58 BUICK WINDSHIELD WIPERS

Is there a source where an electric windshield wiper conversion kit for a 1958 Buick can be purchased? If so, where, who is it? Thanks

I also might as well ask if anybody is making a repair kit for the vacuum oil pump, or is there anybody out there who has a NOS 1958 364 cid oil pump?

Thanks in advance

No not at this time. Have you determined with a vacuum gauge that the vacuum pump is not making vacuum by checking the line coming up from the passenger's side of the engine block? Have you checked the vacuum on the vacuum motor itself? If it is not then you may want to consider dropping your pan if you have not already done so and remove and disassemble the vacuum pump from the oil pump. Take a look at the vanes and the inside chamber for wear of the black composite vanes and/or wear gouges on the wall of the bore. If not and all looks good then reassemble and turn the oil pump shaft by hand or set your vacuum gauge up and see if you can get vacuum. If I remember correctly you should be seeing a reading around 20 or so in that neighborhood but check with the manual to be absolutely correct. You should hear suction coming out of bleeder tube as well.

Thanks Buickman. I'm considering buying a '58. The man says the windshield wipers work, but not too well. I worry is based on long-ago experience. I owned two 1958 Buicks in the early 1960s. On one of them, one day the car started missing and blowing gobs of white smoke out the tailpipe, along with raw oil. I took it to the Buick dealer in Laurel, MD and they determined it was the oil pump, and put in a new one ($55 parts and labor). What was happening was that the vacuum pump went bad and oil was being sucked from the crankcase and being dumped into #1 cylinder, hense the miss and oil burning. By the time I drove 20 miles back home, the tailpipe had turned light gray again. So, my concern is: Where would I get those parts if that happened to a old '58 Buick I might buy? The car wasn't driveable and if I didn't have the oil pump/vacuum pump on hand, what would I do? This is holding me back from buying the car in question. That vacuum pump could go bad at any moment, and not only do you lose the windshield wipers, but the car becomes un-usable.

Plug the oil pump vacuum line and only draw vacuum directly from the intake manifold. Carry a bottle of RainX.................Bob

Plug the oil pump vacuum line and only draw vacuum directly from the intake manifold. Carry a bottle of RainX.................Bob

RainX is not the answer. I hate that stuff, all those bubbles running up the windshield. Plus, in Florida it can and often does rain in sheets. The '39s run the wipers off of the manifold. There is a tube in the top of the manifold to hook the hose to. They are very inadequate that way since they stop going up hill or if a lot of acceleration takes place. Does the '58 intake manifold have a tube to hook a hose to?

The '58 I am looking at has another of the MANY same problems that almost all of them have. In addition to the wipers, the red line speedometer doesn't work. I'm beginning to rethink my sentimental journey back into a 1958 Buick

A few years before he passed away, our chapter member Ted Phelps converted his '58 Super to electric wipers. He got the items from Newport Engineering. He was pleased with how it all went together and worked. He spoke highly of how well it all installed in the vehicle.

Newport Engineering supplies electric wiper conversion kits for many older vehicles. Their main advertising is probably in "Street Rodder" Magazine, but many things for older cars will fit non-street rodded vehicles, too.

Many years prior to this upgrade, he'd talked about pouring brake fluid into the vacuum cavity to liquefy the older grease in there and also to soften the leather "wiper" in there. It got it revived a good bit, but for as much as he liked to drive the car in the "better weather" months, he really needed something better and a longer-term fix.

Ted was pleased with that whole deal, so you might investigate that company. Never heard any more comments about the wipers on his Super not being good enough for DFW freeway traffic in the rain.

Obviously, though, if you have any desires to show the car in a BCA 400 Point Judged show, there might be some deducts for the Newport Engineering items on the car.

NTX5467

I have a Newport unit on my driven wagon. Works great. Looks like a modern aftermarket piece. It's fine, but obvious.

It sounds like you are talking yourself out of the 58. It is a modern car compared to your 39's but a dinosaur compared to your Riv. All of these problems are solvable if you like the car. If you don't love the car, then don't waste your time and money.

The odd thing is, 5563, that I drove "modern" 1950's cars during the 1950's and 1960's. I never had a problem with the 52 Plymouth, 55 and 56 Fords, but when I bought a 55 Crown Victoria I found it to be inadeqite. So, remembering how awful the two '58 Buicks were, I'll probably find this one to be worse. My wife said, "those really weren't very good cars, why do you want one again? I think it's an old car sickness, looking back everything looks rosier. I'm used to the '39 Buicks, they never went away in my life after my first car was one in 1955. They're pretty dependable. I had a 69 Electra a couple of years ago that was crap, but I think it had been mistreated. I just sold a really good 53 Olds 88, but it didn't satisfy me. You're right, the Riviera really runs great once I put radials on it. Still, I haven't talked myself out of the 58 as you say....I'd like to think it is better than the one I bought in 1962 and the one Dad gave to me in 1967. Lots of good memories go with the bad memories of those two cars. Thanks so very much for the information on NTX5457. I'll go on line and see if I can find information on Newport Engineering to read, along with an address. I'm just trying to figure out how I can fix the two worst problems on a '58 if they happened to me....speedometer and windshield wipers.

I'm not sure if the guy up in Michigan that does the speedometer cables can also do Buick speedometers, but they are repairable, too, once you get them out. Might just be a cable issue or even a speedometer gear issue in the transmission.

Once you know the "weaknesses", as time has progressed, there are probably more people NOW that know how to deal with them than back when they were "used cars". Just not at the local repair shop.

Take care,

NTX5467

I found a guy in Florida who fixes them. It's not cables, or, I guess it could be. It's something to do with magnets as I recall. Read my reply to the '57 speedometer question on the forum this morning.

I'm really impressed with the AACA Forum. Ask and you shall receive. 1958 windshield wiper problem can be solved. Newport Engineering has the electric motor conversion kit, brand new for $219.95 plus shipping. Thank you NTX5457

Now on to the next achilles heel of the 1958 Buick......speedometer repair.

The magnet is in the rotating speed cup which is turned by the speedometer cable. The magnetism is varied, with a zapper gun, to calibrate the speed reading to be "in spec". The odometer is driven directly off of the speedometer cable itself.\

With time and use, the bushing in the speedometer head (where the speedometer cable indexes with the magnet/speed cup can wear and cause noises to happen. That's usually a pretty straight-forward repair.

Keep us posted on your progress.

NTX5467