[DeTomaso] Wiper System Upgrade?

Mike Drew MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sun Sep 2 00:03:23 EDT 2018


Julian,

A point of clarification—I didn’t let my car sit for 17 years. It was actively being worked on (by others at first, later by me) the whole time. 

As for the wipers, I think that’s about as good as you’re going to get. You can buy a brand new motor though, which might help?

Mike

Sent from my iPad

> On Sep 1, 2018, at 19:00, Julian Kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>   I'm going on the PNW Fall Cruise this coming week and having lived in
>   Reno with the GT5 for 11 years I have never had call to have
>   a functional windshield wiper system. In Monterey a week ago the
>   morning fog was a nuisance, just enough to wet the windshield, not
>   enough to run off. That is exactly what I imagine I might be up against
>   on the Pacific Northwest coast, light rain or drizzle, so this
>   afternoon I buckled down to getting the wiper system working more for a
>   safety factor (and to pacify my wife who is coming along).
> 
> 
>   Of course turning the wiper switch on led to a dismal nothing, but what
>   else was I to expect after such time. I checked and there was power at
>   the wiper motor junction block, this is great news, as I hate tracking
>   wiring problems and I don't have a lot of time before hitting the road
>   Thursday! I removed the motor and dismantled it to find the armature
>   winding completely rusted to the magnets. I half expected to have to go
>   dig out the motor from my '74 which in itself has been actually sitting
>   unused longer than I've had the GT5, albeit on jack stands in a garage.
>   I once questioned how Mike Drew could have let his car sit for 17
>   years, and here I am finding it is quite easy!
> 
> 
>   So I started cleaning everything up, the brush springs were so rusted
>   they disintegrated upon touch, one dismantled pen spring later and they
>   are all good again. Reassembly with all new marine grease and I
>   silicone sealed the motor housing as I don't have an under
>   fender splash guard for protection. To my surprise the motor works,
>   that is as well as any old Lucas 14W motor, it has the 2 speeds
>   stuttering (maybe this is what they called intermittent wipers in the
>   day!) and lethargic, I tell myself it will be better when there's water
>   on the windshield!
> 
> 
>   So I'm as good as I'll get for this trip, we have wipers, the wife will
>   be happy.... but I got to thinking I haven't seen any discussion on a
>   modern alternative to the Lucas system, has anyone retrofitted
>   something that doesn't involve hacking up the grill and trunk? Or is
>   a new Lucas 14W as good as it gets?
> 
>   Julian
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
> http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> 
> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.
> 
> Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages.



More information about the DeTomaso mailing list