xschx

i just clicked on the link about the radio resistor....which reminds me that my car is positive ground. can that ever be switched to be negative ground? what would need to be done. the original radio is missing so thats not an issue.

about putting the 2nd battery in, i have read about that. people put the 2nd battery in and hook stuff up to it and the charge is good enough to run things occasionally like windows, radio, etc...and you just manually charge the battery. In my case I need to change to 12v now because i bought a new harness and 6v harnesses are more heavy duty wiring. If my stock harness was in good shape i would have never bought the new harness or probably had the desire to convert it to 12v. A reproduction 6v harness costs a lot for these cars, probably as much if not a little more for what this conversion will cost. I got a 20 circuit harness complete with the fuse box and flashers for $159 shipped. if anyone needs a wiring harness this one is comparable to the $400 Painless brand ones I see. All the wires are labeled, the instructions are questionable but the labeled wires help a lot.

I am leaving my 50 Buick 6v if its any consolation. that one runs like a champ and doesn't need to be changed. the Merc is a mess and I want to put in too many 12v luxuries like seats, power windows, door poppers, etc as this one is getting the shaved door and chop top treatment. thanks for the info old-tank. as vast as the net is, I have had a hard time finding info about this conversion. I have found ones on tractors and VW's, thats about it

thanks. that one about the 50 Mercury is perfect. nice step by step instructions on my exact car. too bad my stock harness is junk because now i have to add my new universal harness into the mix of figuring things out. thanks again.

the wiring is all messed up, very old and unsafe. the car actually has an issue somewhere and it acts like there is no battery in it at all yet i can press the button on the relay next to the battery and it will crank the car so its not the battery. So rather than pay big money for a 6v repro harness I chose to go the 12v conversion route. plus i would like to be able to put a radio and some nice electric cadillac seats i have into it.

I know this is the Buick site, I have always owned Buicks but this concerns doing a 12v conversion on my Mercury and I figure it would be about the same on any car and I have had good luck with the people on this forum versus the Ford forums. I am getting ready to a conversion on my Merc. I bought a universal wiring harness and would like to know what else I need before I get started, like how many of the 6v to 12v converters to buy and things like a new coil? I am thinking if I buy the alternator then I can take some of the regulators out of the loop? Anyone ever do this before or at least know of anywhere that has detailed instructions on how to do it?

I am getting ready to a conversion on my Merc. I bought a universal wiring harness and would like to know what else I need before I get started, like how many of the 6v to 12v converters to buy and things like a new coil? I am thinking if I buy the alternator then I can take some of the regulators out of the loop? Anyone ever do this before or at least know of anywhere that has detailed instructions on how to do it?

these guys have a few useful parts like rebuilt generators and water pumps. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/catalog.php?carcode=1319970

i wouldn't even know where to start on a price. it seems like a part no one needs to ever replace because they lost it so i have never seen one for sale to compare it to. if you want come up with an asking price and we will go from there.

hey thanks. i can't believe i lost something like that. i must have just left it on the bench in the garage i had...man i miss that garage...

anyone at least know a good junkyard that deals mailorder that might have it?

thanks. its on my 56 with a 322. I just wasn't sure if you were supposed to use gasket sealer on them. I usually only use that on the paper gasket applications. One side that i took off was nothing but gasket maker. I couldn't believe it. I figure whoever did it must have spent more on a couple tubes of that stuff than if he just bought a new gasket.

somehow i lost the catch for the hood latch to my 56. i need to replace this to keep the hood closed. i think i left it at my last apartment when i moved after having radiator out. its the piece that goes from the cross bar in front of the radiator down to the metal attached to the top of the grill. i am attempting to show what i mean in this picture of another 56.

i just putnew valve cover gaskets on and both sides still leak a little, almost seems like the same spot on both sides. was i supposed to use that gasket sealer stuff along with the gasket or should the gasket be ok by itself?

i just went through this myself and posted on the board. i rebuilt the starter. $20 kit from napa includes the drive gear. the gear is short so i need to put my old one back in which isn't even worn really. my brushes were so far gone that it didn't even try to crank. i have a temporary push button set up under the hood as well so bypass the carb one. you can also get a solenoid rebuild kit for $10 at napa. all these people on ebay selling ones for $30 saying they are rare and never gonna find another are full of it. so far i rebuilt the starter, put a new solenoid and voltage regulator on just to make me not have to worry. you can get regulators on ebay for cheap. got 2 for $6-9 each brand new. napa still might sell them as one i got was a echlin napa one. I would also recommend the pertronix ignitor. that thing works great. the car starts as quick as a new car does today. i got their matching coil and wires too. be warned though the ballast resistor smokes a little if you leave the car in the "on" position without starting it. once started all is fine. just a really powerful coil i guess.

i don't think they make one for that year. the earliest i have seen is for 31. they make 6v negative ground ones for 31-56 from what they are listed as. you might be able to use one if you have 6v negative ground. they are easy to install. i just installed one this past weekend on my 56. i had issues with the matching pertronix coil making the ballast resistor smoke but the ignition is 2 wires....one to the coil and one to the ignition, mine being on the resistor on the firewall because its a push pedal start. made it a lot easier. http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/buick.htm here is where i got it from. cheapest i found, free shipping. nice guy too. he helped me with answering questions.

http://www.buicks.net/years/58.shtml http://www.buicks.net/years/58/58paint.html http://www.buicks.net/shop/engine_ident.html http://www.buicks.net/years/58/58tech.html

i will try that then. maybe the websites just say you need to match the coil to make another sale. they say that it needs the 1.5 ohm resistance and says most stock coils are not so you need their coil. i guess it was $40 wasted. i would still like to use it if anyone else has any imput.

Anyone ever install one of these? I got one but i have taken both the ignitor and coil off my car for now. The coil's directions say to take out the ballast resistor and the ignition's instructions say to leave it in. Now i just had the coil on the other day and the resistor was smoking. I put back on the regular coil and haven't got any smoking. I am guessing the resistor must be removed but i don't want to cause a fire or ruin wires not having it on. If it does need to be removed do i just remove the 2 wires that run to it? I've been looking on the net for anyone who has hooked this thing up and can't find anything on it yet there are millions of them sold.

its alive! it cranks over quick and everytime now. doesn't actually start yet. i think i have to take care of the points and all that now. it was the starter motor. i rebuilt it today. the brushes were so far gone that there is wear on the arms that hold them. i did get a drive gear that is too short and a few times the start motor just went and never engaged. i can try to adjust the arm on the solenoid a little. there is that 3/8 or so slot to work with. thanks to all who replied.

Post deleted by xschx

the solenoid on this car has 4 posts. one that hooks to a tang on the starter, 2 smaller ones, i believe one is to an igition wire and right now i forget what the other is. the 4th is the second larger one and i most likely is from the battery. i have to check. i just keep track of what went where and not what it did.

i should also add that after the mishap with the ignition i thought i might have fried the regulator so i put the new one on and since have been using the points with the same results.

i didn't exactly wire the ignition "wrong", more that the positive wire was to go to the resistor first instead of directly on the positive terminal. i have since just disconnected the wires from the resistor. the pertronix coil says it has built in resistance and to remove the resistor from the loop. the ignition gave directions to keep it and how to hook it up if it had it. i am guessing the coil was making it smoke. so i have pulled the starter off altogether. i have ordered a rebuild kit from napa for the amazing price of $20...with the drive gear included. how great is that. i have seen places sell just the gear for $20. so i get the kit tomorrow. figured what will it hurt to rebuild the starter. also i noticed some drag on the shaft bar on the solenoid. don't know the exact name for it. i noticed it was "greased" when i swapped it onto the new solenoid. i just figured it was oil as the car liked to bleed the stuff before and everything below the valve covers has a nice rust free coating. so i am going to get some lithium grease for the starter and solenoid shaft, and as suggested in the article posted, some marvel mystery oil to lube the cylinders. as for the voltage regulator, the new one i have has instruction printed on the top of the thing. i tell you napa is my new friend. you run a jumper from the left battery prong to the middle generator one. instead of risking shock by tapping such a short wire i hooked them up and just touched the battery terminal to the battery post to make the spark and connection needed polarize. i was lucky enough to get one of those dealer 56 shop manuals so that is being a big help. it doesn't answer everything but does help.

thanks. thats weird you replied with that because someone just got done telling me to do that last night. i have to exchange my battery. i think the 1000 amps is an overkill. last night i had it all charged up and the ballast resistor starting smoking. don't know if this was from the new battery power or from the new pertronix coil i got. i will have to contact them and ask about the instructions. the electonic ignition points replacement says to leave the ballast resistor on yet the instructions for the matching coil say to remove it if using the 1.5 coil on v-8's. anyway i will go back to the 750 amps i was using before. i think that car was originally rated for around 700 or so. the battery the guy through in the car was only 570. i am hoping with trying to get it started i didn't overheat the starter motor but if i did then the solenoid should still kick in which it doesn't right now. i took the starter relay off last night as well and its all rusted so i took a dremel and cleaned it. hopefully this will work or i will check my connections to make sure they are tight from when i replaced the solenoid. i just ruled that out because right after it did try to start and then stopped and didn't want to since.