Re: 1949 6volt to 12 volt conversion (gauges)

Posted by HH56 On 2016/6/21 19:55:12

Your amp meter will work fine by swapping the wires.

Since you are going to 12v there are some other things to be concerned with The starter solenoid needs to change and it would be a good idea to have the starter motor windings changed to 12v. There was a rash of posters experiencing expensive starter failures last year due to the nose castings being cracked or completely broken off. The common thread was all had been running the stock 6v starter on 12v until the increased torque and pinion slamming into the end stop from the vigorous 12v action finally broke the cast iron. Am assuming you will get a new coil so for best efficiency the coil needs to have the wires reversed so the negative terminal goes to the dist. If you are keeping the old you will need to add a ballast resistor.

If you have an OD that is another item. You can get 12v solenoids and relays for the R12 so not as big a deal as the R9 but a cheaper option might be to get a 6v power supply to run the OD, radio (if you plan on keeping the stock radio), and the heater motor(s).http://www.ebay.com/itm/Voltage-Reducer-Regulator-12-VOLTS-to-6-VOLTS-20-AMPS-/131850236348?hash=item1eb2e2f1bc:g:i~cAAOSwDNdVx6qR&vxp=mtr

If you wanted to run more wires you could also power the gauges from the same power supply instead of using the Runtz or diode but it gets a bit involved the more you add to a dual voltage system.