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Wipers not a working! Lucille is back!

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  • trim code 76
    Experienced
    • Aug 3 2006
    • 207

    Wipers not a working! Lucille is back!

    Hello everyone!!!! Please excuse my long absence from the form. I have been WAY TOO BUSY with life and my new car, a 1963 Studebaker Avanti! To get everyone caught up, Lucille was the feature car in Cars and Parts magazine for May (A high end magazine that has been around as long as Hot Rod)! You can look it up by going to their web site. The car was also written up in VTCI Scoop publication. She now has her special order from Coker tire BF Goodrich correct from the factory molds tires for the car (The Firestone tire mold which about 75% of the cars left the factory with was destroyed some time ago. Mine has the factory Firestone spare still in it so if you have yours, they are rare and not reproduced!) Anyway, Lucille also got invited to the Forest Grove Concours de Legance in Oregon in just a couple weeks. This show is fantastic and quite lucky to be selected. Will let you know how it goes. She is running PERFECTLY, except for below.

    Lucille is done! 100% factory original (except battery) down to mufflers, hangers and clamps. She is looking GOOD!!!

    One little problem, I just found out her wipers do not work! Never tried them before because , ...well she does not get driven in the rain! Well I was checking every function out before the big show and found no movement to the wipers, all factory components..... Well guys and gals.....any ideas? I thnk actually they moved very slightly and slowly about 1/2" and then nothing

    In closing, please excuse my tardyness. Ray, you are still the best! I will stay a more steady member now, By the way....That AVanti is one increadable car!! Ever get a chance to drive on, TAKE IT!

    Hope everyone is well!
    Greg
  • simplyconnected
    Administrator
    • May 26 2009
    • 8779

    #2
    Greg, I've gone over the print and I like what I see. Your Avanti really has a lot of nice features like, electric wipers, alternator, ammeter, a real fuse box, etc.

    Click HERE to view and download the electrical diagram for your 1963/4 Avanti.

    You said there is some movement. I would start by looking for any mechanical bind. If you can't find one, go to the motor. Disconnect the linkage and see if the motor will turn with no load.

    This motor has brushes which may be dirty. The connector next to the motor may be dirty, as well. Pull the plug apart and look for green/black/burned witness marks. A loose connection can give those symptoms, so look carefully at the connections in the plug and at the dash switch.

    Hope this helps. - Dave Dare
    Member, Sons of the American Revolution

    CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

    "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
    --Lee Iacocca

    From: Royal Oak, Michigan

    Comment

    • YellowRose
      Super-Experienced


      • Jan 21 2008
      • 17191

      #3
      Wipers not a working! Lucille is back!

      Wowww! Hi, Stranger! Welcome back! I recently asked Kev about you and he said you had been working your tail off. He did not tell me you have a '63 Studebaker Avanti to play with now! I am glad to hear that Lucille is doing well. I just went through the paint process myself with Rose, so I have a good idea of how it went for you! It took us some time to get tail lights and other things to work again after putting everything back on the car. But things seem to be okay now, for the most part. I lost my AC blower motor but have a new one in now and it is working fine.

      Congratulations on the write ups on Lucille and the invite. I will have to see if I can get a copy of that magazine. I saw the write up in the Scoop. I had hoped to show Rose at the VTCI Regional in Fort Worth earlier in the month, but she was still in the paint shop.

      As for the windshield wiper, the diaphragm in that thing might have worn out. I know that the Bird Nest will rebuild yours. I had mine rebuilt, but I am about to put an electric windshield wiper and washer on Rose. You will not want to do that though I am sure. But you can get it rebuilt if it needs it. However, Dave gave you some good information that might solve the problem.

      I will follow this up with a quick email to you before I hit the sack! I should have been there an hour ago! Glad to see you back on the Forum again!

      Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
      The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
      Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

      https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
      Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
      https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

      Comment

      • Coral
        Super-Experienced

        • Apr 3 2009
        • 1132

        #4
        Nifty article Greg, congrats to you and your wife !

        With the wipers, check all the hoses very carefully all the way back to the wiper switch... there might be a slight leak (or filter is clogged) if you have a gauge to hook up, great! somewhere around 16 to 18 is good, low like 10 or so the motor might need rebuilt
        http://www.wiperman.com/

        Comment

        • Original Goldbird
          Newbie
          • Jun 10 2010
          • 20

          #5
          Wipers

          Must be a common problem. running a garden hose on the windshield with engine running and wipers on can temporarily help . Rainex is also a temporary help but the real answer is to convert to an electrical system rather than vacuum. I understand this is not easily done and is expensive. Sure hope your post will get the attention of another owner who can help solve this.

          Comment

          • Coral
            Super-Experienced

            • Apr 3 2009
            • 1132

            #6
            Quite right Tom, the whole system itself was a blooper and converting to electric has been done more times than not...in fact some even have gone to the point of adapting it while hiding the new units from the cursory glance

            Comment

            • Coral
              Super-Experienced

              • Apr 3 2009
              • 1132

              #7
              Two links to the technical pages:

              http://www.squarebirds.org/windshield_washer.htm

              http://www.squarebirds.org/wiper_motor.htm

              Comment

              • JohnG
                John
                • Jul 28 2003
                • 2341

                #8
                you might first get a vaccum gauge and see if there is any vaccum to drive the motor, no matter how good or bad it might be internally. Many are driven off of a second stage of the fuel pump but you might find it driven off the intake manifold. In any event , I think you need maybe 10 inches or more of vaccum.

                Additionally you need to check for broken or cracked hoses, that might be letting that precious vaccum escape unused! A common culprit is a washer switch on the left side of the driver. Bypass that bad boy for now!

                Those things addressed, if you have vaccum to it, then there may be internal leaking. Real fix: get the pump rebuilt (see Technical Resources Library for Fricken in New York state - fast and warranteed). The 55-7 guys have a quick fix of putting some brake fluid in the unit to make the seals swell. Have not tried it myself.

                Fricken rebuilt mine 5 years ago and it still works great. Electric would be better but, like you, I try and keep it original.

                John
                1958 Hardtop
                #8452 TBird Registry
                http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)

                photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
                history:
                http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htm

                Comment

                • YellowRose
                  Super-Experienced


                  • Jan 21 2008
                  • 17191

                  #9
                  Wipers not a working! Lucille is back!

                  For those of you who want to read the article on Gregs Tbird in the May issue of Cars & Parts, you can go here. There is a Zoom tool at the top that you can adjust for better reading.



                  Once there, click on the picture of the Buick Electra on the cover. Then click on the right hand tab a couple of times. That should take you to the index and you will see the story listed starting on Page 24 the article on The Last Squarebird. Click on that and it will take you to the story and pictures.

                  We now know that the actual production date was Sept. 9th, 1960, although the ROT/Build Sheet has his car scheduled for the 13th. A number of cars scheduled after the 9th were actually run down the line on the 9th instead. Gregg's beautiful Tbird being one of them. After that production run on the 9th, the line was shut down to tool up for the 1961 production run. I think I covered all this in the Thunderbird Production History Forum below.
                  Last edited by YellowRose; July 1, 2010, 10:42 AM.

                  Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
                  The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
                  Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

                  https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
                  Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
                  https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

                  Comment

                  • frank58
                    Super-Experienced
                    • May 28 2006
                    • 524

                    #10
                    That's a great article Greg and a beautiful car, I'm sure your very proud.
                    As far as the wipers go, as has been said, if your getting vacuum, check the hoses, if there is no mechanical bind and your getting vacuum at the motor then the seals are more than likely dried out and/or binding. As with any vintage mechanism they do require some maintenance but the rewards of them working well is so worth it. and they do work well when everything is correct. That's what I personally love about these old birds is the technology.

                    Also, congrats on your new addition. I always had a love for the Avanti..... your a lucky guy. (and some pics in the "anything go's" section would be nice) <hint>

                    Comment

                    • YellowRose
                      Super-Experienced


                      • Jan 21 2008
                      • 17191

                      #11
                      Wipers not a working! Lucille is back!

                      Yup, Greg, we would love to see some pix of your Avanti, but in the "Our Rides" Forum, please!!

                      Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
                      The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
                      Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

                      https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
                      Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
                      https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

                      Comment

                      • trim code 76
                        Experienced
                        • Aug 3 2006
                        • 207

                        #12
                        Ok,
                        Just made a discovery: At my fuel pump (factory), there are the two metal tubes coming off the top for vacum. The inside one goes up and around the carb. The outside one is missing! How could I have missed this!!! From what I have seen, this has the short rubber hose also and then a metal pipe that runs up to the "T" block on the drivers side of the manifold , in front of the carb, for vacum. Question #Uno: Would this cause the wipers not to work? Question #Dose: DOES ANYONE HAVE AN EXTRA ONE OF THESE OFF A PARTS CAR SO I CAN GET THIS HOOKED UP BEFORE THE 11TH OF THIS MONTH AS THE 12TH IS WHEN I LEAVE FOR THE CONCOURS??? REPRODUCTION IS NO GOOD FOR ME. Thank you!!!
                        Greg, on behalf of Lucille
                        I will post pics to Ray of the Avanti so he can post them here.

                        Comment

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