The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Going to 12 volts- no floor start?

Do I lose my flooer starter if I go to 12 volts? I have a 53 with smoking old 235, going up to 56 full pressure 235 with 12 volt starter and flywheel, can I use the floor starter, or do I use a later-style ignition switch? Will a later full ignition switch go in the dash with no mods?

My 59 3800 has 12 volts (original) and a floor starter, so it's not necessarily impossible to do. Also, your 6 volt starter will live a long time cranking on 12 volts, with little, if any concerns. It will just wing the engine over really fast!

Any good electrical rebuilder can convert your old starter to run on 12 volts by changing the field coils and armature, but 12-volt foot pedal starters are out there, factory original.
Jerry

If you use your 6 volt starter, you will have to use the flywheel off of the older engine. If you go 12 volts, you will need the flywheel from the later engine (they have different # of teeth). You can use the foot starter with either.

The engine I am putting in is from a 56, and the starter has no foot start, the engine was in a 50 that was converted to 12V and a button start on the dash. Can I mount the foot start to the 12V starter? Or just use the 6V starter on 12V? Sounds like the 6V starter will be fine, I have heard a few guys mention that fact.

You say the '56 engine has 12V starter and flywheel. If it came from a truck it should have the foot operated switch.

If it has electric solenoid it came from a car. You can buy a unversal key switch with start position or you can use your stock switch with an added start button.

If you want to keep it foot switched find a '55-'59 truck starter.

Shipwright, what is the rear-end in your 49? I have been wanting to get away from the torque tube, but want the original powertrain like you have, How did you do it? Also, what kit did you use for the front disk brakes? Can you still use stocl wheels?

Whoa, you posted more info while I was answering.

I don't know if a manual switch will mount on a solenoid starter but you could try it.

Like Shipwright said, if you use the 6V you will need the 6V flywheel.

I rigged my foot starter to an electical push button switch at the starter.I have a 62 235 in my 49 3100.It gives me the look of an original starter,turn the ing. switch push the foot starter and off we go(most of the time)Manfighter16

Manfighter, that's a cool way to do it.

1953smoker, My engine is a 1957 235 & my trans is a Camaro T5 w/ S-10 Tailshaft housing. The rear end is out of a 1965 1/2 Ton truck w/ 6 lug. The disc brake kit is the non power 6 lug kit from CCP w/ dual master cyl.
I don't know if you can convert a selinoid operated starter to a mechanical (foot start) Good question for the Gurus here though.

My 46 pickup, 261/T5 with 1946 original bellhousing. Kept the original 6 volt floor button starter since any starter troubles I've ever had were due to the solonoid. Your old bellhousing will swap to the newer motor just remember to keep the flywheel with it's correct starter as mentioned. Also passenger car bellhousing will not have the motor mounts etc. needed for the truck.

For anyone jumping from a stomper starter (mechanical shift starter) to a push button or key position starter (electrical solenoid shift starter), or the reverse, there are a few things to be aware of. Most have been covered here.

If you want to keep the mechanical shift operation (foot pedal actucation), you will need to mount a starter motor, either 6 or 12 volt, with the housing outfitted with electrical contact stub located on top, in the approximate center of the housing.

If you want to use a solenoid-operated electrical contact and shift, then you will need a housing that has a strap-style electrical contactor for the solenoid operation.

The two are mutually exclusive and not interchangeable, BUT......

You can jury-rig some kind of a button the foot pedal will depress that will conplete the electrical circuit to operate the solenoid equipped electrical shift starter mechanism, as Manfighter says he has done. I'd like to see more information and detail on how it was accomplished.

Where and how did you mount the electrical switch so that mashing down on the foot pedal would actuate the electrical switch?

No matter how you push the button (dash mounted button you mash with your finger or hidden button you actuate by mashing the floor pedal) or cloase the circuit (by turning the key to "start"), it is still a solenoid operated electrical shift starter.

That's OK, just realize what it is and what it ain't.

So, how is your electrical button wired?

Do you have to turn the key to "on" in order to get power to the contact button, or is the button "hot" all the time (like the chevy cars were '49 to '52)?

I hope this question doesn't hijack the main theme of this thread, but here goes anyway!

Flashback to 1954---I walk into a Chevrolet showroom, in one corner is a '54 hardtop, in the other corner is a 1/2 ton pickup. Both have standard transmissions. The car has a key activated starter...the truck has a foot activated starter..why the difference?

Stuart

GM wanted to make it more Appealing to the women? :p
Steve sr.

i converted my foot start 54 over to 12 volt w/ a one wire altenator and all i had to do was change the bulbs, heater motor etc and add resister for gas gauge. that motor bit the dust and i replaced it with one from a 62 chevy (235). In order to keep the foot start i had to use the fly wheel from the 54 as mentioned above.

When I went 6 --> 12, I didn't touch the foot starter. It worked just fine for a couple years. Finally the bushings in the starter started to crap out so when I pushed down on the button, sometimes it would not make a complete circuit. Thus I recently swapped out the old starter and installed a spare I found in my garage that was next to my spare SM420? (one can never have too many spares).

When I get really boared I'll take the starter down to a local starter rebuilder, but since I have yet another starter up in my attic full of truck parts the rebuild will not happen soon.

Well I wasn't even born when the '54s were new, so its not like I know what the designers were thinking.

But the Advance Design trucks were the first post war design out of GM, and as such probably did not benefit as much from some of the post-war innovations like key start that showed up in other designs just a few years later.

And from a marketing standpoint, I'd bet key start was much more important to the buyers of cars than the buyers of pickups.