Identifying a part

[justford]

Looked at a 65 cyclone from California. Mounted on the outside of the passenger side firewall is a round shaped part with wires/or vacuum lines running from it. The owner said he didn't know what it was as it was on there when he bought the car. Looked at some pics of other 65 cyclones and they have the same part. Do any of you know what it is and what it does?
Thanks

[poboyjo65]

That was a feature with the delayed wipers option. it senses vacuum drop when you have the wipers set on slow & you accelerate (as if passing another car) it will speed up the wipers untill vacuum raises & you slow back down then it goes back to the wiper speed you have it set on. should be a little knob on the wiper knob. there was a lot more two lane highway driving back in 65 & a lot more passing to do!!

[Comechero65]

Sounds like that would be what's called a 'vacuum accumulator'. Ford used one on the 67 and later mustangs as part of the ac system. Ford called it a 'vacuum collector tank'. Also the GM cars in the 60's and 70's used something similar. I once installed one of the GM types on a motorhome I had back then. the GM type was just a large round plastic ball. The ford units look like a tin can that fruit would have come in and were mounted in the pass side fender.
Ron

[Groover]

Crazy smart engineering back then, I love it all.

And slightly on topic, if you haven't seen the movie Flash of Genius, it's worth it. Story about the guy who invented the intermittent wiper back in the 60's. Apparently developing an intermittent wiper without a computer was a big deal back then. Nowadays you can probably get an iPhone app to control your bluetooth wipers if you want to.

[justford]

Thanks for the info. Mystery solved.

[kevinshi]

(I am in the process of producing some materials about the manifold vacuum driven interval wiper system. I am replying to this thread to put it in my queue of posts for follow up.)

[kevinshi]

(I am in the process of producing some materials about the manifold vacuum driven interval wiper system. I am replying to this thread to put it in my queue of posts for follow up.)