62 wiper switch location?

[Tom P]

I am plodding away on my 62 Ranchero doing wiring and determined that I don't know which dash hole the wiper switch goes in.
The car was all apart when i got it and the wiring harness is all chopped up and evidently the car originally had vacuum wipers and the motor in there now is from something else with the plug chopped off. I figured i'd add intermittent switch and box to it but that won't fit the hole i'd assumed to be wipers, the one to the left of the column. That one seems to be obstructed by the brace behind it enough that no wiper switch would fit. So which other hole would be for the wipers. Can't find any pictures on the internet that show that detail. And what else would go in that first hole to the left?

[BadBird]

​Tom, do you still have the instrument panel? I believe the wipers name is on that panel. It is just left of the steering column. Larry

[Tom P]

Yes, the cluster is in a box somewhere. I tried a few different wiper switches in that hole and they all hit the brace before you can get them lined up with the hole. I assume a switch for there has to be a very narrow thing. The ones i have are all too bulky.

[Luva65wagon]

Tom, I put an intermittent wiper assy into my 63 Ranchero and had the same issue you describe with that switch. Never tried a 2-speed switch either, since I wasn't going to use one. It came with single-speed so perhaps a 2-speed switch would have hit too. It is the hole on the left-side of the column, right of the ignition switch. I got mine to fit by using a long drift and massaging the bolted in brace where the switch needed to be. I had the drivers door off at the time and was able to go in with the drift punch from where the door hinge bolted. How I would do it with a dash full of stuff or with the drivers door on, I don't know. I know I'd figure it out, but it took some force to divot the brace enough to accept the size of the switch.

[Luva65wagon]

Here's the place in my build thread where I addressed this. The next entry shows the dash and switch installed, but not how much I 'massaged' the brace.

https://www.rainierfalcons.com/forums/showthread.php?1482-Call-me-crazy-Ranchero-s-(again)&p=8856#post8856

[Tom P]

Thanks. Geez another ordeal coming up! Dash is painted already and I was hoping to just whip all this stuff together now. I had a couple melted wires for the brake light switch so had to take apart the harness and found cut wires. So i'll need to redo that and figured i'd add intermittent and getting rid of the fuses on the headlight switch with a later model plug like you did and relocated fuse box.

Nothing is so easy. That's a crazy tight area for the switch to go. I have a more compact single speed switch off my 64 Fairlane it even hits and sits crooked in the hole. I might relocate it to the right of the column. Maybe put a manual choke cable to the left or even a cable for the door on that left vent... which is all broken . Is there a solution for that like adapting something off anither car? Kind of weird how it attaches with J hooks.

[Tom P]

Now i'm even more mystified. I found the cluster and indeed labelled "Wipers" and "Choke" and "Defrost" on the lens. So now the idea of moving it to the second hole to the right is out and i'll hack the brace.

I also found the wiper switch which i assumed was for vacuum wipers but as i'm discovering, early Rancheros were apparently designed by Rube Goldberg. And that crazy thing is a cable to operate the electrical switch on the motor. Though not the motor i've got which i've yet to determine what exactly it is.
Here is the same switch. Just bizarre. Why in heck wouldn't they have just made the brace different to use the switch off their other cars and trucks?
1960 - 62 Ford Falcon & Mercury Comet Wiper Control Cable /NOS Trico #87150-58J | eBay (https://www.ebay.ca/itm/174572719855?epid=6018412860&hash=item28a5584eef:g:FsQAAOSw3Bla3Rjx)

[Luva65wagon]

Vacuum wipers use a valve, not a switch. So that cable opens the wiper motor to engine vacuum.

And had I known the intermittent switch was going to interfere as it did I would have modified the brace before putting it in. It would have been very hard to modify had I not had the door off to all a direct shot to hit that spot on the brace.

[Tom P]

I though the electric wipers in 62 used a cable to move a switch mounted at the motor? I can't find any pictures that show it. The motor i've got may be the original, it's just had the plug cut off and the red , white and blue wires are bare ended.

I was scheming a way to make the cable operate the intermittent switch. Modifying the brace certainly isn't easy and I guess a 63 has a different shaped brace behind the dash.

[Luva65wagon]

I've never seen a switch on the motor. Could be, but I don't think Falcon did. I've had all types of Falcon and wipers.

I have a 63 (now) and I think the brace is the same across all Falcons. What changed is the spacing of the switch holes between 63 and earlier (round body) and 64/65 (square body).

[Tom P]

I was going by this...

1962 Falcon wiper motor--2 speed | Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum (fordmuscleforums.com) (https://www.fordmuscleforums.com/threads/1962-falcon-wiper-motor-2-speed.499414/)

[Luva65wagon]

Seems very vague since he never did follow up with pictures. There is a part of me who thinks he may have discovered he had vacuum wipers and quietly bowed out. But on another note I was searching something on another tangent and found a site selling wiper switch extensions. Basically a pair of extenders for both the switch body and shaft. Can't like to the "product" but all I did was type 63 and wiper on the search and among the items displayed was this extender.

Think link may bring to to that exact search item:

https://cgfordparts.com/ufolder/cgcat.php?searchtype=Search&year_choice=63&searchtextdesc=wiper&sd=Search&searchnumber=

[Tom P]

I don't think any extension could work, the brace is in the way. A second guy on that link says he has a 62 with the cable to the electric motor and the switch is on the motor.

In my case it seems i've got the wrong wiper motor. No provision for a switch on it.

[Tom P]

Actually the guy replies on there but only mentions "taking a picture of his". It was on another topic he says...

"My 61 wiper switch is located in the motor it's self and is operated by a wire from the dash knob."

2nd post...
2 speed wiper switch | Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum (fordmuscleforums.com) (https://www.fordmuscleforums.com/threads/2-speed-wiper-switch.499241/)

And in this one, post #13
Wiper switch | Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum (fordmuscleforums.com) (https://www.fordmuscleforums.com/threads/wiper-switch.588898/)

[Luva65wagon]

Very interesting. Never seen one, but sounds like they exist. Certainly sounds like something I'd want to change out.

[Tom P]

A guy at the car gathering last evening tells me that electric wipers in a 62 Falcon are pretty rare and they use the same cable as the vaccum wipers and the motor with the switch on it is something i'd not likely find. There was his 63 convertible, a 63 sedan and several people that own 60-62's but didnt have their cars out. The one guy has had several 62's and parted out one with that cable/electric deal many years ago. He said it would be hard to see it or get a picture of it in a car with the instrument cluster in it because of where it all sits. Cutting or bending the brace is what everyone does even for a single speed switch.

Then the conversation went to other oddball stuff like the 14" wheels that fit a 13" hubcap and the differences between a 62 and a 63 engine compartment. And between a Canadian built car and an American one.