41 Cont. - Help using dash gauges post 12V conversion

[AZscott]

Hi All,

I have a 41 Continental Cab. I was told by my mechanic that for safety I should upgrade to 12V which I did. My mechanic does not like to do electrical so I am having someone else put in a new wiring harness (entire car is being rewired). The electrical guy is telling me he cannot use my existing dash gauges because while he can step down the voltage via resistance, the guages are very finicky and will not work with the resistance needed to step them down. He wants to put a new set of guages under the dash for me to use. What gives? Can someone please help? I am having a difficult time as I was assuming I would use my existing dash gauges.

Thanks,
Scott

[B1rdman]

Ebay has a bunch of voltage reducers for conversion
type 12volt-to-6volt

gene

[Phil Knapp]

When Ford switched from 6 to 12 volts in 1956,they used a gizmo they called a "Voltaqge Regulator". I goes in series between the 12 Volt supply from the ignition switch and the guages.

They were still using the "Voltage Regulator" in the 60's because all of my 1967 Mustangs have them. Check one of the Mustang parts places (or maybe Bob Drake).

I'll betcha they still have them.

[C. Douglas Johnson Jr.]

changing it for ''Safety'' is nonsense. If you have a new harness that is not shorting out there is no safety factor in using 6 volt systems.

[Foggy norm]

Ballast resistor.......

[Tom Overfield]

I would love to hear the reasoning behind the safety issue. Doesnt make any sense to me at all.

[Foggy norm]

If I'm understanding this. Your mechanic doesn't do electrical, but he's telling you to change your electrical to a 12 volt? I can understand new wire if you're having short's (fire), wouldn't make any difference 6 or 12 volt.

[AZscott]

Thanks for the help. I went to ebay and found what was needed. Then when back to my electrical guy who is a bit of a curmudgeon and simply wanted to add a new guage cluster under the dash rather then mess with 70 year old gauges....

We had a bit of a talk...

Thanks for the help!

[B1rdman]

it was a easer job for him to wire new gages, might be some of
his reason for wanting to do it that way
g

[Fortyone]

While into the wiring, you may want to have the signal lites set up so that you have 3 brake lites to provide more safety. A '56 T-Bird turn signal switch is part of the conversion.

[peecher]

A word about '41 instruments. I have found that the paper mounting on some instruments warp to the point that the needles may drag on the instrument face or the facia plate. You may have to do some careful (very careful!) needle "bending" to clear the instrument face and some shimming under one or both sides of the instrument mount to correct for the warpage. You may get lucky and all your gauges work the first time but if any are sluggish or appear inoperative a warped gage mount may be the culprit. Even though the mounts warp these old gauges seem to last a long time. The Ammeters don't have a paper mount but the needle pivots seem to corrode from sitting that they sometimes need a little (very little)drop of lube. A D-cell battery across the gauge terminals is a good and safe way to check the gauges for operation. You should get a slow but steady movement to about 1/2 gauge reading.

[abelincoln]

I converted 6 volts to 12 volts for electronic ignition, 12 volt top motor, and other accessories and found a schematic online at vintageoutogarage.com for a voltage regulator which I built with components from Fry's electronics. Works fine on the gauges, but I think a 57-up mechanical regulator would also work fine. If you get the vintageauto schematic, use an e-mail address you don't mind getting lots of junk e-mail to.

Worst problem was threading the wire through the ammeter the other way for the negative ground. I'm keeping the original harness, wires are heaver gauge than found in 12 volt cars. You also need to reverse the capacitors in the radio for negative ground and put a resistor in series. I also put a resistor in series with the overdrive hold coil, but am not sure this is required.
Abe

[Matt Harwood]

Sounds like you need a new mechanic. Converting to 12 volts doesn't solve any problems, it makes a whole bunch of new ones. There are going to be things cobbled together using non-original parts, so the poor schlub who buys the car from you years from now (at a big discount because of the incorrect wiring, by the way) is going to have something go wrong and have no idea how to fix it. He will curse your name and end up doing everything all over again, whether it needs it or not, because he won't know what's original, what's correct, and what your mechanic did to make it all work. It's like the moron who re-wired one of the cars in our showroom with all red wires. What the heck was he thinking?!?

I understand the switch to 12V if you're doing stereos, A/C, or other upgrades, but on a nearly stock car, particularly one as valuable and desirable as a '41 Continental cabriolet, it's most definitely going to hurt value, probably in a significant way. Even if you're not planning on selling it, the day will come when SOMEONE has to try to sell it, and this will make it less marketable than other cars like it, not more.

We get quite a few cars in the shop with 12V conversions, and not even one of them works properly. Some are 90%, but the radios and clocks never work, but more often than not they've taken the lazy way out and disconnected all the factory gauges and stuck some cheap Summit Racing pieces under the dash. It's ALWAYS an issue for the buyer, you ALWAYS have to make excuses why things don't work, and on a car where things are otherwise quite nice, we ALWAYS have to offer a substantial discount. It isn't necessarily the cost of the conversion (or the price of converting it back) it's the cost of getting someone to overlook the problem on a car that they want, regardless of whether they're going to put it back to original or not. On a car like your Continental, I'd wager you've just cost yourself $5-7,000 in value on the resale end with the 12V shortcut.

I guess what I'm saying is that if it's not too late to stay 6V, DO IT. If you're not doing A/C or a stereo upgrade, are still running all the original Continental parts, just put them right and be done. The car will work properly, it will be worth more, and repairs in the future will be vastly easier. Forget these mechanics who think they're smarter than the Ford engineers--they're not.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but as someone who does this every day and sees how big a hit this "shortcut" puts on old cars in terms of value and driveability, I'm urging folks to avoid it if they can. It's just not necessary.

If your mechanic is afraid of 6V wiring, get a new mechanic. Don't let him half-ass his way through it (which he's VERY obviously trying to do) while you're paying him $65/hour, because it honestly sounds like he's already in over his head.

[Jim Zephyr]

Well spoken! Keep the car original!!

[AZscott]

How I wish I knew then what I know now. Fortunately, everything I did can be reversed. However I am at the point of being able to drive the car nxt weekend and have not had the car on the road since I got it over 7 years ago. My new electrician/mechanic just got the Columbia working and he is telling me how nice the car drives! I can't wait!