41 ford Vacuum Wiper Question (adding a Vac. Reserver)

[Veeder]

Hey guys I'm in the process of reconnecting the Vac. motor that controls the windshield wipers and I'm considering installing a small reserve tank in line to provide consistent vacuum to the wiper motor.

Thoughts and advise??
bob

[Kube]

Originally Posted by Veeder

Hey guys I'm in the process of reconnecting the Vac. motor that controls the windshield wipers and I'm considering installing a small reserve tank in line to provide consistent vacuum to the wiper motor.

Thoughts and advise??
bob

Ford sold such a unit that was designed to do exactly what you are after. The kits are quite rare these days. It was little more than a vacuum (reserve) tank installed between the vacuum source and the wiper motor. A check valve was of course installed at the tank.
They did help upon acceleration - when the "normal" engine vacuum would be at it's lowest.

I install a similar unit under the rear seat when I restore a 40 convertible. Out of sight - it provides an extra "umph" that makes the top operation very smooth.

[Byron Warwick]

I found my "Tomato Juice" can at an old collectors barn. It is a Ford reservoir. I installed it on its side on the right side under the dash. It works well, and is not seen.
Cheers, Byron.

[Veeder]

wow thanks!! To be honest I didn't think about installing a check valve will need to do a bit of research to find the right parts to make this.

thks !!
bob

[glennpm]

I've used a small vacuum canister for Audiovox cruise controls on one of my motorcycles. It is Audiovox part and has a built in check valve. The second link is a good purchasing source.

https://www.google.com/search?q=audi...utf-8&oe=utf-8


Look near bottom of page for CCS100 Kits:
http://www.murphskits.com/product_in...roducts_id=422

[Kube]

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Originally Posted by Veeder

wow thanks!! To be honest I didn't think about installing a check valve will need to do a bit of research to find the right parts to make this.

thks !!
bob

The check valve can be purchased at Napa and no doubt other auto supply stores. They have a sectioned box with a number of different valves for different applications.
About $5 as I recall.

[woodiewagon46]

If you are not having your car judged you can install a small vacuum pump in the wiper system. Some years ago I was able to pick up a small 6 V vacuum pump used in boats. I plumbed the pump in a dedicated wiper circuit using a plastic vacuum canister from a '70s GM car and wired it to come on when the wipers were needed. It worked very well. Judges will frown on it though. As Kube mentions Ford did offer a vacuum tank as an accessory item. The tank was located in the driver side fender. Finding one is almost impossible.

[Old Henry]

I know a vacuum reservoir tank for the windshield wipers sounds like a good idea and Ford even manufactured and sold one as an optional accessory for the 46-48. I thought it sounded like such a great idea that I bought one and installed it. I have since taken it back out. Why? Here's the rub: A reservoir tank sounds like a good idea, the "theory" being that it would "store" vacuum so that when you accelerated or were climbing a hill and lost the constant continuous vacuum from the engine that the reservoir would take over and run the wipers until you let up on the gas and restored the manifold vacuum, right? Well, yes. That part worked pretty cool. When I mashed the gas, for whatever reason, I'd get about 7 full swipes of the wiper blades on the vacuum stored in the reservoir before it was gone and the wipers stopped - about 7 seconds. Then, I let up on the gas to "refill" the vacuum reservoir to get them going again. Right? Wrong! Here's why: It takes the same amount of time to "refill" the vacuum tank as it did to empty it - about 7 seconds - during which time there are not only no wipers but no power because the gas pedal has to be clear up to refill it! So, what good did that do? None! All it did was make the wiper operation "sloppy" and out of control. I decided I'd rather go back to having total control of the wipers by feathering the gas pedal just enough to keep them going if that's what I wanted or let then stop if I didn't need them constantly then, when I needed them, I could get them started immediately again by letting up on the gas pedal just for an instant for a quick swipe of the wipers then back to feathering or none until I needed a quick swipe again. I can see why Ford did not install the vacuum tanks as standard equipment. Owners would have soon bypassed them and gone with the strictly "manual" vacuum control.

The only way I can see a vacuum reservoir working is if it was hooked up to some huge vacuum port that would have to be made in the intake manifold at least as big as a power brake port so that the tank could be "refilled" immediately with a quick lift of the gas pedal while the tank could run the wipers for 7 seconds while the engine vacuum was gone. The Ford tank actually came with a larger hose to run from the carburetor vacuum port to the tank than the standard size hose from the tank to the wiper motor. But it wasn't big enough to really work.

Here are the Ford promotional literature about the vacuum tank showing the location of its installation and the diagram from the parts book illustrating the system.



Here's the funny thing I mentioned about the larger hose from the carburetor to the tank than the smaller standard size hose from the tank to the wiper motor. Note that hose #17538 is bigger BUT it connects to the standard small sized fitting on the carburetor with adapter #17644 that reduces that larger size hose to the same size hose as the smaller one. Go figure???? Dumb. Really dumb. That's what keeps the tank from filling any faster than it empties.

[Merc Cruzer]

You might want to take a look at this posting:

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...72#post1236972

E-bay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...TRICO&_sacat=0

What you will notice initially is that Chey owners pay allot more than do Ford owners for the same thing.

[Karl]

I've never worried about a vacuum tank . Under heavy load my wipers will stop working but if I ease up on the gas pedal momentarily, as Old Henry says, I will get a couple of swipes which is enough to clear the screen -Karl

[Veeder]

Very interesting!! Never thought out the recharging of the Vacuum tank. Again thks all for the inf it has saved me some time.

I think I will just not drive in the rain :-)

[38coop]

RAIN-X is your friend.