You ever put a vacuum tank on wipers

[Old Redneck]

My wipers on my 39 Ford do need some help so I stop at the local junk ward and bought a vacuun tank to put on my wipers. Hope this inproves the way they work.I also plan on squirting some MMO in the wipers at 5 pounds air pressure. GM told me about this. Don't hear much from him much anymore.. I guess he busy with his Fords. You got any ideas on improving the wipers.

[1952henry]

Some makes from the 20s had vacuum tanks from the factory, as did some WW2 vehicles.

[Marv]

Originally Posted by Redneck

My wipers on my 39 Ford do need some help so I stop at the local junk ward and bought a vacuun tank to put on my wipers. Hope this inproves the way they work.I also plan on squirting some MMO in the wipers at 5 pounds air pressure. GM told me about this. Don't hear much from him much anymore.. I guess he busy with his Fords. You got any ideas on improving the wipers.

Unless you put a one way valve between the vacum source and the tank it will not help. The car you got the tank from should have one close to the engine where the vacum line is hooked to the engine. Marv

[46fatford]

Ford actually had vacuum tanks as optional equipment on later cars.
Matt

[1952henry]

A lot of the early tanks had such a valve. Stewart Warner was the manufacturer.

[Kube]

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Originally Posted by 46fatford

Ford actually had vacuum tanks as optional equipment on later cars.
Matt

Picture depicts the Ford OEM accessory. It is, as one fellow said, imperative there be a one way check valve installed. You can get these at Napa in various sizes. About $4 each.
You may want to consider rebuilding the wiper motor. If done correctly the wipers will work very well without the aid of a vacuum tank.

[Vic Piano]

Ken, I installed vacuum tanks for the wipers in our '39 CS and our '51 F-1. I bought vacuum brake booster tanks from Summit Racing (they have the check valve included) I had Ficken (spelling) on Long Island rebuild both wipers and they work much better with the vacuum tanks installed.

[Old Redneck]

I got the vacuum tank at the junk yard for 5 bucks the wipers work ok but drivings in the mountains not to well. Just thought I would try a tank to see the results.

[V12Bill]

1947- 48 Lincolns had a vacuum tank under the right front fender. Ford also had an after market tank that was half of what the Lincoln tank was. I have used my wipers in the rain and the tank seems to do its thing very well. I do have the check valve in my tank.

[john hamilton]

Jaguar XK-Es had a vacuum tank. What is does is give a resevoir of vacuum for when you stomp on the gas - or go up a mountain.

Don't you hate it when you pull into the oncoming lane to pass and the wipers stop?

[Old Henry]

You ought to read this recent thread on this topic: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62443 It shows illustrations and tells my experience (bad) with the stock vacuum tank. Kinda long technical explanation but worth the read if you're really considering a vacuum storage tank.

[Old Henry]

Yeah. I didn't think you'd go to that thread. So, here it is:

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 cllimbing 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.

[4t8v8]

I had the same problem as Old Henry. Took the tank off.

[Planojc]

I had Rob Fricken, The Wiper Man, rebuild my vacuum wiper motors and they work great. No need for all that other stuff.

[robert dick]

i thought Jags had electric wipers ?

[Vic Piano]

Originally Posted by robert dick

i thought Jags had electric wipers ?

Our '68 E-Type has 3 electric windshield wipers...

[flatfoota37]

Did the tank for wipers work?

[woodiewagon46]

I not only installed a vacuum tank, but I also installed a 6 volt vacuum pump from a boat windshield wiper. I re-piped the system and had the wipers on its own circuit. I installed a toggle switch to control the vacuum pump and I can't tell you how great it worked. This was on a '46 Ford sedan and when it rained I simply hit the toggle switch and it was like I had electric wipers.

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Here is a 12V vacuum pump from Surplus Center for under $20 that could be placed anywhere so you could run a vacuum line direct to the wiper motor. It is probably magnetic and would not work on 6V systems.


New Info from Surplus Center:

Is this a diaphragm type pump?

A: This uses a small piston driven by an electric motor.

So it could work on 6V system but only at half speed. Maybe.



https://www.surpluscenter.com/Air-Pn...ump-4-1831.axd

[tubman]

Or, you could use a cheap voltage booster from Amazon.