Negative ground conversion

[Ken Chambers]

Hi all,

I'm in the middle of an alternator conversion. So far have a new
Lucas alternator installed with the correct mounts. Battery cables
are reversed, coil, bilge pump wires switched and have the cluster
gauge out to do the delicate fuel gauge conversion. Thanks to John
Bevins, John Friese and Dave Chapman for their helpful fuel gauge
documentation. My old AM radio very conveniently has the +/- switch.

Remaining items I'm not completely clear about. I understand the
wiper motor works as is but parks a bit off. Anyone have a write-up
to rewire or alter the cam or switch position?

How about the bilge blower and timer circuit?

Cabin heater fan?

Temperature gauge?

And the clock?

Thanks for any and all help,
Ken Chambers, CA
'64 Red

 

[Tedredamphi]

John Friese can answer all of your questions about the negative ground conversion. I had him rewire my fuel gauge as it's pretty delicate soldering for the average person. As for the wiper motor, John had me unsolder and reverse the two wires inside of unit. My bilge blower needed no modification.
Ted Matthews

 

[Ken Chambers]

Just rewired the fuel gauge for neg ground. Yes, it is a very
delicate operation. Coil wires about the diameter of your own hair
that have to be unsoldered and reversed. Successful though and even
calibrated the gauge by rotating the coils as described by John Friese.

I'll look into reversing the wiper motor wires.

Suppose I'll just power up the bilge blower and heater fan motor to
see if they blow correctly.

Still wondering about the clock and temp gauge. Can anyone confirm
these two items?

Thanks,
Ken Chambers


On Jul 18, 2009, at 9:24 PM, Tedredamphi wrote:

> John Friese can answer all of your questions about the negative
> ground conversion. I had him rewire my fuel gauge as it's pretty
> delicate soldering for the average person. As for the wiper motor,
> John had me unsolder and reverse the two wires inside of unit. My
> bilge blower needed no modification.
> Ted Matthews

 

[jfriese]

Ken,
thin
The temp gauge will work fine with either polarity. I'm quite certain the clock will too but I had my clocks converted to electronic quartz movements (with both positive and negative leads brought out to the back) so I don't have experience with the original clock movements. The original clock movement just uses an electromagnet to wind a spring and it shouldn't care about polarity. A quartz movement keeps perfect time though and I'm a stickler about such details.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Ken Chambers]

John,

Thank you for the info on the temp gauge and clock.

So speaking of clocks, who did your quartz movement? The face on mine
is pretty faded. Do you, or anyone else, know of some place that
restores instrument faces and numbers, including the MotoMeter logo?

Best,
Ken Chambers


On Jul 20, 2009, at 11:39 AM, jfriese wrote:

> Ken,
> thin
> The temp gauge will work fine with either polarity. I'm quite
> certain the clock will too but I had my clocks converted to
> electronic quartz movements (with both positive and negative leads
> brought out to the back) so I don't have experience with the
> original clock movements. The original clock movement uses just an
> electromagnet to wind a spring and that shouldn't care about
> polarity. A quartz movement keeps perfect time though and I'm a
> stickler about such details.
>
> John Friese
> 67 White
> 67 Red

 

[jfriese]

Ken,

I would have yours done at North Hollywood Speedometer. I try to protect my gauges from the sun whenever the car is parked but I suspect someday soon it will be a problem. Nobody I know has yet to do a silkscreen for the sun damaged units but I talked to North Hollywood about it and they can do it. It's about $100 for the silkscreen itself and I would think it would be best to provide a non damaged unit for them to use as the model. It seemed like a somewhat nasty problem and mine weren't bad enough to go through the process as of yet. I heard a rumor that someone in NH had a silkscreen made up but I don't know the details of how it went. I may have heard that from Hugh or Roger Sallee and perhaps they would have the details. I know the color of the paint that is used on the gray area which is a part of what is needed, along with the silkscreen itself and people who can open and close the gauge clusters.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Ken Chambers]

John,

Thank you for the info. Looks like they do quality work judging by
the pictures on their website. Not on the top of the priority list so
it may make a good winter project.

Thanks again,
Ken Chambers


On Jul 20, 2009, at 5:14 PM, jfriese wrote:

> Ken,
>
> I would have yours done at North Hollywood Speedometer. I try to
> protect my gauges from the sun whenever the car is parked but I
> suspect someday soon it will be a problem. Nobody I know has yet to
> do a silkscreen for the sun damaged units but I talked to North
> Hollywood about it and they can do it. It's about $100 for the
> silkscreen itself and I would think it would be best to provide a
> non damaged unit for them to use as the model. It seemed like a
> somewhat nasty problem and mine weren't bad enough to go through the
> process as of yet. I heard a rumor that someone in NH had a
> silkscreen made up but I don't know the details of how it went. I
> may have heard that from Hugh or Roger Sallee and perhaps they would
> have the details. I know the color of the paint that is used on the
> gray area which is a part of what is needed, along with the
> silkscreen itself and people who can open and close the gauge
> clusters.
>
> John Friese
> 67 White
> 67 Red

 

[Tedredamphi]

Ken,
This fellow was restoring some Amphicar clocks a while back and had a stencil made. He installs quartz movement during the restoration. Don't have his name, but just his email (Hhf18@aol.com ). He may need several clocks lined up to do a "batch". In that case I would have a clock to add to the batch.
Ted Matthews

 

[bkahler]

Re: Negative ground conversion

Ted & Ken,

You can add me to the list as well for needing a clock rebuilt with
new face and internals.

As a matter of fact I think we have 2 or 3 spare clocks laying around as well.


Brad
1964 Amphicar

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 9:16 AM,
Tedredamphi<> wrote:

> Ken,
> This fellow was restoring some Amphicar clocks a while back and had a
> stencil made. He installs quartz movement during the restoration. Don't have
> his name, but just his email (Hhf18@aol.com ). He may need several clocks
> lined up to do a "batch". In that case I would have a clock to add to the
> batch.
> Ted Matthews
>
>

 

[Ken Chambers]

Ted and Brad,

I emailed the gentleman at the address below. Let's see what he has
to offer. John Friese also recommended North Hollywood Speedometer.
They have pictures on their website.

---Ken Chambers


On Jul 22, 2009, at 6:16 AM, Tedredamphi wrote:

> Ken,
> This fellow was restoring some Amphicar clocks a while back and had
> a stencil made. He installs quartz movement during the restoration.
> Don't have his name, but just his email (Hhf18@aol.com ). He may
> need several clocks lined up to do a "batch". In that case I would
> have a clock to add to the batch.
> Ted Matthews

 

[jwillia]

Re: Negative ground conversion

Ken, Ted, Brad



You can add me to that list for clock repair as well.



Jeff

Red 62 Amphicar

To: jeffreyd_7@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: [General Amphicar Discussion-t-20491] Re: Negative ground conversion
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:09:50 -0400
From:





Ted & Ken,

You can add me to the list as well for needing a clock rebuilt with
new face and internals.

As a matter of fact I think we have 2 or 3 spare clocks laying around as well.


Brad
1964 Amphicar

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 9:16 AM,
Tedredamphi<> wrote:



Quote:

> Ken,
> This fellow was restoring some Amphicar clocks a while back and had a
> stencil made. He installs quartz movement during the restoration. Don't have
> his name, but just his email (Hhf18@aol.com ). He may need several clocks
> lined up to do a "batch". In that case I would have a clock to add to the
> batch.
> Ted Matthews
>
>