Rebuild a wiper motor in an hour

[dk240z]

I was scrounging parts off my parts car and decided to take the cowl panel and the wiper motor off before they get stolen. Thought I might clean up the wiper motor and assemblies to put on my recently painted stock restoration '72. Just a perfect October Texas day with nothing else to do, I took the wiper motor and hooked it up to my '73 driver to see If it was in working order. No such luck! Well, I had nothing else to do, so I grabbed some tools and went to work. I'm no genius, and not an electical wizz, but with a 7ml and 8ml hard wrenches, some dental floss, and some axle grease, I had that wiper motor working perfectly in an hour.

This process is so simple, you have to try it. First, take the plastic cover off of the wiper motor assembly. Next, take a 7ml wrench and remove the band around the motor for the relay. Next, take an 8ml wrench and remove the two 8ml nuts that hold the motor to the gear drive. you can now remove the motor stator (?) from the housing. Take some 600 grit sand paper the clean the surface where the three brushes make contact. I also sanded the motor surfaces to remove rust. Clean the inside of the housing (magnet) with some thinner and remove all lose corrosion by hitting housing on flat surface and blowing out housing with air gun. I used dental floss to hold the three brushes back in order to reassemble the motor to the gear housing. Before tighting the two 8ml nuts, remove the dental floss, which I tied around the three motor mounts to keep the brushes from popping out. I greased the worm drive and both bearing surfaces too, before the reassembly, so don't forget this. finally, I took the motor over to my '73 driver, and it worked perfectly! you might also want to clean all the contacts for insurance. All this in an hour. Go for it!

[MarkDixon]

Thanks for the lesson.

I have a late 71' and as you know a new wiper motor is impossible to find.

And when I say new, I mean an old working motor that is new to me.

I will try this and let you know how it works for me.

[Brandy]

I'll try this too, though I'll also admit that I have reached a slight when-is-this-damn-thing-going-to-be-ready-to-drive, and send you the wiper motor - name me a figure and I'll even pay for it to be fixed.

Really!

[TomoHawk]

the only thing nonody could get right is a way to reseal the motor in a bag.

[mlc240z]

the PO had burnt my wiper motor up. even after disassembly (agreed it's very easy), refurbish and reassembly, i still had only slow speed and a chattering hi speed with no increase in speed (stuck brushes and burnt windings). even if i went to have the motor rebuilt, it wasn't a good candidate.

i contacted John@baddogparts.com and bought a used replacement motor for about $45 IIRC. he tests them to make sure they operate and is an excellent guy to deal with. good, honest communication and fast shipping. it's still not 'fast' but at least it's true OEM speed.

if your original is toast, try him.

[bemmerguy714]

i have one question about this. i just rebuilt mine and is it absolutly nessassery to cover the motor up again with that plastic thing that was on there? i ripped mine off so i would have to think of something else but im curious if i could just leave the motor with no cover. any ideas?

[dk240z]

Man, your in SoCal! I'd just get a large ziploc bag and modify it. I know you don't get rain like we do. See you a MSA in April!

DK

[gogriz91]

Go to HybridZ or even do a search here for the Honda wiper motor "upgrade". I've heard it's been done and I may be having to do it myself if my original wiper motor doesn't work any better soon.

[montoya_fan01]

I thought it was the heater blower motor from Honda's that was used as an upgrade in 240Z's. Can anyone confirm that their wiper motor also can be used in z cars?

[Zs-ondabrain]

I thought it was the heater blower motor from Honda's that was used as an upgrade in 240Z's. Can anyone confirm that their wiper motor also can be used in z cars?

I just looked at that yesterday. Here ya go..

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/wipermotor/index.htm

Sounds interesting and a little involved but what the heck, It might be worth the time and effort.

Dave.

And here are the rest up for veiwing. I love tech sites.

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm

[montoya_fan01]

Thanks Dave. I'll have to save that page for future reference. However, it does look like this is basically a "Kluge" sort of solution, since the Honda motor doesn't automatically return the wipers to the "at rest" position, and the install requires more than minor modifications.

[dk240z]

O.K.

One hour rebuild, and once a month RainX!

By the way Dave, I'll need two sets of your headlight relay kits and two parking light kits too. I'll be sending the check soon.