Reproduction Parts for 1916-1964 Chevrolet Passenger Cars & 1918-1987 Chevrolet & GMC Trucks
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I am converting my 39 master deluxe from 6v to 12v. I have a 216 stove bolt with manual transmission, no radio, but has heater, city and country horns. Turn signal lights are mounted to the bumper, I think they were installed later in life and I would like to use the current rear light for a combined lights, turn, brake light if possible I do have to buy all new wiring harness as the current one is all deteriorated I would also like to use an electronic ignition but have it look as original to the time period as possible. I Looking for a step by step set of instructions in order to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated
I don't know if you will consider this help but my recommendation would be to leave it 6 volt .
7472 old site post
What are your wanting to achieve by converting it? If it starts and runs OK now are you wanting to run modern accessories? If so you can buy 6-12 volt step-ups to power the accessories for a lot less than doing a conversion. If you're wanting to make it look stock you'll not be able to do that with an electronic ignition (at least I'm not aware of one that uses an electrolock coil). Doing the conversion is fairly simple. Doing it and making it look stock is more difficult. As for the harness, if you're wanting cloth covered wires you can buy pre-made harnesses from YNZ Yesterday's Parts or Rhode Island Wire. A 6v harness will handle anything 12v can throw at it but a 12v harness cannot handle 6v current requirements.
7046 old site posts
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet
1938 Master Business Coupe
1953 210 Sedan
The car is not running as I am restoring it. I have been told that a 12 volt system is more reliable to start and the lights are much brighter. So these were the consideration for converting
I have a 39 Master Deluxe I have been driving for the last 53 years. The 6 volt system and point ignition have never let me down. It is your car to do what you want but consider the benefits of keeping it stock and the factory manuals can still give you the step by step help.
Dave
The car is not running as I am restoring it. I have been told that a 12 volt system is more reliable to start and the lights are much brighter. So these were the consideration for converting
If you convert it and keep the 6v starter it will normally start easier because the starter will turn faster on 12v. A healthy 6v starter with clean connections won't turn as fast but will start a healthy car with no issues. My 38 is still 6v but I put a 6v alternator on it in place of the generator. The upside to that is it charges even at idle. The down side is it ruined my ammeter. There are normally brighter lighting options for most 6v applications. For your headlights, if you still have the stock reflector that uses prefocus base bulbs you can use 2530 bulbs instead of the stock 2320 bulbs. I use them on my 38 and have plenty of light even with my reflectors needing re-silvered. The tail lights on a 39 can be an issue. If you have the single 1154 bulb, there are halogen bulbs available for 6v applications that are much brighter. I can't be too critical of converting because, while I kept my 38 6v, I converted my 53 to 12v. If you do convert just keep in mind everything electrical (except the starter and horns) will have to be changed to 12v (if available) or have resistors put in-line to reduce them back to 6v. The starter and horns will normally work fine on 12v as long as you don't over use them. The horns will be very loud.
7046 old site posts
Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet
1938 Master Business Coupe
1953 210 Sedan
David, having done the conversion (and rewiring) on my 37 Buick I will say this... It is NOT for the faint at heart. There are so many reasons (in my opinion) to go to 12v but please don't take offense when I say. If you need a step by step explanation, you are WAY better off to leave it 6v.
Get your new harness then seperate each part of the car into bundles of wires. Decide what direction and route you want each bundle to take. And in some cases you don't even have to follow the original routes. Try not to have wires going in all direction. For example, everything that goes to the frontend should stay in one bundle until it gets to your designated split-off point, maybe just before the radiator. And the same for the rearend and the engine area and the dash area. Count the circuits you'll need for each function and designate a wire per circuit. I.e., in the rear you'll need a left blinker... that's one wire. Same for the right etc. For the brake though you'll only need one wire from the bundle. Then you just feed one side to the other at the back end.
Wiring anything requires thought. You have to think things through but don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Early cars are made up of all simple circuits. Newer stuff... not so much. It is NOT ever going to be easy to rewire even the simplest automobile but as long as you know that going in, you'll do fine.
Special notes:
Don't cut any of the new harness wires until you're really really sure how you want them to go.
You can use jumper wires to test things to make sure they actually work.
Run an extra wire or two or three in each of the bundles to account for unforeseen circuits.
Zip ties are your friend. Expect to cut 90% of them back off. They're cheap, don't sweat it. Ok, they're NOT cheap but such is life.
And I'm sure there's a lot more that you need to know but hopefully you get the jist.
Enjoy.
