Gregarious13

I wired up two relays with their own power supply and ground, direct to the battery. One relay for low beam and the other for high. this will take the load off the 62 year old headlight switch, and make the headlights really bright. I'll be using 9003 halogen bulbs.

A little more progress on the wiring. We got the engine compartment and transmission wired. Front lights and horn are next. the transmission interrupter resistor and solenoid circuit breaker were moved to the firewall for cleanliness. onve the correct battery is in place I'll make a real hold down, the one in the pictures was temporary for the test drive.

N&E, The converter your talking about is also known as a boost converter or step up converter. Theses are in hybrid vehicles too, but to supply a higher voltage to the drive motors under heave acceleration. The way you want to use it will work, in theory. But because it will be increasing the voltage it will also be reducing the current available. You can't have high current and voltage unless you use a capacitor to store the voltage and be able dump it (at high current) when needed. The capacitor won't work for continuous high current draw, only short bursts. Most likely the power seats will draw too much current for the converter, so those are not going to work. If you want this to work for the radio, you will need to find what the current (amperage) demand is from the stereo and speakers you plan to use is. If it's within the limits of the converter, then it will work. As far as grounding the chassis of the radio, it will most likely need to be isolated from the car body. That being said, the boost converter should have two grounds, one for the supply and the other for the load. The converter will need 6v negative earth and the body of the converter will also likely need to be isolated from the cars chassis ground because your car is positive earth. I wouldn't trust the converter to regulate the charging of a 12v battery on it's own, it's just a switched power supply, the devices using it's power do the voltage and current regulation but a battery doesn't have that capability. It may be a good idea to at least converter to negative earth on the car. That means reversing the wiring on polarity sensitive devices. I believe the generator and regulator can be polarized for negative earth. Someone else will need to chime in on that. At least that would allow you to have a common earth between the converter, car and radio.(less chance of fire) If your converting to negative earth then a12v battery and alternator is not much harder. Bottom line is the boost converter will work for loads within its limits but will need to be completely isolated from the chassis (assuming the car is positive earth) and it will not charge a 12v battery. The converters output is determined mostly be it's input voltage and current. I hope that answers your question. Feel free to PM me and we can discuss further if you'd like. Greg

A couple more pictures.

So here's how the dash looks now all wired up minus the 6V converter for the wipers, it will be where the dash speaker used to live. I talked it over with my friend (the owner of the car) and he decided he wants to keep the 6v wipers and clock and just use the converter for them, so that's what I did. I ran a wire to the glove box for a future power outlet he wants. The circuit breaker on the left is for the 6V devices, that's where the converter will connect. Circuit breaker on the right is for constant hot power to the power outlets and the under dash lights. Under dash lights are on a switch mounted on the bottom of the dash. That way the lights are in demand. The high beam indicator light is now the low voltage charge warning light. No high beam indicator. There is one ground wire from the dash that will bolt to the car body fo a good solid ground. There will be three plugs on the dash. One for the wipers motor, one for the ignition switch, and one for the lighting and indicators. All the light bulb socket contacts are new.

Thanks for all the good info here! I assumed it would be red oxide primer but couldn't tell on my car as the paint is all missing and what's good I will probably keep intact (door jambs and such) I like the idea of having some of the original paint still on the car, just something fun for me. I am also not going to do a full restoration, rather just repair the rotten spots and paint the exterior to match the door jambs and possibly antique the paint a bit to match. That's why I wanted the correct color of the primer. Still haven't fully decided on this yet but keeping it as an option. Projects change direction quickly when in the heat of the moment. thanks a bunch, Greg

My thoughts exactly! Greg

That does seem very simple and straight forward. I do like simple! The ammeter is another consideration as I won't be using it but I could replace it's guts with a volt meter so there is some charging system monitoring. Thanks for your point of view! Greg

Thanks everyone! Merry Christmas! Here is what I will probably use: 12v to 6v DC-DC converter This is similar to Vintage6t's recommendation and will take the 12v and provide a constant 6v but at 25A output. I should be able to use just one of these to power the few remaining 6V devices. I work on hybrid and electric cars for a living, they all have a DC-DC converter, but they deal with taking 200V-300V down to 12V. These cars don't have an alternator like a traditional car so the DC converter does that job. The answer has been right in front of me and I didn't notice. Option 2: I very well may just decide to replace the remaining 6v devices with 12v equivilants anyway as that will make for simplified/cleaner wiring. The fuel gauge could be replaced with a modern gauge (just put the guts in the old housing). Speed Hut makes a fuel gauge that you can program to any sender. The wiper motor can be replaced with a 12V fairy easily We're eventually adding Vintage air to the car so the heater blower motor is part of that system. May just install the air box and only hook up the heater hoses for the time being. That leaves the clock. I'm sure we can find another 12v analog clock that will.donate it's guts. I think the Chrysler 300M of the late 90's had an analog clock. I hope everyone has a happy holiday and new year! Greg

I thank you very much for the input, regardless of my misunderstanding. Greg

The radio is 6V Positive earth, it would most definitely not work on 12V negative earth as the car is wired now. I don't see how removing a fuse while starting the car and then replacing it would protect the 6V devices while in operation. That would also be quite a hassle during normal every day use. I'm not worried about the radio anyway as we are converting it for use with an Ipod and Bluetooth. I am still interested in weather I should use a voltage reducer on the window wiper motor. I imagine that it may move a bit too fast if the voltage is increased. I think I saw a 12V wiper conversion somewhere that also had multiple speeds. I may go with that for ease of use. Greg

I have had a couple beers already, maybe I should re read this tomorrow. The answer may be clear. Greg

Are you talking about the radio? If so, we are going to use a headphone jack to a small amplifier to drive the speakers. Only audio will be from a portable device like phone or iPod, so no need for any of the AM radio but we will use the original radio dials to turn on the amp and control the volume. If your talking about the wipers then there is already a fuse for them, but we will be using the wipers so I don't see why we would remove the fuse. please clarify. Greg

Yes, there is a radio but we won't be using it, just the dial and controls for looks. Wipers are electric.

I've been in the auto repair business for 15 years ( I know, not as long as a lot of folks) and I find that most the parts I get now come in the "White Box" whith whomever's label and name on it. That's just how it is these days. One company makes that parts for multiple distributors. For me it's just a mind game of sorts, because I have a hard time using an $8.50 wheel cylinder ( for me or a customer) and $50 is just rediculus. I'll usually go for the middle priced part, even though they very well may be the same part. The brand makes a bit off a difference for me too as we all have a bias toward a certain brand, I think. Greg

Ok, I got a question about Voltage reducers for the remaining 6V items in the car. What I think I need is one reducer for the fuel gauge, one for the cloxk and maybe one for the heater blowers (do I even need one for them?). Is there anything else I need a voltage reducer for? I think the Gyro-Matic solenoid and governor will be ok on 12V. I'm changing all the light bulbs. The starter is fine. Am I missing something? Greg

I have used this exact rubber seal on parts like fender skirts. It worked fine and stuck in place. The fact that the seal is hollow makes it a little more prone to tearing though. I also use it for mounting spoilers to trunk lids where I don't want water getting under the spoiler and leaking through the bolt holes. In this situation it never gets moved except for repairs or something. Overall, it is cheap but not useless. I have removed it with a heat gun to help soften the glue with no paint removal on properly painted surfaces. If the paint is old or flakey then who knows. Hope that helps.

Check this out! CLICK! It's a weatherstripping for Windows and doors, sold online and home centers. It comes I various thicknesses, looks similar to original (two beads separated by a space and its brown) self adhesive and cheap. I may be way out of line suggesting this but who knows, maybe it will help. Greg

I tried cleaning the dash knobs in CLR. I let them soak for about 10 minutes then scrubbed with the dish brush and rinsed clean. It worked out great! The CLR cleans all the gunk off the cigarette lighter too! I think I'll use this on the rest of the dash chrome. Here's a short video showing the cleaning action!

Also thought I'd show the fabric friction tape I like and will be using. It looks period correct. The tape has no glue on it but sticks to itself and is easy to remove in the future if needed. I usually find it in 3/4" wide but found 1 1/2" wide at Home Depot yesterday. The wider stuff will make wrapping the harness easier.

I used a soft cord weather strip from home Depot. It's like dum dum but in a roll. I used it to seal between the gauge trim rings and the glass. It also dampens rattling.

I have started to clean up the dash wiring and clean the instruments and dashboard itselfe. I took apart the gauges and disassembled them to clean them up. I'm not repainting anything, just cleaning and maintaining.

Made a little more progress this morning. Got the wires at the fuse box run in the correct directions. I removed the electric temp and oil sender wires. Added dome light and reverse light circuits. Moved the brake light switch wiring to the rear bundle rather than the dash bundle. We're leaving the electric fan and A/C circuits for future A/C install. i found a supplier for bulbs socket contacts, just the little brass ends in the socket. A pack of 100 at $40. http://www.repairconnector.com We ordered 7" round headlamps that accept the H4 halogen bulbs. I will add two relays for for the headlights to take the load off the headlight switch and allow for brighter headlights. i think we're going to get a GM style headlight dimmer switch so the electrical connector will be inside the car rather than under. need a voltage reducer for the fuel level sender and clock need a low voltage sensor to operate a charge light since we're not going to use the ammeter. We'll leave the gauge in place though. Tomorrow I'll make sure all the circuits are where they need to be then I'll wrap the harness from the fuse box to the firewall grommet. My buddy decided he likes the look of the cloth friction tape the best, so we'll use that. To be continued... Greg

Yes, absolutely will! Tight spots may be a bit more difficult, but not impossible. Greg

Yes! That's another brilliant idea! Definitely doing this. Greg