DutchEdwin

It is a nice way to go Sam, but it is supposed to be black. This will cost you points at a show ?. I stick to the old generator and regulator. I like the fuzzeling around with the old technique and keep my car as original as possible. My battery however is a Optima Yellow top. Now the car starts, even when the battery is older then 2 years. Optima adviced to use the Yellow top instead of the Red top because I do not use my car often. The Yellow Top is better resistant for the long time not being in use then the redtop. The delivered current is still much more then a stand battery can deliver.

Thanks for the advice. Now I have a new regulator in the car, not working eighter. So I'm adjusting the original one. I did ground the generator, however I do not remember if I revved up the engine. Doing that again tomorrow!

I want to adjust my Generator Regulator. The output is only 6.2V. It should be 7.2V - 7.5V when running at 30mph equivalent engine speed. I looked in the shop manual on how to do it. First I sanded the contact points with polish paper, grain 1000. Setting the points: Looking at the spec's I know I have to set the air gap between the breakerpoints to 0.048 - 0.052" for the current and voltage regulator. However there is an other spec, the contact point gap being 0,015". Can anyone tell me where this gap should be set? If this is the gap between the underside of the contact point and the top of the coil when the armature os pushed down, how can I adjust this? in my regulator it is 0.09". I found in youtube this video from Chysler masterclass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRk1xbJIBcY In this video there is no setting of the contact point gap, only the air gap. This is what is mentioned in the shop manual: 2. CHECKING CURRENT AND VOLTAGE REGULATOR AIR GAPS—Use the pin type gauge (from Kit C-828) which measures from .048 to .052 inch. Insert gauge on point side of air gap and next to armature stop pin with the contact points just separating. See Figure 15. 3. ADJUSTING CURRENT AND VOLTAGE AIR GAPS—Loosen the bracket screws and raise or lower the contact point brackets until the desired clearance is obtained. Tighten these screws securely after adjustment is made. With the armature held down so that the stop rivet rests on the magnet core, the point gap should be .015 inch when checked with a feeler gauge. Are there special attention points I should take care of, other then break the connection to the battery while doing this?

This weekend I tested the 6V Optima Yellow Top battery. This battery performs great. Together with new O size battery cables the car starts well when cold and when hot. In fact the starter never turned that fast then with this battery. Problem solved. Thanks to you all.

Update on the battery. I managed to get in touch with an adviser from Optima. He advised to put a Yellow Top 6V motor start/deep cycle battery instead of the Red Top starter battery The reason is as follows, - The car is not used for long periods. The Yellow Top can withstand the period of not being used better, thus givving a longer battery life. - Most important, the Yellow Top will give higher voltage compaired to the Red Top when high amps are drawn, about 0,3 volts. On a 6V car this means a lot for the starter. - The little lower CCA of 765A to 815A will be of no meaning for this use. - The Red Top can be drained for 30%, but the Yellow Top to 70% without damaging the battery. He stated that both batteries are performing much better than normal lead-acid batteries. Also on higher under the hood temperatures, where lead-acid batteries will perform less at these temp. For maintenance, you must use a charger with tickle charge function suitable for AGM batteries, So I ordered a Yellow Top today.

I bet you and your wife were happy with the ice cream, but ....what was your car's response. ? Btw, today and tomorrow it will be 38C. Almost a new record for my country. The ice cream will almost be meledt before you can have your first bite.

To give you an update. I learned from an old engineer that when looking for a problem... do not stop before you find at least 3 faults. No I have found two. The wire from the battery to the starter soleniod and from the battery to ground were green under the isolation. Replaced those two. The wire from the solenoid to the starter is ok. The battery is dead. I charged it for 4 days with 4 amps. When starting the voltage dropped to 3V!. Now I will order a 6V red top Optima battery. See what that will bring. After that I´ll do a voltage drop test to see it there are bad connections. I´ll keep you updated on that. There is also the solenoid. How can you find out that the connections inside are still good enough let the high current pass? When the above are all solved I'll dive into the starter, generator and regulator. To John Edge, Why do you use two 6V Optima instead of 1? I called Optima in the Netherlands. They told me that there is no need for two batteries. For the lead plate batteries, to get 720CCA you must have a big battery, thus getting a 140Ah. For the Optima Red Top can give 815CCA (1000 at 0 deg celcius) with a 50Ah battery there is no need for taking two, if there are no electrical equipment running when the car is not used, like a clock.

Greg, The starter is located next to the sump. I did the same like you did, put a heat sheald from reflection aluminum around the starter with an air gap of 0,5 inch. It helped a little. Taking the starter to a shop for testing is something I didn't think of before because it funtions great when the engine is cold. I'll try looking for a shop that does that. Hope there is one for 6V. The pictures from John Edge's car are great, I want to do the same..... but with the posibility to start on 12V.

1 month ago I charged my battery for 48 hours. Today I did try to start my car , battery reading 6,20V. After 1/2 turn of the engine it stopped. After that, battery reads voltage 6,01 volts. So I think it is dead. My guess is that last year the battery wasn´t in a good conditioning, not able to deliver 500 amps. To Soth I got these problems last year. I cleaned all terminals, overhauled the starter. After that the car started better when cold ) engine speed by the starter was a little faster. However when hot still a problem. Putting the pedal 1/2, 3/4 or to the floor did not matter. Waiting for it to cool down 0,5 hour did. To SSER2: I have no vapor lock. Even spraying starter fluid into the carb does not work. My timing according to the manual should be at 4 deg. But I set it at 8 deg advance. Even then the vacuum pressure is only 18 inch, should be 21 inch. I´m affraid to do more advancing because of getting a knock in the engine. 3 years ago I replaced all electrical for the ignition like spark plug wires, coil, points, condensor etc. To be shure, I´m taking out the two old cables that run from the battery to the engine and battery to the solenoid and replace them by new 00 cables. After that I´ll do the voltage drop test. (when having a new battery). I'm thinking to use the Optima 6V battery. (two of them fit in the same space as my current batter). In case this does not work I would still like to know how to connect 2 6V batteries is a system tat allows me to start at 12V and use both batteries in the 6V system of the car and have them charged with the generator. Anyone knows how to do that?

I do not know the test "voltage drop test", is this a test to see the battery is still good? As for the starter, I did a complete overhaul. The rear and front bushings are good, and lubricated with oil. I have a new 00 cable to the starter solenoid, but an old one from the solenoid to the starter. Going to replace that one with a new one. As for the current 140Ah 720CCA battery, it did not survive the winter for sure. Not even two turns on a cold engine now after recharging for 48 hours, but no complaint as it lasted 8 years.

I still have my starting problems with my 1955 Plymouth V8. See. Trying befor winter I found that starting with aspraying starter flued in the carb does not work, so the problem is the starter motor does not have enough power to turn a hot engine. (pistons have heated up, making the enging harder to turn by the starter). I would like to solve this issue this summer but unfortunatly over winter the battery died. So a new battery is needed. Original: 6V 140Ah 720 CCA I have a few options I would like to discuss. 1) I keep running on 6V. Installing a 50Ah 850 CCA/6 volt 10x3.5x8 Optima battery. Changing the battery cables to new very thick ones. The advantage of this battery is very low self-discharge and very quick high amps for starting. Question: does anyone have experience unig this battery? 2) If this does not work I can take a second 850 CCA/6 volt 10x3.5x8 Optima battery. Using them in series for 12V for the starter, and 6V parallel for the car systems. The question is, does anyone know how to wire this so both batteries are charged by the generator on 6V. 2) I can use a 6V/12V battery ( http://antiqueautobattery.com/accessories.html ) This way the car starts on 12V, system runs on 6V. For me living in The Netherlands, is very high transportation costs + taxes. Does anyone have experience with this?

I checked / refurbished the starter myself. Brushes are still good. Brush springs have good force, the commutator is cleaned and polished, the bearings have a little oil, the electric contact cleaned and the bendix is new.

Don, I never checked if the cables are hot, indicating to small size. But the cable to the starter is thumb thick, normaly used for a professionall electric welding torch. They are running bigger then 50 amps. I'll check if they run hot. All contacts, from battery to the starter are cleaned and grease with any seize (copper based grease) last week. I'm triggered to the idea of shimming because when I bolt the starter together I can let it turn easy by hand or tough by moving the rear sheald radial before bolting it down. There is a little radial play between the rear sheald with plain bearing to the starter housing of about 0,1mm to 0,2mm (0.004 to 0.008 inch)

Did you open the carb to see if it is clean inside? check the needles for shutting off the openings. If they do not, clean the carb with white spirrit (in dutch it is called thinner, could be the same in english). it removes the fuel gunk easy.

I drove my car to the Classic USA car festival last Sunday. Only 20 km, or about 12 miles from my home. The car was not starting after I turned off the engine when I arrived and tried to start after 5 minutes. The battery was filled with a charger for two day's. After 4 hours letting it cool down the starter rev'ed quick and the engine started immediatly. So the battery was not the problem I think. The engine binding up sounds unlikely. it is completely overhauled 2000 miles ago. When I try to start up immediatly after I turned it off it starts. I could try to find new star washers. They are still the original one's from '55. But I was carefull not to paint the filling of the housing where the starter goes in to or any point that . There is no star washer there, putting one could not harm though. Also Running a lead wire to that point direct from the battery should double the capacity for the current to run through the metal of the engine or lead wire. A friend of mine mentioned to put a shimm at the rear end under the cap of the starter on the "cold" side of the starter. By putting it on one side, counter balancing the thermal expension of the starter when hot. The shimm although must be small, not blocking the starter when cold. I let you guy's know if anything works. If not, I probably shoud try making the bearing gap a few microns larger. though I'm a bit afraid doing so, trying not to ruin the starter.