Project 3-Fifty-Six

[Mike Wilson]

Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, Ted!

Mike

[Ted Hedman]

A little job I did a while back (well, almost a year ago now!) was to clean up the horn and headlight relays, and see if they were still functional. Not going for concours restoration on these parts, more like just trying to clean them up while preserving what's left of the original finish, logos and diagrams. Since I recently found my 6v lantern batteries, I was able to finally test them, and they seem to be working great!

A few 'before' pics of the headlight relay. The cover had some red overspray on the outside and some corrosion creeping in around the base, but the electrical bits inside looked well preserved and the points contacts looked perfect.

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A few headlight relay 'after' pics. I may decide to touch up the some of the exposed metal areas around the cover base if I can find a matching gray paint:

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Apparently there's a limit of 10 pics per post. To be continued...

[Ted Hedman]

The Horn relay was in much better shape overall. The inside electrical parts were like new.

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Not much to do but clean up the cover and put it back together.

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As mentioned in my previous post, both relays appear to work properly i.e. when I energize the coil with 6v, continuity is either made or broken at the contacts as measured with an Ohm meter. Of course the true functional test will be if they properly switch with actual headlight and horn loads connected, but I'm encouraged by these results!

[Ted Hedman]

Tested my clock and and it works great! Mechanical movement was replaced with quartz movement, and it kept perfect time for over an hour while I had it connected to the battery.

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[Mike Wilson]

The internals of the relays look great! It's rewarding when everything works.

Mike

[Ted Hedman]

Minor update-
Took my generator to Mike P. at AEI in Los Alamitos (CA) today to have it checked out. I figured it would need to be rebuilt. Mike set it up on his tester and ran it. It works great! He ran it for about 10 mins, just to make sure, and then proclaimed it good to go. 8) I want to thank Jon Schmid for the Registry tip on AEI. Good to know there's a trusted local old school automotive electrical shop nearby. Plus, there was a pretty sweet blue Speedster on the premises to ogle while I was waiting.

I think I'll order and install a new set of brushes for good measure. A little cosmetic work and it should be ready to install when the time comes. Date stamp 226 means it's of June '72 vintage. I find no evidence that it has ever been rebuilt.

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In other electrical news, I also tested my starter by installing it on the transmission, which was sitting on my garage floor. I had previously tried my battery charger as a 6v source . No bueno (duh!). After re-reading about how 6v starters will work with 12v conversions (if a bit frantically), I tried it with a 12v battery, and...MUY BUENO! I know that's not an absolutely conclusive test, since there was no load on the starter, but it's a good sign. I'll probably bring it to AEI and have Mike test it for peace of mind. Or perhaps I should try Vic's method of jamming a 2x4 into the gear as a load test? I promise to post a video...

[Vic Skirmants]

"Or perhaps I should try Vic's method of jamming a 2x4 into the gear as a load test? I promise to post a video... "
I NEVER said that! Wrong Vic.

[Ted Hedman]

"Or perhaps I should try Vic's method of jamming a 2x4 into the gear as a load test? I promise to post a video... "
I NEVER said that! Wrong Vic.

I'm sorry I wrongly credited you, Vic. I read it in the Tech and Resto Guide Vol.2 page 94. Though your name appears in the byline, Chris Braden rightly deserves all of the credit for this "technique".