The thought continues to haunt me "what if I get a flat on a rear tire?"

If my car had the original size tires 8.20-15 (I believe), would this size clear the fender without jacking the car up so far?

When I installed the current L78 15 tires I had a floor jack under the frame in front of the wheel with the skirt removed. I had run out of jack when I got the car far enough in the air to remove the tire past the fender opening.

I suppose the bumper jack would raise the car far enough to do the job but I don't want to mess up a newly chromed bumper.

I was thinking of finding a scissors type jack in a junk yard that would raise the frame far enough to get a rear wheel off and carry it in the trunk.

Jim

When I bought the 54 Cavalier last fall the L78-15's on it had what looked like bad under inflation wear. The tread was bald on either side to about 1 ? inches remaining in the center.

The car had an annoying wander and liked to follow almost invisible ruts in the road.

The play in the steering box is there but not horrendous. The king pins have a bit of movement and I have a new set but haven't done the deed yet. My car now has 79,000 miles which I believe to be accurate and original as I have all of the receipts for everything back to 1954 and they have mileage noted.

I bought this set of older wide whites L78-15 (Can't remember the brand, Commander or something) which have almost new looking tread. The tires that were on the car if new when it was restored in the mid 1990's probably had gone 10,000 miles.

I have run the car about 1500 miles since I put the new tires on and only have slight wander and don't see wear yet.

I had planned to go for totally new tires after the budget recovers.

With about 29 pounds cold the road vibration is OK, the wander is only slightly noticeable on really rutted roads, cornering is a little soft. I don't know how tight a 4,000 pound car will corner, no power steering on my car.

So I am interested in this tire conversation.

Jim

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The cover snapped right off with no problem.

The lens is real glass, I was surprised.

The problem turned out to be poor connection at the bulb although the bulb needs a renew.

The bulb is a #210.

I wonder how much longer 6 volt automotive bulbs will remain available.

I restore antique radios and TV's and we are using up "Old Stock" tubes and some types are getting scarce. Popular audio tubes are now made in China and Russia.

I use incandescent lighting on a TV tower and some Chinese bulbs with the Mogul base won't fit the sockets.

Jim

Thanks guys.

The picture is the same as what is in my car.

I hate to break stuff.

Glad to see a bayonet base bulb in your pic.

Jim

The Dome light in the back seat of my 1954 Cavalier has gone to the dark side.

I'm not quite sure how to remove the cover to replace the bulb.

I assume the metal bezel just pulls off but I hate to break things and the plastic lens could likely be brittle and doesn't appear to come out..

The light is a plated metal rectangle with a fairly flat rectangular frosted plastic lens.

It looks like a bayonet base type bulb and not one of those tubular things. (I have a ton of 6 volt miniature lamps).

I went to some trouble to restore all the door switches and the little switch in the pillar.

Jim

I put a set of lightly used but older L78 15 tires on my 54 Cavalier. They seem to work ok but the tire pressure is critical and a couple of pounds too high harden's up the ride quite a bit.

The original tire size would have been 7.80X15 which crosses to the L78X15 which is slightly wider.

The car has to be jacked quite high to change a rear tire as most of the tire has to be below the opening in the rear fender and of course the skirt has to be off.

I don't want to use a bumper jack should I ever have to change a tire so I'm looking for a scissors jack the will lift the frame high enough.

I thought possibly the original tire would have been narrow enough to clear.

I am running tubeless.

Jim

I would like to know the official / original routing of the original 6 volt battery cables.

My 54 Cavalier is positive ground.

I believe the ground cable was actually flat heavy copper braided cable and probably dropped down and bolted to the frame although I don't see any obvious holes.

I would expect an equally heavy strap to tie the engine block to the frame somewhere.

The negative probably went fairly direct to the starter solenoid switch.

This said, Back when I first bought the car last year I made some new battery cables (heavy gauge flexible wire from an old RCA Television transmitter) replacing the 12 volt #1 gauge battery cables that were in there.

I will say the new heavier gauge wire cranks the starter a whole lot faster than the previous #1 cable. Having less voltage drop through the cables means more voltage for ignition.

I have now acquired heavy gauge flat cable and I'm ready to take the step.

Original battery clamps were a slightly different size, anybody know where I can get originals made of brass or copper?

Thanks,

Jim

You want to know the generator is properly wired to the regulator and the rest of the car. Keep in mind the power supplied from the generator comes from the armature.

They say do not connect radio noise suppression capacitors to any terminals on the regulator or the field connection of the generator.

The regulator regulates voltage output first as long as the current is in the proper range.

The regulator pulses the field winding by rapidly opening and closing the contacts on the voltage relay in the regulator.

If you have a voltmeter you would expect the voltage to be close to the 7.5 on the armature connection but the field will vary depending on the load and it will be a pulse waveform and be difficult to read with a digital type meter.

You would want to be ready to measure the voltage coming from the Armature terminal of the generator when the problem occurs.

Jim

There is PDF manual in the archives of this site called AutoliteGenerators which I found most interesting in describing the operation of the generator and regulator.

I am an Electronics Engineer and thought I knew everything to know about this subject and started messing with the voltage regulator in the old 50 Chevy in 1959.

Soooooo if the Ammeter pegs you are in danger of destroying the Ammeter not to mention the potential for a wiring fire.

If it pegs to the full charge side this tells me that the generator is putting out too much power.

I use the term power (Watts, Volts times Amps=Watts).

The voltage regulator when operating properly regulates the voltage from the generator when the engine is running to about 7.5 Volts for a 6 volt car. It limits the current as well and I would guess about 50 Amps. 50 Amps X 6 Volts = 300 Watts.

The limiting factor is the amount of heat the winding on the armature of the generator can take as the armature is the source of output from the generator.

The wiring of the car is another limiting factor and the main power to the ignition switch is quite heavy and can get real hot should a short occur.

Jim

I spent a little quality time under the beast this weekend and:

A section of the original rigid fuel line connects with a fitting to the fuel tank toward the top front left corner of the tank.

I don't know if this is a flare fitting, I don't know how the tank is constructed internally.

There is about 8 inches of fuel line coming from the tank and then former owners have removed a section of rigid line and replaced it with rubber hose. the hose must be fuel safe as I see no leaks or kinks in the hose. All the connections between too many fuel filters and rubber hoses and pumps and are done with worm drive hose clamps. The rubber hose loops over the top of the rear axle and connects with original fuel line.

The electric fuel pump and a filter is under the center post area horizontal on the frame. For an 8 mile drive this morning the electric pump almost never shut off. The car ran fine however. The clear filter is only 1/2 full of fuel so maybe the pump is 1/2 full of air.

I'm thinking the Cunifer line may be the answer with new line all the way or at least where the electric pump can be removed.

Can any of you more seasoned experts tell me how the inside of the tank is constructed? Can one access the pickup tube, is there a screen, can a cover be removed on the top?

Jim