Thanks for all the responses, but I failed to mention, there is no battery
in the car. Also, the wires to the coil are not connected. I guess I'll
just have to hook it up and try it. There isn't a radio currently in it.
If anyone has an original AM/FM radio they would like to part with please
contact me off list.
Thanks,
Ken
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Howard [mailto:mgbob@juno.com]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 11:31 AM
To: kwaringa@dynsys.com
Subject: Re: Positive Ground
Ken,
DOn't trust the color of the battery cable to give you the info you
seek--look at the battery itself and see where the cable runs.
If the car still has its original positive earth, the + terminal will
be connected to the ground point at the "chassis".
With the original wiring of these cars you will not harm anything by
hooking up backwards, although the ammeter (if fitted) will show negative
as the generator kicks in rather than positive. The starter doesn't care.
The fuel pumps are said to be affected, but nobody knows if they work
better or worse so don't worry about that either. If you have anything
that has a diode and transistor modification, as in a clock, reverse
polarity will fry out the diode. I suspect that you don't have any of
that, though you might have a radio.
If you know that the car was running before you bought it, I would not
go changing wires around until you have other things set up. Polarity
isn't all that important (in fact, there are some theoretical advantages
to Pos Earth). Hook it up as it was before and get it going. Then you can
tell with a voltmeter how it is earthed.
My TD was Pos earth and I later changed to Neg earth to make
installation of a CB radio easier. Aside from my modified clock,
everthing worked without any problems.
Bob
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