Australian 54 customline info

[Aussie54cussy]

Hi guys,

Hoping someone can shed some light on if my car is 6volt or 12v, and positive earth or negative earth - sounds easy but nothing is making sense.

First, my car is an Australian 1954 customline - these were built in Australian from Canadian knock down kits and run a mercury flathead in the standard 54 body. Seems like there were no consistent specs with these cars - it's like they were made from left over parts. The info I can find says they were either 6volt positive earth or 12v neg earth.

Now my car makes no sense. Globes are all 6v. But the coil is set up negative earth and has what I assume is a balance resistor attached to it - but if it's had a 12v conversion then how can it have 6v globes, and if it's still 6v then how can it be 6v neg earth?

And the Lucas regulator has no marking to help.

Any info would be very much appreciated

Thanks in advance

 

[50fordcoupeman]

I would say determine if your battery is 6v or 12v (if it has one in it) and that would shed a lot of light on your dilemma. Don't base your decision alone on what bulbs are being used because 6v bulbs (and other 6v stuff) can be made to work on 12v.
I am sure folks will add more to this. Let us know what you find. Good luck.

 

[dmsfrr]

Is the car mostly complete and driveable, with a battery in it?
3 battery caps = 6v
4 battery caps = 8v (not seen often)
6 battery caps = 12v

Or more likely from your questions...
an incomplete 'project' that isn't quite all there, may or may not have been finished or done well....
and now no one knows.

Info at this link should answer a couple of your questions (I hope)
https://www.ctci.org/gilsgarage/6to12.php

To save a lot of head scratching it might be easiest to remove the questionable parts and start from the beginning by doing a 6v / 12v neg gnd conversion with tested or known good parts.

.

 

[Aussie54cussy]

Car is complete, genuine 33,000miles - last registered in 1972 and not started since the early 1980's. No battery with it - and I'm leaning to it being converted to 12v since it's neg earthed and there appears to be a ballast connected to the coil. The 6v globes make no sense though - the headlights are full sealed beams which I'm told wasn't on Australian cars from new, but then the 54 Australian cars do seem to be a mix of left over ford/mercury parts before the Y-block came out in 55 here. Only other explanation that would make sense is it's 6v neg earth - but everything I can find says all the 6v cars were pos earth.

 

[justold]

Just a long shot , measure the ID of the battery cables .Also look on the starter and generator for any markings .

 

[dmsfrr]

Having the larger 6v battery cables and a 6v starter on a 12v converted car would be pretty normal, and almost expected.

If you can ID the generator voltage that would be a real convincer. I have two late 50's 12v generators but no 6v ones to compare them to for helpful clues. I looked at both of them and didn't see any obvious markings to indicate their voltage.
A generator shop that could spin it up and test it for you might be an option if someone here doesn't have an easier answer.

Lucas regulator

Wasn't he 'The Prince of Darkness' ?

Take it out of the car and/or open it up, it might have the voltage marked on the bottom or inside.
.

 

[Twinspinner]

If your vehicle was produced in Geelong, it would have been 6 volt and equipped with Lucas electrics.
Check your generator, should be a Lucas, model C45PV-4 or C45PV-5 and part no. 22459 or 22477 and marked 6V.
The regulator would be a Lucas, model RB106-1 or RB301 and part no. 37171 or 37165.
Though who knows what parts have swapped over during the past 60 years!!

Hope this info helps,

Cheers, Neil.

 

[mercman from oz]

Flathead V8 engine in an Australian assembled 1954 Ford Customline Sedan.

 

[Motorhead6]

Flathead V8 engine in an Australian assembled 1954 Ford Customline Sedan.

That sir. is one gorgeous example of a beautiful car. I had no idea that Ford put flatheads in '54 Mercs in Australia or anywhere. Thanks for sharing those under hood pics.

 

[Aussie54cussy]

Thanks for the info guys - and mercman that's a very tidy looking engine bay you've got there - hopefully mine will get there some day.

My car was 6v from the factory, but it was common to convert them to 12v - so seems the only definative way to tell is to remove the generator and spin it up to see what it's making. If it's 12v, no prob at least I know what I've got and that it's definitely negotive earth. If it's 6v I still have no idea how to tell if it's negative or positive earth - all the info I can find says all 6v were positive earth - but on mine the original coil is connected as negative earth. Does anyone know a definative way to tell if it's positive or negative earth?

Last question - on the photo showing the coil - what is the small cylinder that's connected to the positive and mounted to he bracket? - is it a resistor ballast, and would it have been there from the factory or a later addition?

Thanks again

 

[rick55]

Connected to the coil is a condenser, capacitor or whatever else you want to call it. They were used to suppress static interference from the ignition system which played havoc with the radio. Your coil looks to be hooked up positive earth. The condenser on the coil was connected to the power side of the coil. There is another condenser of course connected across the distributor points to minimise arcing.

 

[Aussie54cussy]

Thanks Rick - can you clarify why you believe the coil is connected positive earth - it would be more logical if it was, and I may have it all arse-about but I thought it was hooked up negative earth? In the picture the condensor is hooked up to the positive side of the coil, and the distributor to the negative - doesn't that make it negative earth?

 

[rick55]

If the negative side of the coil is going to the distributor it is indeed wired negative earth. From what I could make of the picture with the condenser it looked like it was connected to the negative terminal which would suggest positive earth.. It really doesn't matter whether the car is negative or positive earth. The polarity can be easily changed just by flashing the regulator to repolarise the generator. If the car has a 6 volt coil it is still a 6 volt system if there is no ballast resistor anywhere.

 

[dmsfrr]

.... it is still a 6 volt system if there is no ballast resistor anywhere.

The first two photos are of two different styles of ballast resistor (US not Lucas).
If you have one it would have the ignition power wire from the key switch attached to one terminal and the wire on the second terminal goes to the ignition coil. The inside of the resistor has a very fine wire wrapped around a ceramic support, which is usually visable.

rick55 is correct about the polarity of the coil, it should match the polarity the car was last set up for. He is also correct that the polarity of the car doesn't really matter, except for the Coil and Clock if the car has one, they are the only polarity sensitive parts.
Since the car has been without a battery for some time the generator may need to be polarized anyway.
Polarity info at this link... https://www.ctci.org/gilsgarage/6to12.php

If this were a US car that had been converted from 6 to 12v the starter solenoid would have been changed. The 6v solenoid has three terminals and the 12v version has four terminals.
One of the battery cables should be connected directly to one of the larger terminals on the solenoid. Your (Lucas?) version may or may not look the same.
There would also be a wire connecting the "I" terminal of a 12v solenoid to the ignition coil.

Disclaimer: Lucas electrics exist in their own world that only marginally resembles reality elsewhere.
Due to the one-off nature of the car: rick55, Twinspinner and mercman from oz can probably offer you better insight than some of us with only US cars & parts as examples.
.