So I just bought a 52' ford f1 that has been sitting for about 30 years. It ran when it was parked so I did all the usual tune up things. Put in a new battery not knowing about positive ground and got the truck to turn over but no spark. Did some research and discovered that i had hooked the battery up wrong. Re connected the battery to positive ground and now it won't turn over at all. When i push the ****on i get a single click. Did i mess something up?
Is the battery fully charged? Are all of the cables (including the ground strap) the correct size for 6 volts (they are larger diameter than cables designed for 12 volts)? Are all of the grounds clean, and present (battery to firewall, firewall to engine near starter, but I am guessing)? I don't think what you did messed anything up. Charlie Stephens
Ok good to know. I will re connect my connections. The truck ran and drove before i started working on it so i believe that the cables are the right size. Would having the battery hooked up wrong cause me to not have spark? Or is that a different issue?
I would say not having a spark is a different issue, just a hunch, be sure to check your fuses. I think you should still get spark, just not a good one. Try running a jumper cable in parallel to the cables in the car and see if it cranks faster, if it does it probably has the wrong size cables. Also if the cables are too small the will get hot (be careful of your fingers when checking this if you do it by putting your hand on the cable). Check to see you have 6 volts at all the places you should. Charlie Stephens
Positive ground really is no big deal. Yeah, it's backwards of what we're accustomed to, but it works just fine when everything is as it's intended. Basically the negative carries the current instead of the positive. It still grounds to the ch***is and the same diagnostics apply. Are power and ground present at your problem point? If so, then you likely have a component failure. If not, why? Devin
I have good spark now, went and bought a multimeter and started testing stuff out. Ended up replacing the coil, condenser and filing the points. Now i need to get a new fuel pump. It had an old electric one on it that doesn't work worth a ****. I think i am going to buy a mechanical one but am not sure yet. Anyone have some good input on flathead fuel pumps? I used my boat gas tank and tried to pump fuel into the carb to get it started but was just getting some backfiring. The starter does not seem to be cranking fast enough so i think i need to tear it apart.
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