57Royal

By the way, thanks Don Coatney for the pictures of your alternator swap. Excellent work. I may have to do the same type of setup for mine and those pictures will come in very handy. Thanks.

Also I forgot to mention, but the only wires left on the engine are the wires from the starter to the battery tray with a solenoid and a couple of wires on the distributor which I dont think go anywhere. The previous owner had no idea and cut the harness from the engine bay. I have a workshop manual on CD, but it isn't a very good scan so its hard to read some parts. Just trying to figure out what has to be hooked up to make it run. I have no idea on the state of the engine except that it turns over by hand on the fan belt with some effort.

Also there is no ammeter on this car from factory. I plan to put one on but only when it is much closer to completion. Here is the dash on the car: So Speedo, Fuel and Temp gauges and idiot lights for oil pressure and generator.

Great news. Thanks This is a picture of the wiper motor on these cars if it helps:

This is a picture of the dash from my Aussie produced 1957 Chrysler Royal. Just wondering if any of the U.S.A or Canadian built cars had the same gauge layout. (Although Left Hand Drive obviously) It's one of the best looking dashes I have ever seen!

I guess I am much more comfortable running everything negative earth. I guess I am being lazy. I just think it would be simpler to run it that way. I plan to get the car restored enough to make the 454km journey to my states capital city for car club runs. So eventually will be adding a stereo and air conditioning for the long drive. As well as a heater of some sort. I just think it would be easier to locate and fit negative earth equipment.

Thanks for the information Don. I hadn't considered the wiper motors. I will be starting the engine initially with positive earth which should be within the next few weeks. I work at an auto parts store and have ordered the distributor cap, rotor and points. As well as a carby kit and some wiring. Have an issue with the distributor shaft turning by hand while bolted into the engine. I have two spares so I will pull this one and fit one of the others and see if the problem persists. There is no evidence of a heater on this car as the dash has no air vents and no outlets on the motor for a heater core. Only vent is in front of the windscreen on the cowl which is lever operated. What about the starter motor ? Can I just connect it up to the other terminal on the battery once I have converted to neg earth? And I was wondering about things like dash lights and the three speed overdrive transmission. (Not sure if that is electronically operated or not)

I have a 57 Aussie Chrysler Royal which is based on the 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook chassis and body. The electrical system is 12v Positive earth. I want to change it over to 12v Negative earth and adapt something like a single wire Alternator to run on the 251 flathead 6 engine. What has to be changed to achieve this? I ran a search on the forums and came up dry. The distributor in the Aussie cars was a Lucas DM6A whereas I think the USA built cars ran a different system? I will be rewiring the vehicle myself with a 12 or 14 circuit harness kit. Picture isn't my car, but same model.

Sorry to drag up a 2 year old thread, but I own a 1957 Royal with the 3 speed manual Overdrive transmission. I believe my Royal is factory stock and it has the park brake on the rear of the transmission.... So now I wonder if it was changed sometime in the 1957/1958 year. Mine still has rag tyres on it and is showing 95,764 miles. It may have been around the clock a few times, but with rag tyres on it I am guessing maybe not. These are based on the 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook chassis and shell. I think Dodge Kingsway and a couple of other cars were the same. The dead giveaway is the rear doors. They have the unique curved quarter glass. I think the USA equivalent was P25? Ours were AP1, AP2 and AP3 for Australian Production 1, 2 and 3. I have also read that some believe the AP to actually mean Australian Plymouth. The first one sounds correct to me. The aussie cars got a wraparound rear windscreen and the front and rear quarters were locally designed and built with the fins on the rear and our unique grill and headlight arrangement. Aussie cars got the 25" long block Canadian and English KEW engines. Mine has a 251ci Kew engine.