rodneybeauchamp Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 Hi all, always liked the look of these vacuum economy gauges and had one in a ‘40 Pontiac. Bought one recently at a country swap and want to use it in my ‘38 Special. Suggestions as to where would be the best place to tap into the vacuum source. Mine has electric wipers so no vacuum pump there. Buick shoulda had one as an optional extra bit can’t see it listed. any help would be appreciated Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Worstell Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 ??? Your electric wipers....are they 12V or 6V or ? Jack Worstell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Wright Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 Whoever took out the vacuum wipers (to install the electric) had to close off the vacuum someplace. On the '40 special the vacuum source was the top of the fuel pump, not sure about '38. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 "38's have a vacuum port on the intake manifold just to the rear of the carb. A perfect place for a vacuum tap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 7 hours ago, Morgan Wright said: Whoever took out the vacuum wipers (to install the electric) had to close off the vacuum someplace. On the '40 special the vacuum source was the top of the fuel pump, not sure about '38. Are the vacuum wipers any good with that vacuum pump providing the vacuum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodneybeauchamp Posted May 22, 2019 Author Share Posted May 22, 2019 7 hours ago, Jack Worstell said: ??? Your electric wipers....are they 12V or 6V or ? Jack Worstell Hi Jack, 6 volt. Yes, I was surprised to find them electric, but my 40 Pontiac was electric 6V too! Have seen the 6V wiper motors at swap meets,. AUS$200.00 for NOS and around AUS$50.00 to $80.00 for a second hand unit that was untested! If interested happy to stick the IPad under there for photos. You may want to start a seperate post. JLMK. Rodney 7 hours ago, Morgan Wright said: Whoever took out the vacuum wipers (to install the electric) had to close off the vacuum someplace. On the '40 special the vacuum source was the top of the fuel pump, not sure about '38. I thought that too, but the fuel pump does not have a vacuum pump attached ( which is where I thought the vacuum came from) 6 hours ago, DonMicheletti said: "38's have a vacuum port on the intake manifold just to the rear of the carb. A perfect place for a vacuum tap. Don, thank you. Will have a look and see if I can locate the port. Many thanks and will report back. Gotta find a suitable holder so I can mount it ( suppose I could cut a hole in the dash somewhere or stick it in place of the clock) ☹️☹️☹️☹️ Just kidding, it will be fitted neatly under the dash somewhere 😀😀😀😀😀 Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1939_Buick Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 7 hours ago, Morgan Wright said: Whoever took out the vacuum wipers (to install the electric) had to close off the vacuum some place. On the '40 special the vacuum source was the top of the fuel pump, not sure about '38. 7 hours ago, Jack Worstell said: ??? Your electric wipers....are they 12V or 6V or ? Jack Worstell Australian built Buick's of that era had electric wipers from the factory. GHM used a 6V Bosch wiper motor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 36 minutes ago, Spinneyhill said: Are the vacuum wipers any good with that vacuum pump providing the vacuum? NO! Pump is just a booster, anyway. Believe me, I lived through them. All we had. I was NEVER so thrilled to get my first car with electric wipers. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 GM held on to the crappy vacuum wiper motors forever. My '57 Olds had them and they werent great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Wright Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 AMC was the last company to equip cars with that &^&%*% vacuum wiper. We had a '65 Rambler with that horrible fluke of American engineering. I got a 12V electric wiper on my 6V 1940 Buick. I got it from Bob's who says "caution it's 12V" but you can ignore the warning because it works great on 6V cars. 12V motors on 6V cars just run slower, so what? You plan on running the car in a rain storm? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodneybeauchamp Posted May 23, 2019 Author Share Posted May 23, 2019 14 hours ago, 1939_Buick said: Australian built Buick's of that era had electric wipers from the factory. GHM used a 6V Bosch wiper motor Hi, the two I saw at Naracoorte swap meet were branded NASCO. Interesting that we led the way with electric wipers in ‘38 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 Rodney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daves1940Buick56S Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 23 hours ago, Morgan Wright said: AMC was the last company to equip cars with that &^&%*% vacuum wiper. We had a '65 Rambler with that horrible fluke of American engineering. Yup, I had one too in High School. Piece of junk, and so were the wipers! At a stop light a cloud of smoke would envelop the car. Kept the mosquitoes away, though. Cheers, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Brink Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 On 5/22/2019 at 6:37 PM, Morgan Wright said: AMC was the last company to equip cars with that &^&%*% vacuum wiper. We had a '65 Rambler with that horrible fluke of American engineering. My daughters '65 Classic wipers work perfectly - vacuum of course - even when accelerating (albeit slowly with the 199 c.i. 6). My experience (all with Buick's other than the above Rambler) is that they work pretty well provided the motor is well lubricated (pretty easy job to open up and grease things up) but when the grease hardens they do not work worth a "plug nickel" (whatever that means!) 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMicheletti Posted May 25, 2019 Share Posted May 25, 2019 One of the problems with the vacuum motors is that the pot metal body can warp at mid stroke (as were mine) by several thousanths. When that happens there is no way that they can work properly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Nelson Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 I got a nice 6 volt to 12 volt converter. About $30 usd. I have a 35-58 and was going to keep the 6 volt system. This converter was for those things that required 12v to work. Changed my mind and I’m going 12 volt. I did that on my ‘38-46s and did not look back. So if you have enough output from your generator, using the converter will work. Just remember when using a converter, as a reference - 5 amps of 6 volts will only give you 2.5 amps of 12 volts. If you really want ( ? ) to keep a 6 volt system, get a 6 volt alternator that will give you up to around 60 amps. (Use the three wire design - it will give you full 7.2 volts at Idle when you hook up the sensing wire to a point / source behind the dash. ). Been there, done that. Paint the alternator black and most people will not know the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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