Anybody use one of these? Ive seen ones for around $389 minus battery and wondered if it be a little less head ache to buy one of these? Any thoughts or tips from you guys that have converted a 55 would be appreciated!
Read this first: http://www.ebay.com/gds/6-to-12-Volt-Conversion-1955-Ford-/10000000001571127/g.html Since your '55 only has about 8 circuits you don't need to blow a lot of cash on a wiring harness,for years many of our members were happy with Rebel Wires 9+3 kit but they have gotten greedy on price as of late almost $50 over three years ago, this kit contains almost all the same components for $90 compared to $209.95 https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Circuit...ash=item3d5087b86b:g:CjcAAOSwuxpZa~uq&vxp=mtr. The savings could pay for a one wire alternator,12 volt bulbs and the gauge regulator mentioned in step # 13.
Thanks jeff. I was going to keep it 6v, but figured it wouldnt be a bad idea to swap. Hopefully getting my "B" manifold, 57+ distributor, pertronix, and carb on this weekend. Then wire it the next.
Jeff, can the 57+ distributors (points not with pertronix) be used on a 6v system correctly? or do the require 12v to operate properly?
If your wiring is in good shape just convert to 12volt. Change all bulbs, flasher, starter solenoid, coil and generator to 12volt. Change ground to negative. Get a couple of Runtz resistors for the temp and gas gauges. If you have an original 6v radio, install a voltage drop of suitable amperage. All the other 6v components should be perfectly fine seeing 12v.
I think you would be better off all around going 12 volts day by day 6 volt stuff is getting harder to find and more pricey. If you are out there driving and something goes wrong good luck finding a 6 volt part you will probably get that blank stare at the parts counter.The link I posted above about the 6 to 12 conversion (Step # 13) this is what you want for your gauges https://www.ebay.com/i/192119374525?chn=ps you only need one, Ford had 6 volt gauges up into the 80's using these,IXNAY on the Runtz for those.
Bulbs are shown on the first of page #4 of the "Sticky FAQ" Look at post #2 here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1213885-12volt-bulb-vs-6volt-bulb.html
Here are the dash light bulbs in LED https://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-T11-BA...ash=item544d1824bd:g:ejMAAOSwXhtZjdUk&vxp=mtr Since I am doing my interior in blue I used blue LED's in the dash. https://www.ebay.com/itm/20X-Bayone...ash=item212cedc897:g:JtQAAOSwh1pZ-dpA&vxp=mtr
Damn I looked right over that! Thanks again jeff. I plan on doing the leds for all of them, might as well be able to see as best as possible at night
The harness in my '59 was so bad and no fuse panel, so it had to go. Went with a 14 circuit Kwik Wire that ran me $275 and they customized a couple of things at no charge. Good to deal with. The Rebel 9+3 is good too. My stuff was already 12v and the dash bulbs were easy to find. I used regular bulbs.
The wiring in my car is in pretty good shape(35k orig miles), the cars been really well taken care of and stored well. From what Ive looked through the harness wont need replacing so that saves me a bit of time and cash.
My harness was scary. Hacked up, the front in the engine bay was down to a few wires. Plus I updated the ignition to an HEI, added a tach, gauges and so on.
What HEI did you use? Im leaning towards putting pertronix in mine, but i hear mixed reviews on them.
If you have a 1957 and later Ford distributor Pertronix isn't the only game in town: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/acc-2020/reviews/?sortReviews=Newest
A lot of today's ignition coils come in various resistance factors some of the failures with points conversion kits is mis-matched parts this would be the way to go :https://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-Y-Blo...butor-BLACK-60K-Coil-Plug-Wires-/231880242442
I wasnt aware of the accel brand ones, and I had looked at those HEI distributor kits as well, was kind of wary since it was an ebay thing. but may have to check into it more. Trying to get this car were I can drive it anywhere and it run as good as possible. Intending on making the trek up to jersey for TROG in it later this year.
Mine was awesome. Mine had speaker wire for wiring, a section of a LAMP CORD and nothing was soldered. Not even crimp connectors. Just stripped, twisted together and taped. I have no idea how this thing ran/didn’t catch fire. The best part is that someone had put in a rebel kit! The fuse box was mounted up nicely and the wires were just butchered.
Whatever you decide on the distributor make sure you have it on-hand before you attempt to remove the old one. I can guarantee that the old one will not give up its place easily and will probably be destroyed by the removal process.
Not to be negative but, has anyone here used one of the y block kits off ebay? I have heard a little about them and it was not good. They are cheap sourced from China. If you want a quality ignition for a y block there are better sources.
Mine was all OG and I have reason to believe it was a cop car. There were added provisions for more lights, a map light under the dash. Extra terminal blocks on the firewall too. I had brown lamp cord, twisted and taped together as well. A couple of wire nuts that fell off when I touched them. The best part of the harness kit is that it forces you to wire it their way. The kits you lose some of the redundancy that the OG harness had in even back in 1959. But it simplifies the dash illumination and almost every circuit is plug and play. One of the trickiest parts was the dome light. Ford had it as one wire and the bracket on the socket is the ground. I had to snake 2 wires up the A pillar. The black wire connecting the door switches I ran across the bottom of the dash. All my extra wire came from The Wiring Depot. I used their 2-wire socket for my dome light, but it had no means to attach it to the hole provided. I machined a bracket out of flat .030" aluminum, bent it to an L and JB Welded it to the rear of the socket housing.
I know exactly what you mean about that dome light. The original coating of the wires running to it was just FALLING apart. I used the existing wires as a snake to pull new stuff through. I picked up new door switches and rewired that in as well. Good times. Off topic, I had an idea for a toggle-switch controlled 'alarm' using a relay and the door light switches to complete a ground to the horn. That way, if I armed the system toggle switch and someone opened my door, the horn would blow until someone cut the wire or the battery would die.
Off topic, I had an idea for a toggle-switch controlled 'alarm' using a relay and the door light switches to complete a ground to the horn. That way, if I armed the system toggle switch and someone opened my door, the horn would blow until someone cut the wire or the battery would die.[/QUOTE] I always ground my coil through a switched wire and run the starter wire from the ignition switch through a switch, when I leave the car, I flip both switches and the car will neither start nor run. Total cost about $10 for two toggle switches, piece of mind, priceless. I did this on my daughters car when she got it back after being stolen. Someone tried again but only succeeded in getting in the car, couldn't start it.
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