So I spent some time attempting to progress on the 12V conversion, but a lot of the wiring is frayed, chewed through, and has been hacked and spliced in many areas.
This means a complete rewiring is in order...
Fortunately I have wiring diagrams:
Because of the intention of using a different motor, I've gone ahead and simply ground the battery to the chassis, however, as you can see, there's no direct way of getting power to the fuse strip for certain accessories. It goes from the battery, to the starter (currently absent), and from there at terminal 30, it goes to the ignition switch/steering lock to provide power for the instrument panel, wipers, and cigar lighter. Everything else seems to then receive switched power through the lighting switch. The existing wiring seems to be similar in thickness to 12AWG wire, so that's what I'll be using throughout, but I'm wondering if I should simply wire in a new fuse panel that makes use of standard blade fuses. I have plenty of the standard size ceramic fuses, but it's the minis that threw me off.
I also need to figure out the headlight situation, as these are larger than the standard 7" round lights, that rules out the use of the Hella lenses to do an H4 conversion, so here's the original unit:
Here's the bulb holder for the "parking light" on the bottom and the BA20d headlight bulb up top:
Finding 12V replacements for the BA20d bulb has proven somewhat problematic, as they all seem to ship from China with mixed reviews, and while I've found LEDs exist, I'm not sure how well they'd work.
So that kinda leaves me where I am at the moment. I'd be able to work on this much more if I had it here at home, but it's basically stuck at the shop until I get a rear axle in there, and my three-car garage is already filled with 5 vehicles.