Wiper Question

[Bubba]

Bros:
My 63A was at some point in time converted to an aftermarket electric wiper motor.
The motor is connected to the OEM cable actuated system wipers.
My question is in two parts;
1. Is there an easy way to remove the original factory fire wall plate that the motor is mounted to without totally screwing up the cable actuation system? I would like to repaint it.
2. The 58 and 59 Fords used a mechanical linkage to actuate the wipers in stead of the 57's cable system, will the 58-59 linkage install in the 57 without too much blood, sweat and tears?
Thanks
BuBBa

[rmk57]

I have all the linkage from a 58 Edsel and no will not bolt in to a 57 Ford. The 58 and up Fords have a different wiper housing allowing the wiper motor to bolt
inside under the dash along with the linkage. I haven't tried but you might be able to rework 58 linkage to work. Randy

[Frankenstein57]

Bubba, my 58 has the motor inside just below the windshield. They made a defroster duct for this with a bite out of the center. This was made of an interior grade cheap cardboard, most of which are in poor shape by now. I was able to save mine with some fiberglass patch and some seamsealer. I think Rich has a post on reworking his defrost duct to install an inboard wiper system. But he is using a mustang motor, I think. I think a 58 setup would work,but there could be some cutting and welding. Best done with the interior out. I plan on doing this to my 57, need to get the 58 on the road this spring, and get back to working on the 57. Mark

[RICH MUISE]

Mark is correct. here's my take on our wiper setup. The factory system quite frankly sucks. I don't know if they went to the cable and  pulley system only in '57 or if it was used in prior years. I suspect they used cables because they worked themselves into a corner design wise, and it was too late in production of components, like the cowl area, to change as they did in '58.
To improve the setup there are 3 ways to go as I see it. The cheapest and simplest way is to go to the aftermarket electric motor and have the pully and cable system rebuilt if necessary, and if posible. Honestly they have seemed to wear well so maybe a good portion of the pully systems out there maybe just need a good cleaning and lub.This is definetly the way to go if your car is not in the build stage and disassembled.
next option is switching to the '58 setup with electric motor and hard linkage. This is going to require a '58 donor car, not only for the wiper motor and linkage,but also for part of the inside cowl where the motor attaches, or at least one you can use as a model to make a hand fabricated panel to be welded on the inside of your '57 cowl. I would wonder how many '58 donor cars are out there...it wasn't a real high production year and also if replacement wiper motors are available. Third option to follow...

[RICH MUISE]

Both the previous option and this one are great if you want to clean-up your firewall as an added bonus.
In my opinion, it would be very dificult to keep the factory location of the wiper motor and change over to hard linkage,the motor is mounted on the wrong plane to simplify that chore.
If you go to a different motor,(other than the '58) whether it be aftermarket or adapting a late model wiper setup such as I did, a portion of the complexity is going to be determined by several things:
our wiper bezels are in a dificult area tucked into the corner of the cowl areas on both sides. The closeness of the bezel/shaft to those corners makes the design of the linkage arms more critical and dificult to get the full sweep required withou going so far as to be banging the inside of the cowl. Also keep in mind that most late model setups sweep the arms left to right in unison, while the '57 has to sweep them inside to outside in unison. That changes to complexity of the linkage. Some motors, such as the '58, sweep back and forth allowing both wiper linkages to be attached to the motor arm. A wiper motor that goes roundy-round can only have one arm attached, the second arm linkage being driven off the first bezel's arm.this however, for our '57's gets the 2nd arm going up when it should be going down.(another way to put it..our '57's have one wiper going clockwise and the other counterclockwise)The way to correct this is connecting that 2nd linkage to an additional pivoting bar that changes the direction of the push/pull. It's complicated and a lot of work..definetly for a disasembled car in the build stages.  Rich

[Bubba]

Thanks for the wealth of information Bros!
After reading your posts and doing my absolute best to avoid major automotive surgery, I think I will just mask of the mounting plate, clean it up and refinish it.  It appears that any sort of diddling and fiddling with the 57's cable operated wiper system involves invoking the Black Arts and sacrificing a large goat to the God of Resto Mod!
BuBBa

[Frankenstein57]

As far as a donor 58 wiper motor, they were vacuum also. But they do have the hard linkage and revamped interior cowel. My 58 had a replacement electric motor, but was not in good shape, I bought a new one on ebay.works pretty good in the shop. Mark

[RICH MUISE]

I must have gotten some bad info...I thought the main reason guys were going to the '58 setup was to switch from vacumn to electric. Rich

[JimNolan]

Bubba,
    Think about it. If you have trouble with the original wiper system you can put rain-X on the windshield and drive though about everything except a hurricane and still be able to see. If you have good pullys and they're greased with the tensioner tight you won't have trouble with it anyway. I run a delco-remy motor on mine and I use the original 57 Ford dash control. Once you turn the wipers on you can turn the knob back slowly and set your wiper speed to anything you want. If I find another Delco-remy motor I'll buy it for a spare. I really like mine.
    Now for the real reason I kept my cable system. I'd rather eat my weight in viennie sausage before I'd crawl up under there and change or modify everything underneath that dashboard just to have a rod system when that car has lasted 54 years without a rod system. It's mature enough to handle 10-20 years more. Jim

[shopratwoody]

Jim,
My thoughts exactly. I've been under there enough. I had to
re thread the cables on the pullys. Is the Delco Remy motor
one for the tri fives Chevies?

[JimNolan]

Ron,
  Yes, it's the old chevy wiper motor. It fits perfectly and you don't change your control cable. The new wiper motors they sell for our 57's take a different control cable. They are probably better though. I bet you had fun threading the cables, I did. LOL Jim

[shopratwoody]

Jim
Thanks for the reply. I just never got around to getting the elec
mtr. Been using Rain X. Only been in the rain once in the last
25 yrs or so. I'll get one though, before my kids get the car