Electric Wiper Conversion on the cheap

[buildinga55]

Here are the details of my recent conversion from Vacuum to Electric wipers on the Cheap! The idea was to convert from vacuum to electric wipers on my 48 Chevy without breaking the bank. Here are several pictures that show the process. I did it all for $20.50.

Here is a picture of a rear wiper motor from a 93 S10 blazer and switch, paid $20.00

Here is the brace that goes from the dash to the firewall, mine had 2 holes drilled in it already that would end up working well to mount my bracket.

This is a picture of the bracket I made out of some scrap and how I mounted it on the motor. I put rubber washers behind the bracket on the bolts to keep the noise down

Then I cut a piece of 1/2 wide steel and drilled some holes in it to run bolts through that would adapt to the wiper mechanism. I would suggest slotting the holes or drilling several as you will need to adjust and tweek when mounted to get the correct wiper sweep on your windshield. I got a nylon bushing at the hardware store for .50cents and cut it in half to make a bushing that fit nicely in the wiper arm so that it would all pretty well copy the original design

Then cut the end of the windsheild wiper off so that I had the knurled end to fit on the Blazer wiper motor. I beveled the piece with a file and drilled a hole it it to hold the actuator. The bevel helped recess the 1/2" steel so it could not move once bolted on


Then put the assembled wiper motor with bracket on the brace under the dash, marked the holes where to drill in the bracket. I used the existing holes in brace on the dash so I did not even have to drill into the truck at all.
I would suggest you slot the mounting holes in the bracket as well. Makes adjusting everything easier once you get the linkage all hooked up

I put rubber washers under the bracket as well to keep any noise down. And here is pretty much the finished product. Mounted and very quite.

Hope this helps any of you interested.

[OrrieG]

Good write up with good pictures. One question. Does the cut wiper arm mount on the motor shaft with a friction fit? Or is there a set screw that does not show up on the pictures?

[buildinga55]

This model pretty well had a friction fit, I may put a set screw in it or a little Loctite.

[54 jimmy]

finally a great alternative to buying a kit. i love the fab you own on the cheap. great write up. i will be doing this as soon as i get a day off work to go to the junkyard and get a motor.

[nickp51chevy]

Glad to see some one did a write up on this. I've been wondering how to do it for a while. Thanks!

[sgtusmc]

I gotta agree with others, thanks for the write up.

[OrrieG]

The high dollar aftermarket guys are going to start getting cranky about these cheap fixes, first one piece windows, now this. Sort of like the beginning in the 50's when everyone had to improvise.

[nickp51chevy]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

The high dollar aftermarket guys are going to start getting cranky about these cheap fixes, first one piece windows, now this. Sort of like the beginning in the 50's when everyone had to improvise.

Some people might say that is the definition of Hot roding. Improvising with what you got and making things work at a low cost. That's what I'm talkin' about!

[54 jimmy]

amen to that. i'm with nickp51chevy on that!

[47owner]

I agree nice pictures. How did you get the length between the 2 connectors, was there a lot of trial and error?

[buildinga55]

I tried to copy the distance on the original vacuum motor. I would suggest either a couple holes in each side of the arm as you do have to tweek and adjust some to get the strokes about right. Thanks all

[mr48chev]

I see this and I have a 200+ dollar kit sitting under the bench that isn't completely installed yet.

I beat my head against the wall 30 years ago trying to make something work and never did but this is so simple and the parts are easy to find.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by 47owner

I agree nice pictures. How did you get the length between the 2 connectors, was there a lot of trial and error?

I found this online. It applies to an after market wiper motor but has great instructions on how to set up the wiper arms, including diagrams of the geometry. http://www.hotrodsusa.com/store/pdf/...hevy_truck.pdf

[kustombrad]

Here's my version with a basic S-10 Blazer rear window wiper motor. Kinda like the one above only different. Here's the basic, bare metal bracket. It's .125" cold rolled flat stock that's been laser cut and bent. Here it is put together . Here's the pivot bracket and it welded to the locking collar I tacked the bracket onto the collar with my MIG welder. All the other ones will be TIG'd. Here it is on the motor. PM me if you have any questions

[kustombrad]

Wow, what a frustrating day! When I first started working on the wiper design back in April, I figured the twist in my design was too thin of steel on my bracket. When I had my friend cut it out for me, I had him make it the way I originally designed and make it without the side reliefs to bolt a possible brace to. Well I had to go with the latter! I bolted up the one in the upper pics and it put just enough twist (those little motors are really torquey!) that I realized that heavier bracket wasn't going to work either. Thank goodness I'd had him make the other bracket too. So I bolted it up and used an existing hole in the cowl vent lever brace with a piece of 1/2" steel. Here it is bolted up. Don't laugh at the bolt length on the pivot link, I had to figure out how to get the pass. side to not hit cowl vent (notice hinge in background)! I'm so frustrated with how much slack/movement is in the original system and how tough it is to make them be perfect! You could just bolt it on and make it close, but I don't want close I want dead nut! I need to measure the bolt length and make that right and double check everything again! Sheesh

[solidaxel]

You guys ROCK !
Thanks for the information

[nosurf]

Very cool.

[kustombrad]

After fighting the passenger side wiper, I realized there was way to much flex in the factory bar/rod that runs from the motor to the wiper itself. With all the extra movement, I couldn't get it to be as stable as the drivers side. I'm now making a non-flex set of rods for BOTH sides to try and get this setup to work correctly!

[buildinga55]

Interesting, mine seems to work fine. I did have to adjust the motor placement and the position of the wiper rods on the actuator, but I never had any rods flexing. Good luck

[BlueJeep]

Anyone know if there are differences between the OBS wiper motor (pre 95) vs. the newer body style (95 up)? Older ones seem to be harder to find around here.

Edit: Just did a cross reference on rockauto.com, it's not the same. Looks like these are from 1989-1994 s-blazers.

[BlueJeep]

OK, picked up my 93 blazer wiper motor today. You guys who have done this, does this motor self-park? Does the indexing of the wiper arm thing on the motor matter? Can it be run in intermittent-mode? I haven't researched it much yet, but I know the Newport ones use the switch to gain the intermittent functionality.

[buildinga55]

The indexing is important, you can fool around with it and get it right. I have mine all torn apart right now as I just painted my truck, so I don't remember exactly about the switch wiring. I think it has 3 wires and it does not self return stop unless you wire the third wire correctly the best I recall. I will be doing this again in a few months and will probably figure it out again, I just don't remember right now. If you figure it out first, let us know.

[pugs]

i used the set up out of a 60's chevy truck i my 57 wil see if i can find pics later

[kustombrad]

There are 3 wires, black, orange and brown. Black is ground of course. Orange is wipers on power, take your hot off that and touch it to the brown and it will go back to center.

[DQ81]

Awesome!

I have to get this done on my '52 truck with the wipers that go in opposite directions.

But the long story short is that most rear window wiper motors are what to use as they don't go 360* but back and forth?

Then it's a question of figuring out the geometry of arms in relation to wiper motor sweep etc. etc.

And if I want interval source a rear wiper motor of a vehicle equipped with interval obviously... any reason you guys are using S10 motors? Or simply because they're there?

Thanks!