Two-Speed Wiper Installation - Clean Sweep

The towers are secured from underneath, via a bracket and bolt, and the actuating arms and shafts were replaced. During final assembly I'll add silicone grease to the shafts, but this was just a "dry" run.

With the arms connected to the motor, the installation's complete, save for the wiring. According to New Port Engineering's instructions, moving the entire motor assembly left or right on the stock mounting bracket will raise or lower the left and right wipers so you can set them at the same height, then loosening the nut on the motor shaft and pivoting the motor on its bracket (locked in place by a bolt in the slot at the bottom of the bracket-which I've helpfully removed in this shot!) will raise or lower the wipers a like amount. They should be set to park between 1/4 and 1/2 inch above the rubber windshield gasket.

Of course my installation wasn't complete, but I calculated that moving the entire assembly across toward the driver side of the car, but ensuring it remained in line with the original Chevy bracket, would provide sufficient clearance for the A/C unit and still retain the factory geometry. I was able to use the lefthand hole in the stock bracket for the righthand mounting bolt on the motor bracket, and would then fabricate another bracket to mount the lefthand side. This meant the motor would move across by precisely the distance between its mounting holes, which measured 5 7/8 inches. Therefore, I had to remove this amount from the driver side actuating arm and lengthen the other by a similar amount. Got that?

I could have welded a bracket to the firewall, but decided against it for two reasons. One, the outside of the firewall was already painted; and two, I'm attempting to make as much of this build as possible a bolt-in deal, to show that it's possible to undertake a fairly major project without owning anything more complex than a MIG welder, grinder, and hand tools. So my bolt-in bracket was formed from 1x1x1/16-inch angle steel (actually cut from box section, which has a larger corner radius), cutting sections, and folding the ends over, then welding, grinding, and drilling.

Here's one view of the finished bracket, which uses the dash/steering column stabilizing bars to bolt to the firewall. The upper end is slotted to allow for that wiper arm adjustment I spoke of. The New Port bracket is tapped and comes with mounting hardware. You can see how the lower end of the bracket now clears the A/C outlet with about 1/4 inch of clearance (arrow).

Another view of the bracket, looking up from the transmission tunnel, clearly shows how it attaches to the firewall. The new mounting method provides as much if not more support than the stock Chevy bracket, with minimal flex in operation. Obviously, I haven't used it extensively, but at this stage I don't think it'll need a gusset to prevent movement.

Luckily both actuating arms include straight sections, so the 5 7/8-inch length I removed from the left side was simply welded into the right side, leaving gaps the same width as the band saw blade I cut them with, to ensure they remained the correct length. I actually opted to TIG-weld the arms, but these could be MIG-welded too.

Here's the shortened left side arm all hooked up and ready to test after I install the C-clip.

This is the optional delay unit that has to be grounded to the wiper motor assembly (using a wire supplied) in order for the intermittent capability to function.

Releasing this set screw allows the stock Chevy dash knob to be used. In some applications, including mine, an optional shaft extension is required (arrow) in order for the delay unit to clear behind-dash components.

Here's the delay unit/switch installed, with the original knob. Now all I have to do is complete the simple wiring as per the instructions. Guess I'll need a wiring harness pretty soon then! Temporarily hooked up to a 12-volt battery, through a 6-amp fuse, I was able to set the park positions of the wiper arms and ensure my modifications allowed everything to work as designed.

When I ordered the tower gaskets from Chevs of the 40's I noticed they offered short wiper arms for chopped cars, so I ordered a set at the same time. Now, my car is chopped quite heavily, but I raised the top of the windshield aperture into the front of the roof, meaning my windshield isn't drastically short, and these arms and blades, nice as they are, are too short for my application. However, I should have paid more attention to New Port Engineering's products, as they offer polished stainless adjustable arms as well as blades in 6-, 8-, and 10-inch lengths.