VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Battery Ground

I'm confused. I spoke to a fellow VCCA member this weekend who told me his all original '32 5-window coupe is negative ground. I thought all '32 Chevys were positive ground. Am I wrong?

I believe all Chevrolet are negative grounded.

The only car I know of with a positive ground are Chrysler. Chevrolet is a negative ground system.

I guess the real question is, my '32 was wired positive ground when I got it 3 years ago. I had it restored and the mechanic kept it positive ground. All my life I thought Chevys were all negative ground until I got my '32. Then I assumed that older Chevys must have been positive ground and changed later. I know many Fords (excuse the 4-letter word) and Chryslers were positive ground until the 1050's when they changed. My dad had a '51 Ford (excuse me again) and it was positive ground. If you jump started it from a Chevy you had to be sure to reverse the cables. Should my '32 be negative ground? It runs fine. If I change it what do I need to do? I know the generator has to be re-polarized. What else?

Hello olsarge,
In the distant past, I tried to connect the cables to positive ground on my 31 Coach. It arced so much that I stopped the attempt. Beside repolarizing the generator, I would think that the charge/discharge instrument might be reversed wired on your 32. I might be wrong on that, electricity can do some strange things, ya know?

Yes, as mentioned above, all Chevrolets are negative ground, not positive ground. Chevrolets have been negative ground since the beginning of time.

That's what I had always thought. Now I know for sure. If Junkyard Dogs says so, you can take it to the bank. Thanks to all.

Let us know how you make out when you convert your car back to negative ground.

Finally got it done. Had the generator rebuilt repolarized negative ground and installed a NOS cut-off switch. Replaced the battery at the same time. Everything is great. Now the amp meter reads backwards but that will be an easy fix. My car must have had a Ford mechanic somewhere in its past.

I do not know about a F**D mechanic as our '32 was positive ground when we brought it home....Changed it back to negative ground with a very large ground cable and, in turn, installed a very large positive cable. Had to reverse the amp gauge too...Works great and starts quicker than my Avalanche....

Awesome...

Glad to hear it all worked out for you !!

Funny part is My 29 is Negative Ground YET my AMMETER reads Backwards, guess they hooked it up BACKWARDS when the rewired it.

Electrical is NEXT on my List.

Yep. Just reverse the wires on the back of the ammeter and you will be fine.

You can also look at the 1931 Wiring Diagram in the members/technical area.

http://vcca.org/members