paulmusiclover

I've been talking about a few of the issues I've been having across multiple posts, to consolidate, here's where I'm at, and I'm a bit lost on where my issue(s) lie ... they are mostly Electrical I believe at this point: 1. Ammeter Works - shows 0 when off, shows me negatives when I turn various lights and accesories on when vehicle is off or on. I don't believe it's ever shown me a positive actually , though to be honest, I haven't driven the car that much to know yet. I leave the car plugged into a 6 volt trickle charger whenever I have it in the garage (all the time), so I don't know if it's charging with the generator or not. I could use some advice on how to test this. (please bear in mind, I have an ohm meter and a light tester, but do not really know how to use the ohm meter, so advice on this is appreciated too! LOL) 2. May be related to the rest of this, but my starter seems to only work intermittently. My battery may be fully charged, but I'll press the starter button and only see a very small drop in the Ammeter, with no resulting starter movement. If I turn the key back off, and try again a little later, it will work, and turn just fine. it doesn't do this every time I turn off the car, but now and then. 3. Again this may be tied to the rest of the issues, however, I'm not 100% sure. The car dies if I turn on the full headlights/bright (seems like too much power drawn away from the engine and it shuts off) - again, this might be tied to a voltage meter or generator issue. Now, I do know that the starter was rebuilt in the last 4-5 months by the previous owner. I also know the voltage regulator is new within that timeframe as well... I've ordered a replacement light switch just in case there is a short there, will be arriving this week. I'd really like to diagnose this problem so I can get driving it! Help! Paul

I've noticed something about a backup light switch that is automatic and connects to the Transmission in some of the old posts - what is this, where does it go, and will it work with a 3-speed manual trans? Paul

Is Seafoam sold in stores or only online? (just thought I'd ask, I'll check my local stores when I go in there next time.)

That's great! Unfortunately, the couple of paint places I've called/gone to see here in Austin have either said "sorry, we won't paint an old car like that" (modern paint shops), or they want $10K to $12K (these are custom classic car shops) - pretty ridiculous... :S

Your '38 is amazing - I can't wait to see the finished '48... if I can ask, what is he charging for paint? I'm trying to get an idea of cost to do this... Paul

Can I just say again how great you guys all are - thank you for taking the time to answer so many questions .... There had already been a turn signal indicator installed years ago (it was falling apart and no longer worked) - which I removed and replaced with the current one .. turn signals all work, as does the four way flasher., so the parking lights are already wired for blinking, and work. I am ordering a replacement footswitch, I figure for $20, I'll change it out, since I already know it's flaky. Thanks again everyone.

Shel, I PM'ed you, but I'm not sure it worked.. let me know.. in the meantime, here's the content of my message: I played around with it a little more just now - trying turning on and off various things to see what happens. If I go to parking lights, I get about -25 Amps, if I turn on the headlights, it goes to -32 or so. I also reached under the car and jiggled around the connections going to the light switch - I got both high and low beams when I did that I also noticed if I let it warm up, then sit without anything on, it goes down to low idle, if I turn on the lights, or my fog lights (which give me about a -15 or 17 by themselves) - it revs back up to fast idle, so that seems to be working fine. Unfortunately, if I try and turn the lights on full (high beams) in the driveway, I can hear the engine slowing down, and eventually, it just stalls. If I try and drive it, I definitely stall in short order. Do you still think it could be something ground related, or could it be that my generator is unable to keep up? I'll be honest, I have an Ohm meter, but I don't really know how to use it to test this kind of thing... if you don't mind helping out a newbie to that kind of thing - I'd be all ears (or eyes in this case) on how to test the output of the generator. Paul

I notice Napa has a 3 terminal switch - I think mine has 4 though? Does that make sense, and can I use a 3 terminal one? (headlight floor pedal dimmer switch)

Hey there... Well, that does bring up a good point, my headlights only work on High beams (I'm assuming it's high, because the dash light for highbeams goes on) so it seems I might need a new headlight switch anyway.... that is a possible issue to resolve right there... Paul

Alright, so here's another one - headlights - it appears what has been run here by previous owner is plastic jacketted 14 gauge wire to the headlights.. maybe 12, but I think it's 14. and it's DEFINITELY the lights that are doing this - I see my ammeter dump down in the -35 range when I flip those puppies on. I'm going to have to trace all my wires and see if I've got a bad ground going to those somewhere. ugh. Electrical, I thought I actually enjoyed it before I started working on this car!!!

Greg - I've attached a pic of my battery cables - I don't know what this size is. I'm going to do some more playing around with it - my headlights are incredibly dim compared to the two foglights I just installed last night, so I wonder if there is a grounding problem on them that is really increasing the amperage coming from that system. Oh - horn relay - I have a 3 pole one - but my diagram shows this should be 4 pole. Would that help explain why my horns don't work? LOL! Paul

I was looking at one of those old-fashioned AAH-OO-GAH horns that I'd really like to add to my D-24, but it's 12v - any thoughts on if that would work in the 6v system I'm still running, or am I out of luck til I upgrade to 12v?

And additional question - Can the spring covers be regreased somehow?

Shel / Greg - ok, here's how things went tonight - I started out by changing out my spark plugs (the old ones needed a change, since I don't know how long they were in there, and condition, though they didn't look too bad actually) - then I spent about an hour mounting my new Fog Lights (I ordered the 6" kit from Bernbaum - they're great, and easy to install!) - I got the car started, and cruised up and down the block a few times, after dark. So here's the kicker -- I believe that when I have the lights on, or some electrical drain on the system, that's when my engine is slowing down and dying. If I turned off all the lights, anything electrical, except for my electric fuel pump, I didn't stall, and everything was fine. All of this started on the first night I actually drove the car at night with the headlights on. Could this be: 1. A short of some kind, drawing too much power? 2. An issue with the power going to the electric fuel pump? (that might cause the lack of gas, and chuffing sound I was getting if there wasn't enough gas getting to the carb) 3. Could it be that I need bigger wires coming off my solenoid, or going to my distributor, etc? I can see that some of the wires have been replaced, and I'm unsure what original gauge should have been in there. I've been doing my repairs to most electrical (under the dash , etc) with 14 gauge. Thoughts, comments or any advice appreciated on this, other than that, my project is coming along nicely, and I really enjoy driving it - I put new tires on it yesterday - nothing fancy, just 1 inch whitewalls, but it desperately needed them. Eventually, I'm going to order some Diamondback 3" whitewalls like I have on my Bel Air. I love the gangster-look.. and the Foglights help that too. Paul

Hmmm.. ok, here's a question then - if I drill out the centre (I have the peened ended one) - and then buy some of those shock mount kits from the local parts place and bolt them in there - would that work? Otherwise, I'm a little lost on what I could do. Without those studs, I can't mount the shocks. :S