I've looked at several 53-54 Chevs recently with the thought of purchasing one of them. I was just flat out startled to find three of them had 8 volt batteries in them. The owner(s) gave me the typical line about "more starting power."

I've never had an 8 volt battery in a six volt car, so I don't have any idea what I'd have to do to replace it with a six volt battery.

Is all I have to do is take out the 8 volt battery and replace it with a 6 volt battery??

Or, was anything likely done to the electrical system to handle the 8 volt battery??

What about the positive cable?? Is there such a thing as an 8 volt cable that I'd have to replace??

What about the voltage regulator?? Were settings changed there due to using an 8 volt battery??

So, the basic question is: can a guy just replace the 8 volt battery - - or would he have to do ANYTHING else??

Thanks all.....

Bill.

This has been discussed here several times lately. The consensus is that if everything else is OK, you don't need the 8v.

Tweaking the voltage regulator is necessary. It requires you to know which is the voltage limit relay and exactly how to bend the spring tab.

You'd be better off to make sure you have fat cables (both hot and ground) with good terminations and clean connections. Of course the starter should be in good condition, with a clean commutator and good brushes.

The 8V battery will run over 9.5V at full charge. That will eat your light bulbs and radio vibrator and tubes.

Sounds like a bad idea to me.

Definitely a bad idea to convert to 8 volt! You can do a search on Chevy Chatter and bring up all of the past conversations regarding 8 volt batteries since we have been talking about this issue for years, and the topic was brought up again about a month or so ago.

Keep your 6 volt battery.....it is not worth the headaches to convert to 8 volts!

:p

Most people mearly install an 8 volt battery. If that is the case then nothing would need to be done to if you replace the 8 volt with a 6 volt. If the regulator has been adjusted then you would need to adjust back. In any case the proper cables are essential.

On earlier cars that have a cut-out on the generator and no voltage regulator, the generator will put out the voltage required to keep the 8 volt battery charged......which could blow out the light bulbs due to the higher voltage.

Here's my two cents: My 1940 came with an 8 volt battery( previous owner said it's the only way to have good starting)> I just switch it back, made sure all connections were good. Starts up like it was new.

Thanks for the input. But only some were helpful.

Most comments apparently thought I was wanting to convert to 8 volt.

Just the opposite.

I'm looking to possibly buy a car that has an 8 volt and IF I buy it, I want to take the 8 volt battery out and replace it with a (proper) six volt battery.

My question was: is there anything else I might need to do other than just replace the 8 volt battery.

Thanks to those who actually understood what I was asking.

Any other ideas about the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Bill.

Bill, go ahead and buy the cars,just change the battery. Some people just don't get it!

Specially the guy that changed the batteries to 8 volts in the first place.

Once up on a time when I put a new 261 short block in a 52 and kept the old 52 starter and the raggedy-a**ed cables it was hard to start with the old starter, so I changed to a 8 volt battery, it didn't help because of the cables and the worn out starter, but it did burn out both headlights on a 220 mile trip from college back home one night. My dad told me I had my head up...well you know.


I found out that at Tractor Supply one of the young clerks usually asks me "Would a 8 volt battery not be better?" when I pick up a 6 volt battery.... "The 8 volt battery is only a couple of dollars more."

Better an 8-volt battery than an incident that happened with one of our club members. He purchased and had installed a new battery. Was very pleased with the way the car started, but very unhappy that all his bulbs started burning out. A quick check under the hood revealed the bird-brain that installed the battery used a 12-volt battery.

Sounds as if some one made a quick visit to one of those there discount box store we fix, sell, repair, replace any thing and every thing kind of places. One would have to have only one oar to put in the water in order to confuse a 6v with a 12v battery.

Probably one of those "New Generation" of Auto Technicians that don't realize there is anything but rice rockets, rice rocket clones and Big old 18 wheelers running down the roads!

They think a performance machine is a rice rocket with a thermos bottle exhaust tip, a sun roof and a CD player!
"A six volt battery in that old-timey car? Youse gotta be kiddin' me! My cordless drill and impact wrench has a 18 volt battery"

Yep, I missed it...not sure why.
Yes, with cutouts, the system raises the voltage automatically. The 50's cars all have real regulators, however, so if the 8V installation was done properly they would have had to tweak the voltage relay spring. Measure the battery voltage at fast idle. If it's been reset, you should see 9.5V or so. If not, you should see about 7.4, full charge on a 6V battery.

I don't see how it could have worked without resetting, since the 7.4 setting would never charge an 8V battery.

I the "olden days" i drove several early '50s F***s with 8 volt batterys in them. It was a good thing. Jim

It's an interesting topic of discussion but I wonder if the practice, widespread and time-tested though it is, has any actual measurable benefit? I work more with solid state components, so humor me for a moment, and I'll invite you automotive electrical gurus to comment or correct me as needed.

It seems that if the 6V system's generator is recharging the battery to what I'm guessing is less than 8V, the net effective increase in starting power would be temporary at best. After an initial current output increase of about 33%, the charging system would tend to taper it off. The practice may possibly even yield no actual starting power improvement over what changing to a fresh 6V battery would gain.


And I agree, change it back. The engineers who designed it knew more about it than the owner or mechanic who changed it over.

A properly operating 6V regulator will not charge the 8V battery anywhere near full. Probably not even enough to start the car after the initial rundown. There would be far less energy available than from the properly charged 6V battery.