Vacuum wipers. (will these M151 wipers work?)

Hi guys. I have been thinking of using vacuum wipers on my M38. I have found some wiper NOS wiper motors from an M151 that the owner claims will fit the m37/m38/m38a1 as well as other M series vehicles. I am thinking if they don't bolt on I can likely make them fit with little work.



I don't want to buy the crappy electric wiper kits as from what I have been told form others is they are junk and quite irritatingly noisy. I don't want to spend big bucks on marine wiper motors either. I don't see why the vacuum wipers won't work well especially new ones. I should have plenty of vacuum with my injected V8. And if I find them slowing down at high throttle settings I can always add a vacuum canister. I don't think I will have my foot deep into the throttle too much or too long with 300HP anyway. I am sure the Jeep will be a handful at full throttle anyway. I like the fact that the vacuum wipers have an original kind of look to them as well as the fact they will be quiet. It's not like the Jeep will be silent driving it but electric wiper motors have a pretty irritating noise to them. It rains a lot up here in the Vancouver B.C. area. What do you guys think? Will these units work OK? What are your thoughts on Vacuum wipers in general? Thanks.
Greg

 

Frankly, they suck and I am not sure you will be happy with them even with an sbc-and they really suck with a 134, even with the vacuum/fuel pump. I would be looking for some NOS American Bosch electric motors or enclose the back of the windshield and use a more modern single motor and levers (I went this route with a Toyoda motor mounted on the outside of the frame). With your fabrication skills, should be a piece of cake. On the other hand, you can control the speed better with the vac units: downhill against compression = fast; uphill (any hill) = slow or stop.

 

Those things are that bad eh. I was asking my Dad this morning what he thought of vacuum wipers and he said they worked not too bad back in the day but did slow down when climbing the hills. He said the Ford ones with Vacuum pumps were pretty good. I was kind of worried that his memory of such things was a little fuzzy as it has been 50 years since he drove around in vehicles with these wipers. I was hoping that these things would work a little better being good new old stock units with a good vacuum source. Maybe I should consider good electric ones like the Bosch ones you mention. Is this like what you are suggesting?



Will this kind of motor mount to my windshield OK? These things are not cheap. It is listed at $225 each. Kind of spendy. I will have to think about it. Thanks for the opinion and info.
Greg

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the units shown here:
http://www.texaspowerwagon.com/wiper.htm

 

I'm just goin the boat wiper route myself. I figure good wipers are a safety item and worth the money. And if noise from a wiper is that noisey, I figure something is broke. Doubt if I'll hear it over the motor, tires, wind, etc.

 

I don't have any pictures of it but I used the wiper assembly from a postal Jeep. I flipped it over and mounted it on the top of the windshield (had to make a mount). I had to relocate the holes because the linkages were a little bit to wide to fit in the factory holes. but I figure you could cut the linkage down and reweld it to work. It was a good modification much better than the vacuum or the single electric motors and quiet.

 

My vacuum wiper works just fine in my m38, and I have driven in some really heavy rains. They only problem I have had is I need a wiper blade on both sides of the windshield.

 

I am still kind of temped to give the vacuum wipers a try. I am thinking of using the dash cross bar of the roll cage for a vacuum reservoir with a check valve from a brake vacuum booster. I can then run a short hose system from the cross tube with a couple of nice small ball valves to control each wiper. The vacuum wiper motors are cheap so I don't have a lot to lose. I can always pull them and switch to electric later. Maybe I am crazy but I think it would be a cool setup.
Greg

 

I have a set from that ebay seller mounted in my cj3b. I have one of the military style fuel/vac pump and I haven't had any problems. I also have each side set up with its own control valve.

 

I ended up buying the vacuum wiper motors and they are brand new. I hooked a vacuum line to them and the work great. I am a ways from installing them but I believe they will work great. I am going to use my roll cage dash bar as the reservoir with a one way check valve from a brake booster. With the vacuum that the V8 pulls and the reservoir I think it will work great. I am just going to drill and tap a pipe thread to the crossbar tank, thread in a ball valve to control each vacuum motor then run a vacuum line up to them. Should be pretty neat. It will end up being quite reasonable for cost as well.
Greg

 

I made a vacuum reserve using a gallon can and soldered a hose barb into the top and mounted it under the battery. Good fit and out of the way. I ran a vacuum one way valve from the intake to a "T" then one side to the can and the other side to the wipers. I have used them several times and it made a pretty big dif on the operation.

 

what about using the dual vac fuel pump for a 55-57 chevy v8?