go,...and it makes sense - the straight wiper arm is on the driver side up and away from the speedo cluster area....this also matches the New Port drwg I attached to this post, however (not banging on new Port) but they thru me a curve with their broken hash mark lines in the drwg. which typically mean an edge that is hidden behind another surface...they've sorta got all that reversed in their drwg...hash marked edges appear on top and solid lines behind when you look at the actual setup from inside the car and compare to the drwg..

Steve'o

[Wiggo]

True, but their picture above is from the engine compartment looking at the firewall. The motor's dashed because there's a panel between you and it...

[3046moparcoupe]

Wiggo, see that's what was throwing me the curve,...I tried every way to make the inst notes picture work and then eventually called and spoke to Gavin at New Port engineering to get his confirmation once I saw my linkage arms fitting with the curved arm on the passenger side of the motor,.....Gavin confirmed the picture is from the inside of the car looking forward.....(I'm not bashing New Port here, you can tell the drwg is meant to be a simple installation aide, but with my history as a mechanical draftsman, it's hard for me to look at drwgs simply,...and with my dash out of the car now and things so easy to get too, I sure didn't want to find out I had to reverse things later...what made the drwg appear as though it had to be from inside the car looking forward, is that the long side (adjustable side) of the motor itself (when mounted in place to the cowl) is on the left/drivers side of the cowl, when sitting inside the car....so the drwgs correct from the aspect of sitting inside the car looking forward, and that's exactly the way I have the linkage arms connected, (with the curved arm on the passenger side, just as in the picture), again it was just throwing me a curve as the hash mark broken lines weren't quite making sense to me....I believe they must have been using the hash mark lines in a different context than what I would call normal, they were wanting the installer to focus on the motor drive arm and linkage arms themselves, rather than the remainder of the motor housing....my main concern was - I didn't want to turn things on - once all was installed - and have something hit or bind up...everything seems to be fitting nice, but none of the heater, dash support, instrument cluster, dash is installed yet,....so if anyone out there has a 46-48 P15 and they know there linkage arms are installed differently than this, I would really like to hear back from you. Again, Gavin at New Port did say I was correct in looking at the drwg as "from the inside of the car", I have spoken with him twice, and the customer service was exceptional,...they didn't make me feel like I was bothering them, etc..in any way...so nothing but good things to say about them....I've seen on here where a few folks have installed the New Port kit, maybe someone will help confirm all this...thanks for your reply,...Steve

[Wiggo]

Hmm. If it's any help, I'm planning to pull the vacuum motor out of my 41 Plymouth P11 (well, Dodge Kingsway, but same thing) at the weekend, so I will take some photos for you...

[3046moparcoupe]

Thanks Wiggo, I appreciate the offer very much, I dont' know if looking at a 41 Dodge would be a surefire comparison or not, but while your in there, it sure couldn't hurt if you 'd take a look and see if the passenger side wiper linkage arm is curved,and the driver side is straight...Steve..