Electrical System Frustration

Posted by Andy Mylin On 2017/8/2 16:54:28

Hello folks,

I have questions about the electrical in my Pacific.

I have a 1954 Pacific. We tore a lot of it apart and reassembled it to get it back on the road. Ive been driving it for a few months locally. The problem is the battery seems to drain as I drive and I only get it to crank and start 4 or 5 times before needing to charge the battery.

Using a Volt meter the battery averages at about 6.25v When running the Generator doesn't charge the battery past 6.3x volts if at all.

I had the regulator replaced and checked as well as the generator. The generator on a bench being tested will output over 7 volts. The starter has been rebuilt. The battery is a two year old 6v Optima, also tested and confirmed to be good.

During June I'd drive the car, bring it home and place a battery charger on it so it'd be ready for the next trip. That worked fine.

Recently I realized that if I tried to start it after driving and it would drain enough to not turn over. But if left sit the battery seems to "recharge" after a few hours once the engine is cold and it would start up fairly easy.

I'm not good with electrical so specific instructions are helpful. I'm also thinking to place a 6v fuel pump on the system to help starting, I'm not sure if vapor lock is happening but it's difficult to start when hot and after some reading that seems like it could help just at startup. I understand this is a rabbit trail to my main question.

Any insight is appreciated.
Andy