The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Negative & Positive Ground Systems

I’m planning to install an old Chrysler Hemi motor in my ’41 Chevy ¾ ton in place of the current 235. I would very much like to keep the 6V Positive ground starter that belongs to the engine. I currently have a 12V Negative ground system on the truck.

I’m not so much worried about turning the starter with 12 volts as I’m currently using a 6 volt Chevy starter and like the way it spins the engine faster. My concern is the Positive Ground. If I hook the starter up with a Negative ground will it spin backwards ?? Is there some way to change it to Negative ground ?? I suppose I could change the whole truck over to Positive ground, but what would I have to do with the current generator & voltage regulator?? And what if I wanted to change to an alternator??

Thanks

Kip

how old is this 'hemi'? are you talking the original FirePower? wasn't Chryco 12V neg by the first actual hemi?

to change over, disconnect the battery cables and switch them .... if the ammeter reads backwards you'll know to switch the wires on it [but it shouldn't as it was from the neg ground system] - don't think the starter could run backwards [older GMC's w/ pos ground don't have a problem] .... should still run without changing the coil, but switching the connections there will make the points last longer .... should re-polarize the generator .... changing to an alternator takes some re-wiring anyway, depending on if it's internal or externally regulated

Bill

I sure wish you would tell us more about the hemi!

Coils and charging system components are polarity sensitive starters and dist. dont care.

Since the current flow in the armature and the field coils is reversed in both of them, the direction of rotation doesn't change. The only starters I know that will spin backwards are the new design permanent-magnet models, and reverse polarity will barbecue the electrical system long before anybody could hit the starter switch.
Jerry

Thankx to everyone for the help and answers.

For Red this is a 1954 Chrysler 331 CID Hemi and way back then they really were 6 volts positive ground

For truckernix I drove from Michigan to Tulsa OK to pick this one up. It came with a transmission and was parked in a garage since 1974 with 44,000 miles. Hopefully I can make both run as is. Then next winter rebuild it and add some soup.

Man, you are going to add some soup to a hemi! This is going to be some machine.