hello all, im in the process of looking at 55 f100. im on the east coast and the truck is on the west coast. the owner is not sure if its 12v or 6 volt system(he never had a battery in it). my question is can you tell visually by looking at the coil, voltage regulator, or starter solenoid whether its 6v or 12v. i have pics of the engine bay and those are all i can see.
thanks
kevin

 

Look to see if the engine has an alternator. That would make it 12v. If it has a stock looking generator on the Y-block, then it could be the stock 55 model 6v or a 56 or newer 12v generator.

 

thats the only thing, i cant see the generator or alternator in the pictures. i didnt know if maybe you could tell by looking at those items.

 

Tell him to look for an ignition resistor on the line from the ignition to the coil. Usually an oblong ceramic box (3/4"x3") with a coil of fine wire around a piece of what looks like asbestos cord. There should be a wire terminal on each end. This reduces the 12V to 6.4V at the coil - keeps from burning up the points.

A generator is round cylinder about 5"x12" long and has 3 wires on the back end. Alternator is about 8" across and 5" deep and probably has one wire off the back.

Only reliable way to tell is to run it and measure voltage at the battery.