Wanted ignition switch for 1935-39 Lincoln

[AB-Buff]

Hi I am looking for another ignition switch from my 35 Lincoln. I have taken this apart cleaned it put a little dielectric grease in it and it still won’t carry the current through to keep it running consistently. Anyway if you have one let me know please see photos

Lynn

Edited May 6, 2021 by AB-Buff (see edit history)

[19tom40]

Until you find one, you can add a little pressure on the brush and sand the plate to reduce the depression. Use Vaselene  as a lubricant. Dielectric grease is an insulator, so clean all of it off of the switch.

 

If you cannot find one, you can drill out the pitted contact and replace it with a contact screw (brass screw with flat surface for the head). Ford used them on the circuit breaker board and the resister board.

[AB-Buff]

Yeah I thought about taking it back apart and sanding it. I’m getting tired of standing on my head to get it out, it’s a really bad design. I may go ahead and put a relay in there and just flip the switch click the relay in the relay were carry the load. Still thinking about it thanks for the advice.

[19tom40]

Think positive. Standing on your head improves the blood flow to your brain, making you smarter.

 

After looking at the photo, it seems that you could restrict the movement of the brush so that it  lands in a different place. Use a drop of epoxy to restrict it.

 

The design cannot be all that bad, it lasted 86 years, I don't think that a relay would last 10 years without causing trouble.

[AB-Buff]

I decided to machine the pin out and make a new one for it. If it gives me any trouble the relay is going in. I have a relay in a 33 Chevy with a borg-warner overdrive. I must flip that relay in and out 50 times every time I drive it. I’ve been doing it for 10 years. Delco Remy relays are pretty stout. But we’ll see if we can’t make this switch work properly. Here are a few pictures of it. I need to sand it on a on my micro flat, I left the pin sticking up about .002 inch. Should work out OK.  The last photo is of it in the oven with a thin film of epoxy over the top. I’ll sand that flat.

Edited May 9, 2021 by AB-Buff (see edit history)

[19tom40]

Looks good, should last another 80 years. A little Vaselene every few years will keep it lubed and reduce wear.

[AB-Buff]

Just laped this in a bit. Someone apparently worked on this before and tried to sand the divots out. They were a little heavy handed on that corner but this should work well. It’s definitely gonna last my lifetime. I will put it in a few minutes will see, I get to do a little more standing on my head. 🙂 

I keep forgetting to mention that I made that contact area just a little bit bigger. As long as it turns off I’m OK.

Edited May 9, 2021 by AB-Buff (see edit history)

[AB-Buff]

Well so far so good. Turns off and on car starts car runs I’ll have to take it for a road trip soon. I just installed a new voltage regulator solid state. I love it. No more over charging the battery and it also keeps up with my headlights.

[Matt Harwood]

Lynn, tell me about the voltage regulator. I have a James Peterson regulator that I was going to put in my Cadillac and never did, and I'd like to put it in the Lincoln. But since the Lincoln has both third brush regulation AND a kind of crude regulator, I wasn't sure how to do it. Can you share some details? This is something I'd like to do when I rebuild the generator next week. I was told it was rebuilt right before I bought it but like the distributor, it doesn't look, act, or sound like a rebuilt generator. So many things I was told about this car are turning out to be untrue.

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[edinmass]

4 hours ago, AB-Buff said:

Well so far so good. Turns off and on car starts car runs I’ll have to take it for a road trip soon. I just installed a new voltage regulator solid state. I love it. No more over charging the battery and it also keeps up with my headlights.

 

Unfortunately, they seldom work out well, and often cause the armature to toss solder, and fry the field coils. I’m not a fan. My 32 Pierce came with one. It worked ok for the previous owner as he did fifty miles a year. I was doing 5k a year, and it soon failed and cooked the generator.........I knew I should have pulled it......got lazy. Never again. I have owned more pre war cars than I can count.......never used one except the unit that came in the car......and I will never use one again. Please post photos and engineering data on the unit.......If you can’t get data from the company, I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts it can’t handle 20 amps.......even though they are running a 30 amp diodes......they can’t handle the cars system. 

Edited May 9, 2021 by edinmass (see edit history)

[Bloo]

Please clarify what we are talking about here. Is this a voltage regulator or is it one of those generator cutouts with an alternator diode in it?

[AB-Buff]

It’s a modified stock cut out/regulator, now it’s a solid-state unit. It’s done by James Peterson, I’ve asked Jim for a technical information that I can post here. When I get it I’ll post it. 

[AB-Buff]

I haven’t gotten anything from him but I sifted through some old emails that we sent back-and-forth, it’s supposed to maintain voltage at 7.2 at the regulator and he sets them for 28 A. I hope it works like it does now for many years. I have 7.2 volts at the regulator,  when I look at my amp meter I can turn the headlights on, low, passing and high and I'm running 52 cp bulbs on high and it’s maintaining everything on the amp meter, shows about 1-2 amp charge.  It’s not going to over charging the battery. Fingers crossed 

[AB-Buff]

I got this from James (Jim) last night, I also had another issue I didn't know about that Jim pointed out for me.  He had me check the voltage at the regulator and at the battery.  Mine was 7.2 at the reg.  and 6.4 at the battery.  That's a big voltage drop.  He said to check the connections at the amp meter.  Sure enough mine were finger tight at best. They are a real pain to get to but after changing the nuts and tightening them I fired it up and at the battery it now showed 6.86 volts, I was also charging 10 A.  I charged the battery last night and I will check to see if it's a little better.  I bet those connections on the amp meter were getting hot.

 

Here is what Jim said.

 

"Regulator is typically set for 7.25 volts regulation.   Output capable  of over 35 amps continuous.   It uses MOSFET rated at 70 amps to control output using heat sinks.  Problem with using diode for cutout is no one uses a heat sink to dissipate the heat.  A 10amp  , 20 amp or 50 amp diode all create the same heat.  They all have 0.8 volt loss across them times current thru them say 20 amps would create 16 watts of heat.  Unless that heat is removed it will soon get over  300 F and destroy itself.   A diode can safely run at about  175F. 

 I’ve restored Ford cutouts using a copper bar to mount the diode to and solder copper bar to inside of cutout. Case as a radiator to dissipate the heat. This can reduce heat by over 100 F and give continuous use.  A good choice for diode is a schokky diode which has about 0.5 v loss which will further reduce heat." 

 

[19tom40]

You did very nice work on that ignition switch. I don't think that you will have a problem with the oversize, the wear track went much further than the oversize.