280Z Wiper Motor Upgrade

[TomoHawk]

Has anyone gotten a decent upgrade for the 280Z wiper motor?  I mean something you can get from a post-1985 vehicle, which is when they used the waterproof motors.  I have a wiper motor from a 1997 Escort ZX2, and the bolts align almost perfectly with the holes on the bracket, and the shaft fits the linkage just right.

The Escort motor is a DC motor with a ground, and  switched 12V connections for low- and high-speed.  It also has auto-park without the extra swipe the Datsun motor makes.

Yes, I cleaned and lubricated the linkage and pivots, but the speed is still just too slow.   I used DeOxit for the pivots, and it worked very well.

[Jeff G 78]

Good to know Tom, thanks for the tip. 

My 260 race car needs a reliable wiper motor.  I cleaned the linkage, rewired the motor with heavy gauge wire and added a simple toggle switch.  It worked very well until we had an extremely rainy race where the original 40 year old motor got hot and blew the fuse mid-race.  Rather than risk another failure, I'd rather upgrade it to something newer and more reliable.  I'll check out the ZX2 motor.

[TomoHawk]

I'm sure you could put in the Ford wiper motor, and it will never quit, until you flip the switch.   You could also set up the toggle switch for both slow and fast speed.

Edited December 19, 2017 by TomoHawk

[TomoHawk]

You can clean & lubricate  the linkage, but after it wears or gets loose, there's nothing that you can do to restore it.  So a source of a suitable replacement or a way to replace the  ball joints would also be a great benefit.