The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 6 to 12 conversion question

I'm tired of maintaining six volt batteries to run a truck I only start once or twice a year. So I decided to convert my '52 6400 to 12 volts.

I bought a 12-volt coil and an ignition resistor and started wiring. Suddenly I realized that with a foot starter there is no readily available electrical connection that bypasses the ignition resistor when you press the foot start.

Anyone found a slick solution for this problem? What have others done?

The cleanest solution that has come to my mind so far is converting to an HEI, but that defeats the less trouble purpose I started with....

A foot start mechanism from a second series up should have the coil terminal.

How about a monentary contact push button under the dash you can press and hold while starting?

I didn't know those existed. Thanks for the tip, I'll look for one of those!

That would work but its the kind of solution I want to avoid...

I'd almost rather use some kind of current surge measurement to trigger a relay than push another button. Maybe I should give up and put a selenoid starter in instead.

I have what baldy described. Works great. It's the contact that bolts to the starter. It has an extra terminal on it just for this. Check out Chevy Duty Part # 53-712

Switch pic

If you use the stock 2/0 6V battery cables on your 12v conversion you don't need that bypass contact. My truck cranks and starts just fine in 10 degree weather without it.

Hadn't thought of that... But the fact that those cables are already long gone is one of the reasons I was tired of fighting the six-volt battle.

I bet it works just fine.

I just used the 6 volt coil with the resistor feeding the coil...????? 6v to the coil all the time...??? why not do that..???

Using the six volt coil is not longer an option because one of the posts broke off when I tried to remove the wire.

It was actually that event, which occured while I was troubleshooting, the moved this conversion from a thought to a sure thing.

You will not need the by-pass if you use the fat battery cables as described above. Also to simplify things a lot go to NAPA and get an IC64 Ignition coil with the built-in resistor. A lot less headaches and a lot more reliblity.....Randy

get cables for a tractor there heavy and cheape i just got a 12 voit coil and a resister mine starts fine

Buy a switch similar to your brake light switch, mount it in such a way that your foot start mechanism operates it, and use it to short out the resistor.

Johannes