I think the coil is the main thing that can be damaged by 12 volts assuming he tried to start it with 12. maybe he turned the lights on and blew all the bulbs, but then all the gauges would have been fried too.?

If the starter motor turns over then it can be used with either voltage. As long as you keep cranking times down assuming a 6 volt starter on 12 volts.

 

Re: putting abrasive cleansers down the engine... it is BonAmi, not anything else, that is sucked (dry) into the engine. BonAmi is a fine talc, Comet is sand. Neither is recommended for an engine you want to run for long.

 

If anything I would use Seafoam or Marval mystery oil.

 

Remove some of the paint off of the tag on the generator, it should have voltage info on it. I think that the only damage he could have done is maybe overheat the points and burn out a dash light the wires in those old guys could carry a lot of juice. He could damage the regulator but that's no big deal.

 

I agree, no grit in the motor. Good penetrating oil only. Even if it takes several applications to free up those rings. Grandpa didn't have the foam back in his day.

 

Ford went to 12volt negative ground in 1956.
Be careful if you try to clean the tag. The information was painted on, not stamped, and it's easy to take the paint off. If it's a "6 volt" generator it's going to say 7 volts.

 

good to know. I can't read it with how it sits in the truck but maybe i can take a picture with my phone to see it.

 

That looks like a stock 6v generator to me. Would seem likely the 'conversion' consisted of a 12v battery, cranking the starter, and playing with the lights.

 

I got the carb rebuilt last night and back in and today I replaced the condenser and checked the points. I decided to hook a 6v battery up and see if I could get it to crank over. I used a remote starter switch and hooked it to starter relay, one end on battery side and one on the small bolt connection of the relay. When I hit the button I can hear the relay click but nothing happens with the starter. I then put a jumper cable on the battery side of relay and put the other end on the actual starter bolt, still nothing. I am guessing this means my starter might be fried? Does anyone have other ideas?

 

You may want to check to make sure you have a good ground, it will click if the ground is bad. Also starters lock up, put it in low gear and rock the truck backwards. It's worth a try.

 

I got to playing with it more and hooked a 12v battery right to the starter itself and it cranked the motor over, so the starter is not bad. I tried the same thing with the 6v battery and nothing happens. The 6v battery is brand new.

 

My 7 year old daughter took this video , sorry I don't know how to embed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8bK...ature=youtu.be

 

Yeah!!! Outstanding!

 

H D,welcome and congrats on the start up. Make sure the brakes work before you take it for a spin.

 

That's awesome! Congrats.
Was your daughter trying to get away from the beast when it roared?