The car has been converted to 12v.

Here are some pictures of the motors with gear boxes and screw drive rams. To move the top from down to up takes 11 1/2" of ram extension.

Thanks for any thoughts on the matter.

Jon

 

Do you know if this motor is the original 6 volt one or a 12v? I see black red and green tape on the wires, I think one of them is used as a ground and the other two get switched to reverse rotation. Hard to say with out looking at the motor. I did find this pic of a newer style hydraulic pump motor with 3 wires. I would try putting the green to ground and then try the other two reversing polarity to see if it works. If not then try the black as ground. Might also need two wires as a ground.



If still it doesn't work i would find someone local to you that rebuilds dc motors. Then he can look at and give you some more info.

 

I am just about certain that these are the original 6v motors. I did read multiple posts that the 6v motors work fine with 12v power coming in. I read that on the internet so of course it must be correct!

That's a great wiring diagram. I thought I had tried every combination of hook up to battery power, but I certainly did not try hooking up two wires to ground at the same time, so maybe I missed other combinations too. I'll have another go at lighting things on fire with random hookups and see what happens. First though I'll look for somebody who services dc motors around here.

Think I'll press my luck a little too and take apart those gearboxes. 75 year old lubrication inside can't be in that great of shape. I'd sure feel silly if I got these working and seized the insides up due to lack of lubrication.

I've also been looking around for a hydraulic lift system that can extend the 11.5" this top requires to go from full down to full up. About 9" is all modern cars seem to need, so this route doesn't seem like it will get it done. Back to the wiring so your new information is much appreciated.

Thanks!
Jon

 

Progress!

I got the gear boxes apart. Two of the thrust washers were chewed up, so I had to cut down the thickness of some washers I had using my belt sanders and some sacrificed leather gardening gloves. There is slight damage to some gear teeth, but they should still be serviceable. The gear oil looked like Hershey's syrup with how much rust there was in it, but now they ride in pure modern clean syrupy gear oil. Should be good for the next 75 years.

So I bolted everything up and started doing some more systematic electrical connection attempts like this:

Each motor has three wires, Red, Green, and Black.
The red wire connects to one of the commutator brushes.
The green and black wires go elsewhere, but I don't know where.
None of the wires connect to the casing of the motor which I thought was odd.


I hooked up the red wire to positive.
When I hook the green to ground, then the motors turn to open the top.
When I hook the BLACk to ground, then the motors turn to CLOSE the top.

All sounds good. Wondering though, can I use RED as ground and wire the switching to put power to green to open and power to black to close?

It seems weird to hook a red wire up to ground, but I do remember that this car and these motors were originally 6v positive ground. Anybody know if it matters how I do this?

Thanks!
Jon