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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / April 20071954 Chevy voltage conversion
What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question in thanks for that info also >What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question >in thanks for that info also You would need to replace all the light bulbs with the 12 volt equivalent. You would need to put a voltage reducer in the supply wire that powers the dash gauges. You'd need to change the heater blower motor. You'd need to change the starter to a 12 volt starter. Change the radio, etc, etc, For that old of a vehicle it should be pretty simple, basically you change everything to it's 12 volt equivalent. If you can't change it you have to provide something to step the voltage down (such as the gauges). If it has an old tube radio you'd be better off just putting a modern radio in it unless you are trying to maintain it all original. You'd have to find someone else to tell you how to get an old tube radio converted. >>What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > are trying to maintain it all original. You'd have to find someone > else to tell you how to get an old tube radio converted. I wouldn't worry about the starter. >>> What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>> volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > I wouldn't worry about the starter. Agreed. The heater blower and wiper motor might be a problem though. I went through this dance a couple years ago with my '55 Studebaker; however that is an easier car to convert because a '56 is the exact same car practically but with 12V accessories. The only place I needed to use voltage droppers was on the temperature gauge and fuel gauge. (the radio I just removed.) A '54 Chev. might be more problematic because the body style changed for '55 so there may be no direct 12V interchanges for some components. Maybe might want to post to a more Chevy-oriented group so you can see what you're in for? good luck, nate  Signaturereplace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel >>>What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>>volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >I wouldn't worry about the starter. Yeah, it would probably work fine and I bet it would spin that engine over like there's no tomorrow. It would be kinda cool. >>>>What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>>>volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Yeah, it would probably work fine and I bet it would spin that engine > over like there's no tomorrow. It would be kinda cool. It'd probably sound like a MoPar :) nate Signaturereplace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel >> What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >> volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > are trying to maintain it all original. You'd have to find someone > else to tell you how to get an old tube radio converted. Starter is no problem. Swap out the generator for a 12 volt unit. Add a dropping resistor for the points and change out the ignition coil. On the dash gauges you can just grab a voltage reducer for the fuel, oil, water temp gauges, amp gauge won't need anything. Radio can be fed through a voltage reducer BUT get a large one if you still have a tube set. Blower speed control, you will need to replace the resistor pack with a newer unit. SignatureSteve W. > >> What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 > >> volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > - Show quoted text - The 6-volt blower motor will draw about 6 amps at 7 volts, or around40 watts. If we need to reduce a 14-volt system (a 12-volt system runs at 14) we need to get rid of 7 volts. E = I x R, so 7 =6 x 1.16 ohms. Anything from an ohm to an ohm and a half will do. You can use a resistor array from an '80s Ford, lets say, and pick the resistor (there are three of them) that comes closest, or parallel a couple to get what you need. Dan >What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question >in thanks for that info also New starter New alternator (and regulator). If you have a generator, it is worth retrofitting a modern alternator in for longer battery life. New light bulbs throughout. New radio. What else is there that runs off the electrical system? If you have accessories like windshield wipers you will need to replace those motors as well. --scott Signature"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." >>What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >well. >--scott After seeing all the stuff that's affected I think I would just add a second 6 volt battery and run dual batteries. And maybe redo all the major feed wires with bigger wire for less voltage drop. >>>What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 >>>volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > second 6 volt battery and run dual batteries. And maybe redo all the > major feed wires with bigger wire for less voltage drop. I've seen people "center-tap" the old style tar top batteries to get a 6V output for gauges etc... certainly will void your battery's warranty, but it works. nate Signaturereplace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel >> After seeing all the stuff that's affected I think I would just add a >> second 6 volt battery and run dual batteries. And maybe redo all the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >6V output for gauges etc... certainly will void your battery's >warranty, but it works. You can also put two 6V batteries under the hood in series, then pull the center tap off. Of course, two 6V batteries will be a lot more money than a single 12V one. The other solution is to trade the car in for a VW bug. Doing the 6->12V conversion on the bug is easy, since there's hardly anything electrical on it. Also it's more fun to drive and gets better mileage. --SCott Signature"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." > >What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 > >volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > accessories like windshield wipers you will need to replace those motors as > well. Probably still vacuum. Dan > >What all would be involved in converting a 1954 Chevy Bel-Air from 6 > >volt to 12 volts...If anyone knows a bteer group to post this question [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > -- > "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." Go buy an 8 volt battery, yes they are available, and adjust the regulator to output about 9 volts by increasing the tension on the field coil spring. You will find that this will blow out some of the bulbs in the car that are weak but the new ones will last well. The bonus is that the starter and the rest of the electrical system will perform as if they were on Viagra. No muss no fuss, no new starter, generator et. al. Bobby Ray In 1972,I bought a 1950 six cylinder manual shift Ford car.I wanted faster starting and brighter head lights.I went to an auto/truck/lawn mower/MG batteries battery manufacturer that used to be not far from me (the factory went out of business about seven years ago) and I bought an 8 volt battery.Then I went to an automotive electric shop near me.One of the guys who works there,he got a pair of pliers and all he did was tweak the regulator on my car.Not many years later,I sold the car.The car was still running great when I got rid of it.Two more volts from 6 volts up to 8 volts sure did make a difference in that old car. cuhulin On Apr 25, 6:45 pm, cuhu...@webtv.net wrote: > In 1972,I bought a 1950 six cylinder manual shift Ford car.I wanted > faster starting and brighter head lights.I went to an auto/truck/lawn [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > volts up to 8 volts sure did make a difference in that old car. > cuhulin The problem with that 8-volt conversion is the difficulty in getting 6-volt batteries and bulbs and so on. I'd imagine that by now a 6-volt battery costs more than a 12-volt, and 6- volt bulbs I have found way too hard to find. I've converted my 1948 International farmall Cub tractor and my 1951 International pickup to 12-volt. The tractor's 6-volt starter worked better than ever and I started that thing in cold winters for ten years to plow snow without hurting the starter. The alternator was off a newer auto with the regulator built in. The lights went to 12 volt. The truck was a different animal. I replaced the blown-up engine with a Ford 300, and changed the lights to 12 volt, did the Ford heater-resistor thing for the blower motor, and built an electronic regulator for the instruments using an LM317 regulator chip. The chip is good for 1.5 amps if heat-sinked and the old fuel, oil pressure and temp gauges draw a total of about half an amp at most (I don't remember exactly, but the chip was plenty capable). The wipers were vacuum-driven, but I'm thinking of installing an electric wiper motor. The old 6-volt wiper motors could be run via a power resistor just like the heater motor if the current is known at the usual 7-volt supply. Divide 7 volts (the drop from 14) by the amperage to get the required resistance. |
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