I am working on getting ready to take my 50 model chevy from a 6 volt to a 12 volt sytem, I honestly dont know where to begin or what all is involved. Anyone have any advice or pointers?
a few resistors, new light bulbs, may as well put in new battery cables, of course a battery, not a big deal really. you can wire up a plain gm alternator to a 1 wire real easy.
I agree with 53sled,definetly use the 1 wire gm alternator. i changed over a 50 ford from 6 to 12 volt. none of the lights worked anyway so i didnt change any bulbs.I also kept the 6 volt starter, it worked just fine.
Change all the bulbs to a 12 V. Dash,headlight and tail lights. Install an alternator. The amp guage will work no problem. Was the 6 volt system negative ground? If not reverse the wire,s on the amp meter. The mechanical guages are fine Temp or oil. The gas guage will need a resistor. One side of the gauge goes to the sending unit the other is power. between the gauge and the power wire install a resistor. Rember the heater motor,Radio.wiper motor. Anything that works off the battery. The heater motor and the wiper motor can be changed to a 12V unit. Hop this helps.
awesome yeah that helps a lot, i am going to start working on this. I really need to work on adding the new dash light and upgrading the signals and such. The ones i have on there now are pretty dim and I have had to resort to hand signals.
do yourself a favor and buy the book that covers this. I did, and Im glad I did too. It explains alot of helpful knowledge so that youre not just going at it blindly. Judging by youre opening post, youre not too sure about all this. Check it out! http://www.chevsofthe40s.com/detail/13303/Chevrolet_BOOK_VOLT_TO_VOLT_CONVERSION.html