• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

changing to negative ground-how long will it take?

Share this page

miranda

miranda

Senior Member
Offline
Our healey finally arrived last week together with the rest of our household in the Netherlands. In order to get it insured we need to install a circuit breaker (is that how it is called in english?).
Problem is... our car is positive ground and the circuit breaker is negative ground based.
My dad is going to install it since he is a car mechanic, so I found the instructions on how to change from positive to negative ground. It sounds pretty easy, but does anyone knwo how long it will actually take?

I am using these instructions:

https://www.hendrixwirewheel.com/polarity.html

Tips anybody???
I am talking about a 1957 100-6
 
Hi Miranda glad to hear you guys are safe and sound, changing to negative ground is no big deal, there are several discussions on it here, hope you guys enjoy some good beer. Tell Sjord I said hi. Skip
 
Hi Skip!! Yes, we are close to belgium and all the good beers, so that'll work!
My dad is a little concerned that all the electrical systems will work backwards and that it will take a lot of time to change all of that. For example the fuelpump. Will that need changing? And what about the lights?
 
Hi Miranda,
The electronics that care about polarity are the generator, coil (sort of), fuel pump (probably), pertronix (definitely, if you have one) and the radio. Lights, heater, wipers, overdrive don’t care which way the juice flows.
 
how much work is it to change those? And ho wi sit done? No pertonix as far as I know, so just the generator, fuel pump and coil...
I am sorry to ask the same questions other people asked before me, but I can't really fin dit in the older threads.
 
Re: changing to negative ground-how long will it t

I would guess a couple of hours tops. I did one years ago and didn't have any trouble with the fuel pump, but that one had an electric tach. This was a bit more complicated. Your mechanical tach doesn't need anything.
 
Wait Wait Wait! Miranda! I have never heard of a circuit breaker that is polarity sensitive. Could you shed a bit more light on why one is required??. Where does it go and what does it do!---Keoke
 
I'll try to get some more information on it today Keoke... It is required for the insurance. The car needs to have one and has to be stored in a closed garage in order to get it insured with that particular company.
 
maybe circuitbreaker is the wrong word? It is one of those devices you build into the dash and comes with a little key. In order to start the car you first have to stick the key in the little slot so the red light next to it goes on and then you'll be able to start the car. What is thta called?
God.. I am back in the netherlands for a little over a month and already confused about the language... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Too-- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Is the Ignition Switch bad??
 
Well ok if you say so. But it really makes no sense to have one on a Healey of any kind. So easy to jump or bypass, but insurance companies rule.

The only way to stop theft is remove the distributor roter. Ahhh, long storage only. You know a couple of weeks or such.
Chances are if they are prepaired to tow it it will make no difference what you do.
 
[ QUOTE ]
ok, let's try this.. I guess it is called an ignition kill switch. Does that make any sense?

[/ QUOTE ]

As others have commented this really has nothing to do with polarity. Your car already has (or should have) a Lucas shut-off switch in the boot that both cuts the ground AND grounds the coil. It is redundant having another shutoff switch wired into the hot portion of the ignition system--plus the boot is lockable. BTW the Lucas switch is a known source of problems and should be replaced with a modern unit--you can get them either at a marine store or from various sites online (Summit Racing, Pegasus, etc.) If you are putting a switch in the hot side you may want to look at one that protects an alternator (I think you said you were considering one, right?)with additional circuitry built into it.

I can't see the sense in devoting a lot of energy to theft-proofing a Healey against anyone but the rankest amateur of thief--anyone sophisticated could easily get around a shutoff switch or just show up with a rollback, etc.
 
Hi Rick 60, could you elaborate on why the immobiliser is polarity sensitive,is it a solid state device?? ---Keoke
 
ok... I called my insurance guy and told him it is too much of a hassle to get the device in and that I was thinking about changing to another insurance company. He called the headquarters and now it is ok without anything extra build in.
So much for insurance companies rule /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I am now driving my healey on a USA license plate fully covered on the Dutch roads.
The next step will be the Dutch title but I think I'll leave that for next week. For now I am driving!

Eric, We live in Rijen in Noord Brabant, close to the belgium border. Right inbetween Breda and Tilburg if that rings a bell...
 
Keoke, I didn't mention that the immobilizer is polarity sensitive, I even don't know. I just wanted to throw in the English word Miranda was looking for.

I think the immobilizer the insurance company wanted to be installed in their Healey looks like a kind of 'card slot' where you put some sort of electronic tag in. Without that tag you can't start the engine. I've seen that on very few cars in Germany, but this was at least 15 years ago. This system didn't become accepted much.
 
Miranda, I've seen the road sign on A58 to Rijen more than once. Every time I go to Domburg (once or twice a year) I take the route via Eindhoven - Tilburg - Breda - Bergen op Zoom .....

Regards
 
OK Rick, Thanks that pretty much agrees with what my Jaguar contacts overthere had to say about it.No body seems to take the requirement seriously.---Keoke
 
Back
Top