I got mine made inexpensively at the local auto electronics shop.

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F142081500099

Lots of places online

 

I got a generator from another car to get rebuilt at an electric shop nearby. I'll bet he can make them.

 

Welding supply places also may be a source for 00 gauged cable

 

Interstate battery made up custom cables for me. Very reasonably priced too

 

As for electronics, they tend to be more sensitive to stray voltages than the original electrical parts like points and condensers. Generators of the day, (and maybe even our day), show lots of high peaks and bursts when put on an oscilloscope. You cannot pick these up with a volt meter. Alternators are much more smoother if you will, in this sense than generators. In my view, this is why 12 volt guys report less trouble with electronics than 6 volt guys. The 6 volt guys are using old style (sometimes just old) sparky, spikey generators.
I suppose some electronic guy smarter than me will say this is all non-sense, and that a good re-build job on a generator with with a diode here and a resistor there and an extra capacitor in another place, plus then have the perfect commutator, brushes, bearings, armature, etc., puts you equal or better to any alternator ever made. Maybe so if that person has compared generators to alternators on these flatheads with everything else being equal. That is the hard things on these forums, is everything really equal when we are comparing experience of the guy in International Falls Minnesota to the guy in Tucson Arizona? Obviously the answer to that is no.
All the things mentioned by guys above are important. To make an apples to apples comparison, the grounding (more than one helps), condition of regulator, capacitor, skill of person adjusting points, timing, etc., all end up being variables which determine how good the system "works", either original electrics, or modern electronics.

Still, it would be interesting to compare across the Board the electronic experience of the guys with the 6 volt generators to the guys with the 6 volt alternators.

Myself, I am running a 6 volt alternator at 40 amps in the stock location with the stock bracket that looks like the stock generator. No electronics. Distributor the correct one for my 8RT. That can make a difference too.

 

That is what I heard about the early 6v Pertonix (over 10 yrs ago), that generator spikes were taking them out in as few as 15 minutes of driving. Surprisingly they didn't seem to have as many problems on 12v generator systems. Since then I haven't heard of so many problems, they apparently redesigned them.

 

I read somebody claim the 6 volt Pertronix issue, is actually a problem of not enough voltage. The solid state innards run too close to the margin or somesuch. I've got about 20 years on a 12 volt Pertronix I ignitor and generator running full battery/generator voltage with no problemo.

 

We’ll know shortly how important the cables were.
00 gauge battery cables vs 1 Gauge cables for 6 volt truck

 

Don’t forget to clean ALL the grounds. Have fun

 

Don't dismiss cleaning the mating surface where starter mates up to block. That is the ground path for.the circuit.

 

Those are purty!

Yep, good clean shiny bright and tight grounds and connections cannot be overemphasized.

 

So I put the truck up in the air to pull out the starter and... how do you get the starter out? not used to anything older than 1960. The only bolts near the bell housing appear to hold the inspection plate on. Are the starter bolts the full length of the starter?

I left it alone pending getting wisdom from this board. It must be simple.

I don't have a chassis manual, been trying to find one for 6 months. Maybe I should just get a ford factory assembly manual? If I had a replacement part, I'd be able to figure it out backward.

And thus far....new cables installed... all new truck. Incredible. Starter roars to life and t ice fires right up. Runs much smoother too. And higher idle. I will have to adjust everything.

 

Yes, assuming you have a V8, the starter bolts are through-bolts, and the starter end plates will separate from the body of the starter, so you have to hold it all together as you remove it. Maybe you can put that off until you see if the cables were the main problem?

The Workshop Manual is available on CD on eBay, as are hard copy reproductions.

 

Sounds like from the last post that it might be cured.