64ragcut

Ok here's the story. 2 1/2 months ago I bought a really nice 64 cutlass convertible. I later discovered there were only 436 ever made. Cool! It came with a new white paint job, new white top, fresh rebuilt 330 engine and rebuilt auto trans. Inside the stripped interior were boxes of parts, bolts nuts and screws, lights, moldings, etc. and all the under the hood components including the round style wiper motor assembly. The car came with about 97% of all the parts but a few parts turned out to be wrong for the car. I now have 225 hours into the restoration and about a month from completion. My fun challenge has been I don't have the luxury of knowing how it all came apart but doing really well so far and loving the experience. When i figure out how, I will try to post some photos for all to see.

Now my wipers problems. Having a round style wiper motor, I just could not figure out how it attached to the firewall. So, I bought a used square style wiper motor and it slipped into the round firewall hole and bolted right in...great! Now I connected the transmission arms that i had, only to find that they were too long and bound right up. Then I bought brand new shorter transmission arms and they spun the posts around perfectly...again great! Now I attached the wiper arms but they don't seem to travel across the windshield far enough and don't park properly. Its important to know that i had to use the motor crank arm off of the round style motor and put it on the square style motor. So here's a question. Is the motor crank "length" different on the round and square motors and is this my blade travel problem?

More wiper problems. With the key in the "on and accessory" positions, the square wiper motor gradually, over ten or more minutes, gets really hot. What could be up with that?

The wipers system has made the rest of the car seem easy. Any help is really appreciated.

Last, Im not only a newbie to this forum, this is my first thread post ever.
Thanks

64ragcut

Photo attached

64ragcut

Re-chromed bumpers expected any day now.

64ragcut

Waiting on carb kit and first start up. Sure would like to see and take photos outside of my garage.

TripDeuces

My 66 had a similar problem. Not sure it's the same as yours but for what it's worth.
Wipers would not return to the park (completely down position) and would also run off the windshield on the drivers side. Turned out it was the arm attached to the wiper motor. There is an oblong slot in the arm that fits over the oblong stud that comes out of the wiper motor. Mine was not seated over the oblong tab and was sitting on top of it.

64ragcut

Thanks for the reply! I know what your saying but for sure the crank arm is properly seated onto the motor shaft. I also tried removing the crank arm and re-installing it 180 degrees around to see if that helped.
Another thing I noticed is that the round motor shaft is sort of off center to the mounting and the square motor is dead center to the mounting. That is why I still have to question whether the crank arms are different lengths for the two different motor that could have been on the '64's.

nsnarsk65cutlass

What year is the round 2 speed wiper motor,i went to put on a 69 motor and found that the crank arm was much longer that the 65 one.the 65 one was only about 1 1/2 long the 69 about an inch longer than 65 one.didn't measure just an estimate.

nsnarsk65cutlass

Also the round motor bolts to an adapter plate thats bolted to the firewall.

64ragcut

Last night I put another 3 hours into my wipers. Various multi-meter tests gave me no answer to why the "square motor" is overheating so I started over with the larger "round motor" unit again. In a box of parts I did find an adapter plate and in an odd way it did mount up. (Remember, I didn't take this car apart)
I connected the already in place brand new shorter transmission arms that I bought for the Square motor and as anticipated they did not work and bound up. After installing the old longer transmission arms everything finally works. Just need to get the washers working and I'm good.
Really wanted the square motor to work cause it is a much smaller, less bulkier and cleaner look under the hood but no problem, for this i'll take working over looks.
What was learned here is the round style and square style wiper motors MUST be matched to their proper transmission arms and motor drive crank! Live and learn.
By the way the after market brand new transmission arms are JUNK! The metal is flimsy, they squeak when running and the grooved posts that the wiper arms push onto came off in the wiper arm socket. I actually drilled through the grooved post and the shaft and pressed through a roll pin to keep it together. They are supposed to be a permanent pressed on or welded fit but I guess China was never told that.
Hope my experiences help others in the future.
Thanks for reading and the help!

64ragcut

One more thing. It does matter how the crank are is placed onto the motor shaft. If it is on wrong the wiper arms will drive down onto the cowling and tare up your paint. Be CAREFUL. If this happens take the crank arm off and rotate/re-install it 180 degrees. Another tip when working on the wiper system is: with wide masking tape, tape over the lower reveal trim and any painted surface below that in case troubles occur.