1936 Ford .Under the dash I see the resistor for the ignition coil. Next to it is a square relay looking box. What is it's purpose? One side appears to lead from the voltage regulator. The other travels through the amp gauge back to the battery. Also, Do I run 6volts to the fuel and oil gauges? Should they have a resistor? Many of my wires are frayed and missing. Thanks
1936 Ford Wiring mistery
- Thread starter Muddyfeet
- Start date
JSeery
Member Emeritus
If there is a relay in your setup it is not original, the original would have been a fuse. The relay may have been an update, but if it is wired as you stated, it is not wired correctly. The fuse, and the relay if updated to one, is to protect the lighting side of the electrical system. The wire from the battery should go through the loop on the amp gauge and then to the connection block between the fuse (or relay) and the ignition resistor. This same connection would then have a wire connecting to the generator. Is this a 6v + ground system? Your comment about 6v to the gauges may indicate it is not.
Hi there, Original 1936 fords do not have a voltage regulator. They have a generator with a round cut out on top. A photo of the box you have mentioned would help answer your question. It could be an ignition coil resistor with a square circuit breaker box (has a heap of cooling holes in it) from a later model ford which replaced the earlier fuseholder. The original electric 1936 ford gauges if still running on 6 volts do not require any resistors in their power feed. Get yourself a 1936 ford handbook which shows the original wiring circuit for 1936 models. Is your car 12 volts now ?? Regards, Kevin.
The wire does go through the amp gauge loop. It then connect to one side of this resistor box. The other tab of the box goes to the voltage regulator. So thats close to what you described. Should the two be connected on the same terminal? The other tab of the resistor goes to the lighting circuit? Ignition resistor is right next to it but not wired to it. I have it set as 6 volt negative ground. Thanks
JSeery
Member Emeritus
The wiring sounds a little messed up, is it working? I attached a wiring diagram. If it is working then it may be OK the way it is, but I find it hard to believe it is working wired that way. Not sure why it was changed to negative ground, that just confuses things, but can be done. So, the biggest question is how is the system working now?
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JSeery
Member Emeritus
Attached are some photos of different Ford setups over the years. The first one is what would have originally been used on your 36, the other ones are latter year resistor/CB panels. The resistor is for the coil and is required with the stock coil and may or may not be required with a later model coil depending on which coil it is. The fuse is to protect the lighting system. On later years the fuse was replaced with a CB so that the lighting could reset itself (after a cool down period) so that some lighting could be retained in an emergency/get-home situation.
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51504bat
Well-known member
Does it look anything like this set up which came out of my '39 p/u?
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JSeery
Member Emeritus
Either way, the battery wire and the regulator wire both go to one side of the CB and the other side of the CB goes to the light control switch. A third wire from the hot side of the CB goes to the ingition switch. The other side of the ignition switch goes back to the ignition resistor and the othe side of the resistor connects to the coil. To save a lot of problems I would switch the battery back to positive ground.