Vacuum verses electric wipers

Short answer - yes. The Restoration Guidelines and Judging Standards has quite a discussion of what wiper motors were installed on what car.
 
generally speaking, 1928 to mid 1930 had electric wipers and mid 1930 to End of production had vacuum wipers. The best place to find this type of information is the Restoration Guidelines for the Model A.
 
If you have a choice of either when restoring your car for driving purposes (meaning your car falls within the crossover period), go for the vacuum wiper. I know they are pain when accelerating because they slow down or even stop, but they will FAR outlast the electric wipers Ford used. And those electric wipers are close to 100 years old now and have been used tens of thousands of times. How much life can be left in them? Unless you completely rebuild one (and who can anymore?), a nice looking electric wiper can fail at any time. Ford recognized the rapid wear problem and started changing over to vacuum wipers in 1929 on certain models. The vacuum wipers were also much cheaper. When you're building 5 million cars over a four-year stretch, even saving one dollar per item means 5 million additional dollars in your pocket. I'd like to think old Henry made the change to appease customers and improve the Model A; but the realist in me says he did it to save a buck- and thereby MAKE a buck.
Marshall
 
I am converting from original vacuum wiper motors to aftermarket electric wiper motors because both of my Model A's are used exclusively for touring. When the vacuum wiper stops in a heavy rain, visibility becomes unsafe especially in my slant windshield Victoria. The motor I am using is sold by Synder's (Catalog Page 171). Until I get the conversions done, I use RainX.
 
I use RainX too.On flat glass I just don't use a wiper for water,just for solids.(snow)A couple of months ago somebody mentioned the wiper arm was missing on my Coupe.I've had it for 5 years and kind of forgot about it.I've never had one on my 30 pickup,and I've been driving that one around since the early 70's.I planned to put one on when I redid the truck in 04,but never got around to it.My 28 Phaeton has a hand wiper.I had 2- 31 Tudors,3 30-31 Coupes,and one Roadster that had good operating vacuum wipers.They operated well,but didn't work well.Was better off with RainX
 
Hello, my 31 has an aftermarket electrical wiper, but with the flat windshield doesn’t clear that well , so like previous posts use rain X .On somewhat more streamlined cars ,1949 Buick, with rain X wind just blows rain off at above 30 mph , less drag on blade also . Some of the replacement electrical wiper don’t fit like original, another thing to be aware of .
 
My first Model A was a daily driver, back and forth to school 9 miles,. I had the hand crank version wiper, didn't have to worry about vacuum or electric wipers, just good old arm strong.
Ed
 
In my opinion the wipers on a Model A don't work all that well regardless of whether they are electric or vacuum. On another note, the vacuum motors wear out too and the pot metal swells, causing them to bind.
 
Interestingly, even the cars equipped with electric wipers (at least, the 1930-31, don’t know about the 28/29) had the vacuum port in the firewall. I have an original but failed electric wiper motor for my early ‘30 TS, and have not been able to find anyone to work on the motor to get it going again. I’ll be forced into aftermarket (Bob B, please let us know how your conversion goes) or vacuum, which I’m not terribly fond of because of the “disappear when you step on the throttle” thing.
 
I converted our 29 Sport Coupe from electric to vacuum over 40 years ago.

Car has not been out in the rain since than, but the wiper still is working fine.

This car is spoiled. Kept in heated garage, has not been outside over night since the end of WWII, covered when not being driven, very rarely needs washed.

If you keep them out of the sun, everything will last a lot longer. Painted in 1982. Looks like it was done yesterday. Top looks new. And tires will take longer to dry out and crack.

Sorry, but I like Model A’s.

Enjoy
 
David, thanks for the valuable video.

In the video there are two thing going on. One is making the glass hydrophobic and the other is making it hydrophilic. RainX for example makes the glass hydrophobic where the water beads up and flows off the glass. Debaishi, on the other hand makes the water sheet on the glass to form a clear film. For my money it seems like Debaishi works better, even if it costs more.

Plain old car wax is hydrophobic and will work like RainX.
 
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nkaminar said:
David, thanks for the valuable video.

In the video there are two thing going on. One is making the glass hydrophobic and the other is making it hydrophilic. RainX for example makes the glass hydrophobic where the water beads up and flows off the glass. Debaishi, on the other hand makes the water sheet on the glass to form a clear film. For my money it seems like Debaishi works better, even if it costs more.

Plain old car wax is hydrophobic and will work like RainX.
Click to expand...

After reading this comment, I now wonder if hydrophilic is the answer?

Any thoughts for which is easier to see through?

If able to view through the glass during testing, we could judge for ourselves. .
 
katy said:
My '31 CCPU has a manual (hand operated) wiper, just like model T's had.
Click to expand...

My 29 CC Pickup (avatar) came with a vacuum wiper - which worked poorly. Press on the accelerator and the wiper stopped in mid-stroke.

I replaced it first with a 6v electric wiper from J.C. Whitney. Worked well enough.

Then in a fit of "originalism" I reverted it to the hand wiper which is where it remains today.

Joe K
 
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