Correct gauge wire
 

What gauge wire is run thru the stock ammeter on 38' ford stock 6v system?

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

I don't have a reference for 38, but several later years call out 10 gauge for pass-thru ammeters.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

10 gauge wire.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Thanks guys.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Just a note Fuse size is to protect the wire size.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

......and...fuses are designed to protect wiring...NOT the device, or load. DD

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Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Should I be adding a fuse to this wire? It goes from starter solenoid, looped thru ammeter and to starter switch. Any accessory lights I have run direct from the battery thru a fuse and a relay.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

No fuse.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

The original was not fused. Way later years used a fusible link in the wiring.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

I'm going away from the cloth wire to plastic coated, originality is not huge on the list.... would you recommended adding a fuse for the heck of it or leave it out?

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Leave the fuse out on that circuit. You DO realize that all wires are not the same. You want a soft-stranded, very flexible automotive-type wire that is not so stiff as to be prone to vibration-induced cracking, like "GXL" wire. DD

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

If a buss wire is fused, which is rare in automobiles in the early Ford era, it has to have a fuse and a wire that can carry the rated load of the system. The 1938 was likely still a 25-amp system with a 3-brush generator and a cut out relay but it may depend on whether it is a standard or deluxe model. Voltage regulators and 35-amp generators were in their infancy in 1938. 10 AWG wire would still be a safe bet. A fuse would not be original on a buss wire. Many used circuit breakers instead of fuses for protected circuits.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

The ‘40 Ford came out with what was called a circuit breaker for the lighting circuits, before which were 20 amp fuses on the earlier models. The so-called circuit breaker was actually an intermittent contact buzzer(terminology?) that was said to provide needed headlights at night at intervals spaced close enough to see where the roadway was. The circuit would heat up, overload, trip, cool down, and reset itself at a speed that had it described as a buzzer.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Yes, but not on the circuit in question.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

They used a bi-metallic strip that would hold connection till it got hot enough to trip. As soon as it cools then the circuit is restored. These type of short stop CBs were used up until recent 10 or 20 years ago in trucks and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

That’s good info, and serves to reaffirm that simple, basic technology continues to have value in today’s complicated world.

Re: Correct gauge wire
 

Hi Everyone. Will D, The replacement wire looms for my '35, purchased within the last 5 years, were copper-rubber-cloth. So you can have it both ways, the original look with the accepted safety factor.

The original wiring is just copper-cloth and any of it you have that is 80 years old simply must go away.