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Bloo

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Bloo last won the day on August 13 2022

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  1. I don't think the original building is even there. Maybe just the barrel? I remember Triple-X drive ins, and what I saw there in the 2000s didn't really resemble one. The last Triple-X building I was aware of that really looked intact was in Top Hat WA, just north of Burien. It had not been a true drive-in for many years, having been a bar and the I believe Indian food right at the last. It was still standing around 2014 but is gone now.
  2. That's not a 318... Without getting a book out, I'm guessing 325. Whatever it is, it has polyspherical heads and is based on the old Dodge Hemi block. It's a common mistake to confuse the engine types because Chrysler never made it really clear which engine family is which. The polyspherical headed 318 and it's immediate kin were exclusive to Plymouth until 1959.
  3. There is a relay on the back of the starter solenoid. The relay coil "floats" (isn't grounded) and has terminals for 2 small wires. You must provide power on one terminal and ground on the other for the engine to crank. The Buick will have a mechanical throttle switch and a vacuum switch in series to provide power. Both switches must be on to crank the engine. The throttle switch is on whenever the gas pedal is depressed and the vacuum switch is on when there is no vacuum (engine not running). I believe by 1940 one(?) or both(?) of these switches were integrated into the carburetor. It varies by year. In the mid 30s, both switches were in a separate assembly that screwed into a vacuum port in the intake manifold, and also connected to the throttle linkage. The ground for the little relay has been provided in different ways depending on year. In 1940 though, the wire from the ground side of the relay is connected to the GEN terminal of the voltage regulator, and "finds" a ground through the generator windings and brushes. In theory bad brushes not making a good connection could cause the car not to crank. If you test by grounding the terminal on the relay, be sure to disconnect the wire from the terminal before you do. The wire coming from the GEN terminal will become HOT as soon as the car starts and the generator starts working!
  4. Tapered plugs that look like the one on the left were not a thing in 1951-52. The originals would have looked more or less like the one on the right. In addition to having the wrong type seat, the one on the left is a "projected tip" type. Projected tips were almost never used in Flatheads. They are fine, and maybe even better if you know they won't hit anything and the heat range is correct. That is a big if. Plug clearance in flatheads is tight. No matter though, because small diameter plugs with a tapered seat are definitely wrong for 1951-52.
  5. So you full fielded it while it was having trouble, and it didn't even try to come up to 7+ volts? Even with the lights off? And its a 50 amp generator?! I think @Fordy and @Larry Schramm are on to something here. There is little doubt that you have a problem in the generator. If you full field it, it should try to come up, period. Full fielding makes it do everything it can. If it was a 15 amp generator or something like that, and the battery was low, the response might be slow, but 50 amps?! That should jump up immeidiately. I'd be looking at everything under a magnifier, and testing the windings in every way I could think of before committing to a rewind though. Only exceptions I can think of: 1) If that 6.55 volts was taken at the battery, and not the generator, and the generator DID go high when you full fielded it, then there is high resistance in the wiring, or the ground, or the cutout points in the regulator. 2) On my trip in the 36 Pontiac from WA to WI, I discovered the generator stopped working after about 45min(?) or so on the road. Full fielding didn't help. I was convinced there was a broken wire in the generator somewhere. When I got home I tore the generator down and scrutinized it closer than any generator I ever worked on and found nothing wrong. It turns out that the radiator overflow tube was supposed to have about a 4 inch piece of hose on the bottom to make it exit below the side shields, and it wasn't there. The copper tube ended right in front of the generator pulley. After about 45 minutes or so on the road, apparently the radiator would dribble a few drops of antifreeze on the belt and pulley and it would slip. It wasn't enough that you could see anything wet, nor did it squeal, or do anything else to tip me off that it might be a belt problem. One day I caught it dribbling a few drops. I shut the engine off and found I could spin the generator pulley easy. This had evidently been wrong the whole time I owned the car, and I never noticed it on shorter trips. Four inches of hose fixed it.
  6. Well then that's the correct connection of the ammeter. This truck is still 6 volts and positive ground, right? If the fuse (and accessories) then connect to the battery side, you can expect all current drawn by accesories and lights to be "charge". In other words, when the engine is running anything you turn on will make the meter go to "charge". Of course it isn't charge, it's just the current coming from the generator, some of it going to whatever you turned on, some going to the battery maybe... or maybe not. If the generator stopped charging entirely, nothing would register "charge" anymore. It would be like having an idiot light. Better than nothing I guess. Honestly I don't know what to make of it. When I saw the internet ammeter picture initially, I assumed someone had modified it for a negative ground conversion (probably 12 volt) by moving the strap. The strap even has a bend in it that makes it look like it has been moved. Now that we know yours is the same, I can't explain it.
  7. Well... The fuseholder clouds the issue. There are two factors at work. The first thing is that the ammeter indicates flow. With no accessories connected, if the ammeter reads backwards when the generator is charging the battery, it is connected backwards. Reverse the leads. The second thing is the accessories. They need to be connected to the generator side of the ammeter. This can be via a fuse or not via a fuse. In this case a fuse was used, but that is not important. What is important is that any accessories connected to the battery side will draw current through the ammeter. Will the truck work like that? Yes. The trouble is that any current those accessories use registers as "charge". It makes the ammeter almost meaningless, because if the accessories draw more than the generator can supply, the battery will still go dead. You have no idea whether the battery is being charged or discharged. The ammeter would still go to the center if the generator quit entirely, so there's that I guess. The wiring diagram posted shows the fuse and accessories connected to the generator side as normal. That was also true in Professor's 36 Chrysler thread. That is the left lower lug on the diagrams (with the whole gauge spun 90 degrees to the right). It is the "gen" and "bat" stampings on the web pic that appear wrong. Yes. There's the rub. If I understand that correctly, you have only the wire to the starter connected to one ammeter post, and the generator and anything else currently hooked up to the other ammeter post, and it shows a charge when revved, right? If so, it is working normally. Never mind right or left. Is the fuse's brass strap connected to the same ammeter post that is connected to the generator right now? If so, it's all good.
  8. The "CPR" mentioned earlier in the thread is California Pontiac Restoration. https://www.pontiacparts.net/contact/ Don't assume they don't have something based on the website. Always call and ask.
  9. I believe those go on the fuse lug (based on the wiring diagram). The fuse itself should be fed from the generator lug.
  10. More than a little strange. I was guessing Taylor Fire Sleeve or something similar.
  11. I think they are ignoring the fuse. Those are all things that would connect to the fused side of the fuse (top in the pic). "Starter Switch Bat." makes no sense. In fact it sounds like the starter/battery connection that does not connect here. "Bat on the VR" sounds right. Yes. These should go to the ammeter terminal that is strapped to the unfused side of the fuse. Take a close look at yours. I think the ammeter picture from the internet might have the strap on the wrong post(?). Not sure about that. Not sure if this should be on the fuse or not. If yes it goes on top with all the other accessories. If not, it goes on the ammeter post with the VR wire, the ignition switch wire, and the fuse strap. The other remaining ammeter terminal connects to the wire to the starter cable.
  12. Well... Not exactly. Ammeters are flow meters. The wire from the generator needs to go to one ammeter post. The other ammeter terminal goes to the wire from the battery cable connection at the starter post. This is so the ammeter ONLY measures current (amps, flow) coming in or out of the battery. If you connected the generator wire directly to the starter post, the truck would charge fine, but the ammeter wouldn't work correctly if at all. The ammeter can't measure flow that does not go through it. On any car with an ammeter, the generator system needs to be connected to one side of the ammeter, and the battery to the other. Also, all lights, ignition, radios, heaters, and almost everything else connects to the GENERATOR side. This is because the generator is the source of current when you are underway, not the battery, and you want to drain off any current that is used by ignition, lights, etc. before that current has a chance to go through the ammeter. That way you only see current going into or coming out of the battery. Exceptions to the "everything on the generator side" rule can sometimes be horns (GM usually put them on the battery side of the ammeter) and cigarette lighters (Chrysler did this I think). These will register the wrong way on the ammeter, but they don't do it for very long so I guess it doesn't matter. Based on the diagrams posted so far it looks like: 1) The generator, ignition, and fuse connect to one side. By "generator" I mean the wire from either the cutout, or the BAT terminal of the voltage regulator if your newer generator has a voltage regulator. 2) The rest of the loads connect to opposite side of the fuse (except lighter if equipped). 3) The wire from the starter post (battery cable) goes to the opposite side of the ammeter. That's all there is to it really. If by some chance it works backwards, reverse the ammeter connections. Remember it is a flow meter, so if it works backwards, the current is flowing through it in the wrong direction.
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