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You may also want to give your starter motor the once-over. Assuming no internal problems with shorted fields or a grounded armature segment, then perhaps just a cleaning of the commutator, perhaps new brushes, and lubricating the bearings and/or replacing them if they are worn. Any of these conditions can make a starter motor much less efficient.

thanks much!

Thanks Mr Ambassador!

Unless the engine has low compression or a mag then the faster starter speed will be of no benefit. An engine with even just decent compression and battery/coil ignition does not have to spin fast to start fast.

THe 8v battery mite shorten bulb and coil life by a small margin. Mite be worth it in the long run. I'd say it's a toss up depending on a variety of factors that mite differ from ones car operation to the next.

If there are no starting problems i would stay with 6v unless the 8v battery is so much cheaper and lasts so much longer.

An Optima 6 volt will give you what you want in the form of extra oomph for starting, and longer life.

Hello ,I have a 52 200; the battery light has started to stay illuminated after I remove the key ,
I swtched all of the switches on and off ,to make sure none of them were stuck ,the wiring harness has been replaced ,the generater rebuilt (a few times ) the voltage regulator is replaced ,I tried tapping on the regulator ,tried restarting the car (it doesnt like to start warm ) but the light stays illuminated .Ive put the unhooked battery on a charger till I figure this one out Any advice on what to do ??
,is it a defective ignition switch?
should I take the voltage regulator down?

Ignition switch not fully going off would be the first thing I would check. Check the terminals will a multimeter and see what you get.

Either that or something else is back feeding through the system.

thanks!!! Ill check the ignition switch! ,maby Ill replace the switch as its an original, and Ive fixed up most of the electrical system already ,
I was wondering if it could be that pesky" ball in the carb "starter gizmo thats hooked up to the accelerator linkage not behaving.It has stuck a few times leaving the starter motor running while the engine was running ,I honed out the cylindrical path with a 3-m green pad and reinstalled it which seems t have worked . (The carburator and starter swith are new ones from max merrit)
Thanks for the tip .I had another question ,Its about the ultramatic it makes some funny noises on the big hills here in El Cerrito Ca ,(Ive moved from Virginia ) There was a specialist in ultramatics in Fredricksburg ultramatic dynamic ,Mr Fitch
,Anyone reccomended in the California Bay Area for an Ultramatic rebuild ?

I'd agree with Kev to check the ign switch first. If the new wiring is per standard, The light gets ground thru the generator. One side of the bulb is connected to the generator via the A or GEN terminal on regulator and the other side directly to the battery thru ign switch.

Suggest you disconnect the battery and remove the wires on the GA terminal (long one) on ign switch then reconnect the battery. Ground one lead of your multimeter and with ign switch off, you should have battery voltage at the AM terminal on ign switch only and nothing on any the wires you removed. If you have voltage on either of the other terminals on ign switch, it's probably bad. If there is voltage on any of the wires you removed, then need to find out where it is coming from. If you do have voltage on the other ign sw terminal COIL, then remove the wire(s) on it and do the same test over to verify it's bad.

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wow thank you for the great informative answer ,you put in a photo with an ignition switch that seems like it had a light in it .like a courtesy light .The offending light I was talking about staying on is the battery light that is on the speedometer on the right side ,staying on ,

I think the left sided light is the ammeter light and the right is the " batt" LIGHT ,this is the one that wants to stay on even though the key is turned off and out of the key hole .
It goes off if I unhook the batery .
I didn't know that the switch itself had a light too.