positive to negative change

G

grouchyandugly

Member
just got a NICE 1941 Mercury Eight Sedan. want to change it over to Negative Ground. How do I do that?? the P.O. somehow has JUICED the 6 Volt Battery to 13Volts!! noticed when first trying it out that the Engine turned over fast and fired right up (no wonder). Generator is/was shot. bought a one-wire alternator, but do not want to hook it up before I know what to do with a dumb Positive Ground system. stay safe. thanks
 

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At the risk of rousing your ire (witness the user name), I suggest that you slow down and and have a little discussion about this. Doing what you are suggesting is about the last thing you want to do if your car is really "NICE". Plus the comment "JUICED the 6 Volt Battery to 13 Volts" suggests there is something else going on here. At this point, we don't even know if we are talking about a 6 volt or 12 volt system. Slow down and learn to take advantage of all the knowledge this Forum can provide.

Welcome to "The Ford Barn", by the way.
 
How about posting a photo of the battery. How did you come up with 13 volts, measure with a voltmeter? Coil and Generator (alternator) and maybe the starter are the major items involved with a voltage changeover, but lights, heater fan, gauges, etc also need to be addressed.
 
I suggest the first thing you do is to disconnect BOTH battery cables from the battery and then put a volt meter across the battery terminals and con firm the Battery''s real voltage. Then you can decide the next step!! JMHS kx
 
Twelve volt batteries are actually 13 volts but most people use the nominal 12 when describing them. Lead acid cells are 2.15 volts per cell and a (nominal) 12 has 6 cells, which rounds to 13. (note to OP) Calling your 12 volt a 'juiced 13' will serve to invite confusion away from the answers you seek.

How to:

  • reverse the battery terminals.
  • reverse the ammeter wire.
  • radio is a potential problem.
  • if there are any motors, like heater...they must also be reversed.
  • bulbs and lamps can be ignored
  • reverse the ignition coil
Reverse is hopefully understood to mean changing one for the other.
 
Welcome.... we love pictures!!!..... until you decide what or if there is a problem, I wouldn’t leave the battery hooked up when your not working on it. “Nice” cars burn just as fast as the ones that I own..... Mark
 
tubman said:
At the risk of rousing your ire (witness the user name), I suggest that you slow down and and have a little discussion about this. Doing what you are suggesting is about the last thing you want to do if your car is really "NICE". Plus the comment "JUICED the 6 Volt Battery to 13 Volts" suggests there is something else going on here. At this point, we don't even know if we are talking about a 6 volt or 12 volt system. Slow down and learn to take advantage of all the knowledge this Forum can provide.

Welcome to "The Ford Barn", by the way.
Click to expand...


Thanks BTW we ALL cannot be Handsome and Debonair...some of us gotta be UGLY!!… HA... bought this some 2 weeks ago. just recently got around to checking the output of the orig gen (zero), battery is/was a 6 volt (3 cells)…. but checked the battery with terminals disconnected, and that dumb dirtyword was reading 13VOLTS!! YIKES!! never witnessed that before. read it with 2 multmeters (1 digital, 1 analog). the seller I got it from did not know much of anything about the car (30-35), he did not even know how to shift with the column shift. but... the car fired right up and did drive great, and stopped only when I used my right foot on the middle pedal. Today I took the orig generator and the regulator that was on the car to Live Oak FL to a guy that rebuilds these. Left it with him and he said he would get on it Monday. so. if it all goes okay with the rebuild, should not be any reason to convert it over to Negative Ground; as I had been thinking about using a 1-wire alternator (12V)…. attempted to put photos of it on here, but failed. too old to figure it out I guess (77), will try and put one on here when I get this dumb dirtyword cotton-picking snot-sucking finger-licking answer done. I can only GUESS the PO somehow got 12Volts into a 6Volt Battery. I never could!! stay safe. THANKS FYI: my photos failed to "upload" again... keeps telling me it needs a URL for the image (I do not know what URL is, or actually means either). advice (on inserting photos)??
 
Did you select Go Advanced and then Manage Attachments (paperclip on bar)? Somewhat straight forward from there. Biggest issues is the file size, there are upload file size limits, ~ 500Kb.
 
thanks... will now try again....nope...negative... keeps showing a new tab:
"script prompt... enter URL …. nothing about "go advanced" or 'manage attach' that I can see. wheeeeeee thanks ???


I clik on the "insert image", then new tab that says: fordbarn.com needs some information. script prompt. please enter the URL of you image.


going in circles. ???
 
It should be at the bottom of the thread, right below the last post (I'm seeing it as I input the text). Says Post Quick Reply & Go Advanced. If your not seeing it how are you posting?
 
Welcome to the ‘Barn. Yep, we love pics. So hope you can solve pic posting. When you’re typing in you reply your choices to post that reply are the “post quick reply” or “go advanced” buttons below the message you want to post. “ go advanced” might be helpful with pic posting. Good luck. Mike
 
DIRTYWORD... not only am I UGLY, but BLIND. been looking for that post quick reply at bottom.... cannot see it on my end. each time to "download" my photo, it says can't do. I go to "manage attachments" but, but, they do not attach!! ??
 
1941 mercury eight sedan. dead end again. went to Advance, but NADA.
do not know what to do about "no photos"... I have them stored, but not able to get them onto here..... iffen I was a "woman" I would be "happy", because I got something to complain about !!! stay safe. thanks
 
Here are the photos:

Charlie Stephens
 

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Nice looking car. Could it be that some previous owner put a small 12 volt battery (Odyssey, etc.) inside one of those faux 6 volt cases?
 
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