51 Ford Rewire and 12v conversion

^^^wayne^^^ I do like the interior it has nice fit and looks good..
So far the rewire isn't been too bad I'm just about done I should have the dash complete tonight ... I just had a few questions about some under hood stuff I'm waiting for answers on
 
Re ur questions (1) abt FUSIBLE LINK .... right ! They typically should be 4 wire sizes smaller than the circuit wire they serve. Couple and solder it to end of ur 10 ga main and attach to batt side of starter solenoid. Also, in general, best to use serrated lock washers on bolted electrical connections (rather than common lock washers) .... available at better stocked hdwe stores like Ace. They're variously available with either the inner circle serrated or the outer edge serrated. Question (2) Yes, if you haven't added a central power distribution stud-terminal on the firewall, run the "sensor" bypass and the heavier gauge power wire to the solenoid (not sure ur you actually doing the one-wire method). Reason: Voltage drop is greatest there and the ALT needs to sense that. You may want to look at the several pages at http://www.madelectrical.com I'm also attaching some ALT wiring diagrams. I use a 55 amp Delco S10 connected using three wire system.

Regardless, your doing a great job and going to be very pleased with how the system functions. Glad to see relays for the headlights. I also used them for my fog lights. Dan
 
Dan ^^^ Thanks for the clarification on the fuseable link .. I just wanted to make sure before I went any further...

now I do have a true single wire alternator 105 amp unit. it does not need an exciter wire as it self excites around 900rpm..

now for clarification the harness has two big gauge red wires coming from fuse panel through firewall... One is marked power bat (it is the one for fuseable link to hook to bat side of the solenoid) >>> The other is marked Alt and would normally connect directly to the lug on the alternator.. But in my book that came with the harness states that if you run over an 80amp alternator you need to run a bypass.. the wire is a big 10ga wire and it is supposed to connect to the bat side of the of the starter solenoid.. IM GUESSING but it seems that you would run the (ALT) wire to same place on the solenoid.. Allthough I don't know why you wouldn't just run (ALT) wire to alternator ...... I guess ill call ez wiring tomorrow and have them clarify
 
Hi there, If you connect the alternator main battery cable to the battery side of the starter solenoid the original dash ammeter will not show the alternator charge. Its debatable weather the ammeter would be OK with the 105 amp capable alternator as the original generator puts out only 30 amps or so. Bearing in mind that the alternator would be only charging from 5 amps to maybe 30 amps most of the time if the car has only the usual electrical items fitted and no high drain accessories. If you don't use the ammeter you could fit an add on under dash voltmeter. Regards, Kevin.
 
I like the EZ wiring set up ,used it on my 55 F100. They make it pretty easy to change over and the tech support is great also I was Leary about doing the change over but it was actually fun. I used the 21 circuit .
 
Ok here is a pic of the fuse box and dash wires in
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Got off work early yesterday.. Decided to take a short break from wiring .. Had a friend come over and help me we pulled the old distributor out and plugged the vacumn port on the carb .. Then we installed the new .. Bubba's mech advance electronic distributor .. And new pertronix coil... We just ran temporary jumpers to the battery and starter solenoid... We set it in an then after a little Trial and error got it to fire and run... Didn't time it yet as we didn't want to run it long without the water pumps.. Once I finish the wiring and get the alt and fan back in we will time the car and tune the carb.... The spark looked great ... Unless you decide to use a different timing cover or modify yours.. I recommend following the bubba's instructions and ditch your bolt for the timing hold down and install a stud.. We also ran into a slight issue the plate that was attached to the dizzy to use for hold down was slightly large and it inpinged on the hold down hole on the head... >>> simple enough I just pulled the plate and took a little off using a grinder.... I ended up with a stud like instructed added 2 thin stainless washers under it to match height I used a washer on top to hold down .. The washer on top binds it slightly.. I will take a piece of 1/8 plate and make a tab similar to the one that came stock and that should help ....
 
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Ok back to wiring .. I did run into a small issue as the instructions were kinda unclear...
I'm using a gm single wire alt that is a 100amp unit .. The book shows alt wiring to be a 10ga wire to charging post of the alt but it also says and shows if your running above 80amp you need to install a bypass wire between the alt and bat side of solenoid.. It was unclear about the alt wire though..... GOOD news I called EZ and they had good support and were verry helpfull... Turns out you run the alt wire to the alt as well as a bypass to the solenoid.... So that is what I will do....
 
Rollingmenace .... recommend abandoning the original dash amp gauge in-place. Better to use an add-on volt meter instead of an amp meter. Most all three-gauge packs being sold now provide a volt rather than amp meter. The volt meter will tell you more valuable info about system condition. Volt meters function different than amp meters and are wired different. One wire should go to the Batt side of your solenoid to sense the actual voltage in the system and the other wire to ground. Re which wire goes where, just test the meter with a pair of leads and use the gauge terminals that move the gauge needle in the positive direction. Check-out that Mad web link and read some of the text about understanding what volt readings can mean. Dan
 
Thanks Dan. I will read up a little about the gauges I may add some in the future.. I'm hoping to utilize all the stock gauges I know the stock fuel gauge and the amp meter were working I'm crossing my fingers on oil and temp... If I find they do not ill switch to some other gauges ... They will go into the glove box along with the stereo as I'm trying to keep the dash stock....
 
Just a little update... I haven't made a lot more progress .. I was working on wiring under hood and ran out of heat shrink.. Was going to pick some
Up today ... But the weather here was amazing today 70 And sunny... Needless to say I abandoned working on the car and decided to take the motorcycle out for a nice ride and then gave it a good wash when I got home also washed my atc that had been sitting dirty since ice racing season... Even pulled out my girls bike checked air in tires rode it around neighborhood a bit, and washed it before I put it away... It hadn't been riden at all since November ... BUT on a good note I managed to score a nos vintage signal stat 900 turn signal switch... Should be here mid week . I'll get some heat shrink and work on wiring tomorrow .. That should get me good to go under hood minus horn and brake switch....
 
well I went stagnant for a week or two... just life really piling up.. But spent some time this weekend and past few nights in garage...
*** Finished up all the under hood wiring (well 98%) or so still have horn and to hook up brake switch.... waiting on oil sender too but wire is there trimmed and ready to go... I made a new distributor hold down and its working good still need to time car..
installed my new speedway chevy alternator bracket.. installed alternator, fan and new belts.. Only took two trips to Napa to get correct sizes lol...

I found a problem.. the speedway bracket seems to not put alternator in correct position it appears to be about a 1/2 inch to far foreward.. the belt has a noticeable twist and actually rubs on the water pump pulley... well afrer checking if everything was installed correctly wich I believe it was .. The only solution I could come up with was to modify the spacer that came with the speedway kit and trim a little at a time off the fixed ear on the alternator to get the alternator to sit back further.. needless to say she is all in now everything lines up and seems to work as it should
here are some pics of the bubbas dizzy and alternator
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Also I decided not to go route of fusible link.. I was leaning toward using a big maxi fuse and holder.. decided against that and went with a nice standard atc fuse at 30A and a weather proof holder. mounted it right above start solenoid which also worked out to be right next to the headlight relays... I think it fits in good and I believe 30a should be more than sufficient as I don't think the car wil ever draw more than that all its running is heater blower, radio, instruments, tails and markers, fuel pump, And just the coil circuit as the headlamps are on relays.. I guess time will tell on that... so now I have just the turn signal switch to wire up as well as a just some small odds and ends

heres a few pics of the fuse and relays.
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Re the Alt wiring. Follow instruction .... the Alt's main output heavier gauge wire (#10 or #8) as well as the lighter gauge sensor wire both go to the Batt side terminal on the solenoid. They serve different functions for the Alt. Dan
 
Dan ill look into it .. I wired it up as instructed per the manufacturer of the harness .. the heavy gauge charge wire from fuse block to the output post on the alternator 8-10ga... and an additional wire or Bypass from output stud to bat side of solenoid 12ga.. the harness came pre wired for that setup my only real question was about the bypass wire and when I called ez wiring the technition took time to explain everything clearly to me......
 
Ok finished everything up under the hood including the brake switch wiring... Went to set timing on the car and the battery was dead... Well I hate to admit but last time I worked on the car I was testing circuits and left the ignition switch on... Well needles to say I charged battery and tried to start the car it turned over but no fire... Checked the #1 plug no spark.. Turned out I ended up overheating the petronics module in my brand new distributor... Man I felt like an idiot... Well anyhow lesson learned new module on the way....

This weekend I decided to tackle wiring up the turn signals to the new signal stat 900.. Crawled under the dash and wrote down all the harness wires colors and corresponding functions... Pulled up the diagram from signal stat and and laid out the plan...
Now the s/s wiring diagram is showing hooking up to a single flasher with 3 posts - the Ez kit has seperate flashers 2 post style. So basically it has constant power to hazard and only ignition power on turn flasher... The problem I came across is the switch only has one wire to carry ground to activate both hazard and turn circuits...
That being said the options were
run hazards full time power but no turns
Run turns off ign but no hazard circuit
Run both jazz are and turn off constant power
.. I chose the last option I just have to be vigilant in making sure I don't leave the vehicle with the turn signals on as now they work all the time and are not dependant on ignition for power... Seemed like the only option to have both turns and hazards..
So car is almost 100% wired just a few small under dash lights , fuel pump, dome light and 3rd brake light left to do then it's time to put the interior in time car tune carb and drive this sucker
 
well made it out to garage tonight.. pulled steering wheel apart and cleaned up all the contact points for the horn.. got continuity through the horn wire through column.. hooked up the wire to the harness.. installed the horn back under the hood, hooked everything up and give it a whirl....HOLY Crap that thing is loud ..

one more small thing to check off list now the underhood stuff is done 100% few more items and I can start installing interior back into her
 
well no new photos to post today. but im making progress and im on the home stretch.. hopefully I can have a few photos in next few days..
Cleaned all the tools trash and junk out of the passenger side of car vacuumed the carpet.. then pulled the carpet up after removing door sill.. I ran speaker wires back to the rear of car under passenger carpet left enough to hook up to new stereo once I decide what to buy.. it will mount in the glovebox... I then replaced carpet and sill I crawled into the car to give it one more quick vacuum and WHAMO I set my knee right on the stud that the front bench bolts to.... talk about some pain, it took a few minutes to recover from that one... Moving on passenger side got all vacuumed out and is good to go..
Next I went back to the trunk of car fished the new wiring for the fuel sender to where it needed to be and got that all hooked up.. only things left to do on back of car now is fuel pump wiring.. eventually the license plate light and third brake light but not necessary for right now as I don't have either yet..

im gonna pull the driver side door sill and carpet Thursday. At that time I will check on fluid level in master cylinder top off if needed and then get the back interior re-installed.. Im hoping to have all the interior back in this weekend
 
Well I didn't get as far as I would like this weekend I went to the drag races on sat instead. I got the new ignition module in mail so I went to install it today.. pulled the old module and installed the new module tried to get the car to fire... no dice still no spark.. I inspected the coil and noticed some fluid on the crossmember under it .. I pulled the coil and found some fluid around the rim and the coil bottom appeared to be swelled up a bit.... I tested the coil per the instructions from petronix it appeared to be good.... but I managed to find a coil locally so I figured what the heck its worth a shot.. I picked it up brought it home, hooked it up, pulled #5 plug, and gave it a whirl.. she fired it tried to start with the plug out... thank goodness.. now heres to hoping the old ignition module is good that way I have a spare...
so I pulled carpet checked brake fluid and ran the power wire to the electric fuel pump. reinstalled carpet and will start on interior here over the next few days... I will be glad to be back on the road ... and then its time to tune the carburetor
 
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