Air Bagging a 6 Volt Car

My buddy Gary is going to be bagging his 1950 Dodge soon and had a couple questions. I hope someone here can shed some light for him and offer some advice. This is from him:

"Since my car is still 6 volt, I will be putting a 12 volt battery in the trunk and putting a 12 volt alternator up on the engine but still keeping my old 6 volt system....(just adding a 12 volt alternator for the airbags only).....

So my question is....what type of Alternator do I buy, do I need to buy a 12 volt voltage regulater and what size wire do I run from the engine bay back to the battery in the trunk as I do not have room for the 12 volt battery in the engine bay. Anything else that I'm missing?

Thanks."

 

Allow me to speak freely.

That is utterly retarded.

Hope I didn't put too sharp a point on it.

 

I have a question too, and it's an honest one...
Why does he not want to upgrade to 12 volts? It's not hard at all and dosn't cost what most people think. Then he could run the bags as they should be, along with having better lighting, charging, starting etc...
Just wondering.

Sorry, i don't have an answer for your question aside from doing what i said and changing from 6 to 12..

 

I understand where he is coming from. I want to keep my 51 Merc 6v for keeping it as original as I can. Its chopped, nosed, decked, shaved, lowered, and frenched the headlights and tail lights. 12v just screams customized tho.

 

yea, tell him he's missing a fire extinguisher........

 

I'd go with Delco internal regulator alternator. One off a mid 70's gm car should work fine. He would have to build a bracket though.

It does sound rather crazy but if it would work with few or no issues.

He will have to build a bracket, probably add a pulley to the crank and a belt to drive it.

Just make sure it is on a totally seperate circuit.

I've seen a couple of motorhomes that had a separate alternator to run the house batteries and supply power to the coach when the engine is running without taxing the alternator for operating the chassis.

 

If you had the choice between a 6 pack of beer and a 12 pack... which would you take?

 

Just a thought but if you are going to add air ride why not keep the whole system air. Instead of mounting an alternator mount an old piston style A/C compressor with a 6 volt clutch. Everything that will be needed to run the system can be found on a class8 truck. I could easily draw up a system if you tell me what all you want it to do.

 

Bingo! I think we have a winner!

 

the upgrade to 12v is money well spent! try and find a jump with 6v + ground when your regulator takes a shit! i have driven old mopars for 30+ years and still hate those systems.

 

That would be the wisest but some of these guys still love those dim headlights, no modern sound system and having to go to the farm supply for light bulbs or a battery.
I suggested adding a separate 12V system because he wouldn't have to change anything on the original system. just add an alternator and battery to the vehicle.
Those truck air compressers are big, heavy and take a lot of power to run. Plus they are pretty noisy (the wrong noise).

See Oilslinger's comment below . Bagging the car does seem to eliminate any concept of "original" and reasoning for keeping the 6v.

 

yeah thats kinda a silly idea. the only reason youd wanna keep it 6 volt is if you were trying to keep it original, or period, which is fine, but if your baggin it.........you see where im goin with this

 

Changing to a 12 volt system is a "win/win" situation, one updated electrical system to maintain and easier starts with brighter headlights .

Keeping the 6 volt and adding a seperate 12 volt system is a "fire!/ fire!" situation, one wrong polarity connection and poof !

Marty McF.

 

Not only that , but the conversion to 12 volt could be done and still retain a nice original look. My 53 chevy is now 12 volt, but still runs the 53 gen rebuilt for 12v, and aside from the 12 volt battery look's every bit 6 volt under the hood. I wired it that way because i even wanted it to have the look of the early system.
BUT, if he wants to keep it 6 than that's what he wants..
There's some good idea's posted so hopefully he can make something work for him with them.
Tony

 

Alright, im the guy who wants to airbag (of which i already bought) my 6 volt car with a seperate 12v alternator and battery. I dont care about keeping this period looking/functional. I was eventually going to swap everything out to 12v, yet to me it was more work than i wanted to do currently at this time. So i figured in the mean time i could throw a 12v system in the trunk pretty quick by doing it the right way (hence asking via message board)

So here's another question since the majority of you are saying to go to the 12 volt system. I obviously need to replace the coil, voltage regulator, starter solenoid, generator for an alternator and all the light sockets and lamps. Am i missing anything else?? Also, where can i go to buy all these as i want to be able to go into a store and just tell them exactly what i want an buy them on the spot . (im one of those point and click kind of guys, wanting instant results).

So upon walking into one of the Advance auto parts or Napa or whoever has the parts, they are going to ask me what year, make, model and engine size off the car i am needing these parts for.....Any suggestions????

 

Altho Napa is better than most if not all chains, try to find an independant. You know, the type of parts store where you walk in, the counter guy is smoking a cigarette and there is a dog on the floor sleeping. Most likely a mangey old shephard of some sort. They will be the most helpful.

If you use a new wiring harness, most 6v wire ones are frayed and junk @ contact points under dash, hood or through grommets, it will make it easier. Run a GM internally regulated alt, no need for external voltage regulator. Light sockets will stay the same. Tail light bulbs will probably be a single 1157 in your car, and headlights will be regular round 7" 12v lights. On the shelf at most all parts stores. Coil again just a regular 12v unit, so look up a mid 60s Mustang or something. Or late 50s anything. Ive run 6v points with no issues past what should be expected in my old flathead.

It seems hard and confusing, but trust me that cluster fuck of two electrical systems is WAAAY more confusing than just rewiring it adn going down the road. Hope this helps.

 

Headlight sockets will change, but will be supplied in most any wiring harness.

 

Engine driven air compressor is gonna be the simplest. I was thinking about doing that when I found one that would go to 200+ Psi (more pressure = smaller storage tank for a given draw, just gotta regulate it down for the rest of the sytem).

But that's only my opinion. If you are gonna do the 12V swap anyway, read Unionvillehaunt's post carefully.

 

the sockets will definetly change......as i tried to cross reference these last year and found out that i just need to cut out my old ones and go to a junkyard and get other ones off another car.

Would i be safe in just heading to the local junk yard and cutting off the light sockets for head and tail lights, and if that car had a coil and starter solenoid go ahead and grab those too? As far as the junkyard...any suggestions on what type of car to look for??
As for the alternator, i will go to the local store to buy a gm internal regulateor alternator....I hear people talking of a (one wire) alternator...is that what i need? or is that the same thing?

The wiring harness....do you all recommend one over the other. Ive seen these things run from 150.00 on up.....I am of course looking for highly dependable but yet reasonable price. The only things i will be running on the car beside its standard electrical is the 30amp 12v Viar compressor for the bags and possibly a cd player. Have no plans of adding anything additional. Oh crap...just thought of something....i am still running the stock gas tank, do i need to swap out some electricals in the gas guage or is it just cheaper and easier to buy a new polypropelene gas tank with 12v gas guage?

 

Notable and understandable....yet i have already bought and paid for all the parts for air ride in my garage.....so i plan to just go with what i bought......

 

Do it once and do it right.

 

Even if you do a engine driven compressor(York are the best) You still need 12 volts for powering the valves.

 

Im NOT using a engine driven compressor......

I have already bought and delivered all my bag components from Suicidedoor.com i will be using this system only.

 

You can use manual valves. My 65 Chevy truck used no power to run the system. Nitrogen bottle and regulator, manual valves, manual gauge. Very simple, very reliable.

 

Best thing, convert it to 12 volt.

If not, just get a GM A/c Compressor and use that as the air-compressor.

 

Hey,

This is kinda like why Fat women shouldnt wear thongs.

upgrade to 12 volt---Loose the lard, Follow?

 

man, you can fix the car, but you can't fix stupid!

 

CMX is on it, I too bagged my 49 Dodge that was still 6 volt a few years back. Used manual valves and a nitrogen tank. Work great and no electronics.

 

all you need is a one wire 12v alternator with internal regulater, 12v v bulbs that fit the original sockets, 12 v coil and a reducer for your gauges and heater fan(probably just the gas gauge, depending on what type of charge gauge you have, if any, mine worked the way it is) ive even been using my 6v starter for 10 years without a problem. and i drive it a couple hundred miles a week

 

Finally someone picked up on the A/C compressor part, works great but Gary the 12v is the way to go and as stated by others not that difficult or time consuming.