6V or 12v?

[OUTFXD]

I have been peeling layers of redneck engineering off Jacquiline.  At some point,  Somebody (Probably wealthy) loved this car and spent a lot of money fixing it up.  The Paint job before the one that is on it, They stripped the car, coated it in Rustoleum,  and sprayed it with quality enamel.  They sprayed under the chrome.  They sprayed The engine compartment.  They did all the door jams. they reupholstered the seats. 

 

Then they apparently turned it over to a group of non-wealthy teenagers.

 

The car has been completely rewired,  with radio shack grade wire (only red and black) and non solder crimp connectors. They sprayed white primer over the deep blue paint job and then did a Mask and spray paint job.  I am thinking they used to much hardener.  Then, by all appearances they stood back a bit and used a sand blaster with walnut shell to chip the tar out of the paint.  Here and there they went down to metal,  witch rusted,  witch stained the white primer rust color. I am assuming they used some kind of rust in a bottle to get things rusting as you can see where the dash was replaced with bare steel then sprayed with something, witch dripped down and started  eating up the floor boards along the doors and the lower rocker panels.

 

I have had slow starter issues with the car since buying it. The battery would charge, Hold a charge, and tested good at the local parts shop. The starter has been rebuilt and all the battery cables replaced (The old ones had the "Bolt on" battery connectors) and nothing would get it to spin at more than a gradual lope.

 

I have a guy coming to weld the floor panels in so I talked my buddy into letting me use his shop.  I spent all morning trying to get the car to start on the 6v battery.  Grasping at straws I unhooked all the wire connectors and added a jump switch to the starter and a test lead to the coil. Nothing.  at my friends Behest we pulled the battery out and replaced it  with a 12v battery.  She fired up in seconds and ran fine. 

 

As I was pulling her into the shop, my buddy noticed that the break lights came on when I hit the breaks. (I guess I missed a wire somewhere).  According to him.  if they where 6v bulbs they should have burned out as soon as they had power.

 

So now, I am stuck with the quandary,  Did the Previous owner convert it to 12v and the kids replaced the battery with a 6v battery.  Or is it a stock set up and the kids replaced the light bulbs with 12v bulbs not realizing they where supposed to be 6v bulbs?

 

My only  thought at this point is fire it up and see how much energy the generator is kicking out.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on how to go about figuring this out?  Help!

 

[Bryan]

I would go from the point of what do you want to do and how much you want to spend?   If all the wiring was replaced with lower amperage 12V wire (and low grade), are you going to change the wiring?   Wonder if there are any part numbers that would show you what voltage starter you have?  Forgot whether you had it rebuilt or got the car with someone saying it was rebuilt.  And if it's 12V, then you could test the Voltage the generator (or alternator) is putting out. 12V starter, then you need a 12V battery and a 12V alternator/gen.   If it's 6V, you need to make sure you have a heavy enough gauge wire for that 6V starter/battery/gen system (plus the ignition switch and headlight switch).  12V runs less amperage, 6V more.   Rear bulbs usually have a marking on the metal base whether they are 6V or 12V.   Brake lights used momentarily might not burn out immediately.  

[OUTFXD]

Already have a new (quality) wiring harness(with relays & blade style fuse panel).  I plan on swapping to 12v.  I did have the starter rebuilt and am pretty sure the guy confirmed it was a 6v starter.  I haven't pulled the break bulbs yet, but that is a good place to start.

 

You've given me a couple things to look into so thanks!

[Sniper]

Pet peeve of mine,  It is brake lights, not break.

 

Sorry.

 

Pull a bulb and give use the number, that'll tell you everything about it.  When I converted my 51 to 12v I believe I used 1157 bulbs for the brake lights.

[plymjim]

Part number on your generator &starter will prove 12 or 6 volts.

I don't presently have access to my records but I'm sure someone

on here would gladly look up the numbers for you. 

[OUTFXD]

15 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Pet peeve of mine,  It is brake lights, not break.

 

Sorry.

 

Pull a bulb and give use the number, that'll tell you everything about it.  When I converted my 51 to 12v I believe I used 1157 bulbs for the brake lights.

Nah, my bad. I dont communicate to well sometimes.

 

Turns out the tail lights are 6v.   Turns out I Isolated the battery from the electrical system, but once the engine fired the Generator produced 6v and powered the brake lights.

[OUTFXD]

quick question,  I replaced the battery cables with whatever small gauge universal wire the local parts shack had with the intention of replacing them with proper wires at a later date(about the same size as the ones already there actually).  Could this throttle down the electrics enough to make the starter drag?  I mean seriously drag. as in barely turn over.

[Los_Control]

It is possible, 6 volts require heavy 0/0 or 1/0 cables for proper ground ... I have a smaller 2/0 cable and seems to work ok.

 

Possible you may be able to use a pair of jumper cables for ground & see if it cranks over better?

not a fix just a test.

[keithb7]

Pretty easy to hook a bulb up to a 12V or 6V battery and see how bright it is. Compare it to a known 12V if you like.

Easiest is look at the number on the bulb base and google it.

[wagoneer]

Why not just put a volt meter across the battery terminals and see how much voltage when you fire it up. If it's 12v system, then you should get about 14 volts when running. If it's 6 volts, you would likely be shorting things out pretty quickly especially your radio.

 

There should be some telltale signs of voltage reducers for the stock gauges, and the distributor should be likely a newer type (no points likely). 

[wallytoo]

a 6 volt starter will work just fine in a 12 volt conversion.  it’s only running for 3 to 10 seconds each start.  the 6v starter in my truck has been working just fine with 12 volts for the last 15 years.