6 volts to 12 volts

Hi all. Wiring is not my strong point. What do I need to do to run my original instament panel on my 40 ford now that I went to 12 volts with an alternater? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Tom

 

lots of tech on the 6v to 12v swap, the oil, water temp and speedo are mechanical and do not need electric. The gas gauge will need a runtz that swaps the power down, and the amp meter should still work. Do a search for the swap-trust me there is a ton of information out there!!!!

 

First, the OIL, BATT, TEMP and FUEL gauges in a 40 Ford are electrical, not mechanical. The speedometer is mechanical. I converted my 40 Ford DeLuxe car to 12 V using an alternator. To operate the OIL. TEMP, and FUEL gauges on 6 volts I used a Ron Francis Constant Voltage Reducer (CVR). It reduces the incoming 12 volts to 6 volts which feed these three gauges -TEMP-OIL-FUEL. To operate the BATT gauge I isolated the BATT gauge by removing the brass strip on the back of the gauges (see sketch) and making sure no other wires from any other gauge feed it. I installed another wire (yellow in sketch) to connect the OIL and TEMP gauges. I then used a 60 ohm resistor in the 12V line which feeds the BATT gauge so as to reduce the incoming 12V to 6. That way the BATT gauge still works fine on 6 V. To reduce the amount of wires attached to your ignition switch install a fuse block on the fire wall. I thank Flat Ernie for his technical assistance in helping me do this. See the sketch and pay special attention to the wiring. Also disconnect your battery when doing all this. The black "finned" item in the photos is a CVR. The other item is a fuse block you get at an auto parts store. The resistor was bought on line really cheap.