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Old 04-10-2021, 12:33 AM
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73LeMans 73LeMans is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Berkley, MA
Posts: 873
Default Wiper Motor

I hate my windshield wiper motor. Its ugly, I use it once a year to get an inspection sticker, and it really clutters up an otherwise purposeful firewall. But, as much street as this car will see, I have to look like I'm following Massachusetts state rules for safety. Plus if you've ever been in the rain without wipers, you know it sucks.

My old wiper motor was purple. Plum Crazy to be exact. Way back when, I splashed it like I did the firewall in hopes that it would just go away. I still have it and it still works...its just purple. Upon this rebuild, I said ""there is no way I'm spending the time to clean that up. I'll just buy a new one." So that's what I did.

Wiper motor ordered and received. Got it from Ames. Its a Cardone unit. Eh.

Not sure why I thought it would be better than what I had. I suppose its nice because its new...and not purple....but after looking at it, I decided I'm not giving up my working ACDelco as a core to send back. And if Im not going to give up my core, it means I overpaid for the same unit I can get at a local auto parts place around me. I'll likely send it back.

So I guess that means I gotta clean this one up. I'm embarrassed at how many hours Ive got into this stupid thing that is still ugly, and still clutters up an otherwise purposeful firewall, but here it is. I think Id rather look at the hole where this goes then to see this monstrosity.




So I got to cleaning....


Paint stripper would have been nice here, but I was afraid to damage any of the plastic components. Laquer thinner worked, but was very s l o w to act. Brake Kleen was only slightly better. (you can see how my tools of choice get more aggressive as I run out of patience)

Some wire brushes, a wire wheel, a drill, some sandpaper and a ton of time, and this is what you get - slightly less ugly


Some tape and some small part removal later and yup, still ugly.



Add in some paint, a few runs, place small parts back, and you get this -




Oh look, there it is on the firewall.....oh yay.


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Who needs nice and pretty, when you can have mean and nasty?
KRE Aluminum headed 463CID 73 LeMans. Used to run 10.6x @ 124.55. 3700lbs
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So much for 2020...shootin for 9s in 2021...and in 2022 apparently.....looks like 2023 as well.
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