Positive or negative ground

[Ed]

Hi folks juat picked up a 52 replica with a vw donor, battery not sure if its a negative ground or positive ground. Car has been sitting since 2007 and i bought it and brought it home and no spark. Has empi distributor

• This topic was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Stephen Houser. Reason: Moved to VW Based Kits forum

[Paul Mossberg]

For the USA market, VW switched to 12v with the 1967 model year.

Chances are high it’s a 12 volt, negative ground.

This sounds obvious, but you say there is a battery; is it in the car? Is there a ground strap on the battery? Which pole?

Looks at the bulbs. If they are 12v bulbs, you have a 12 volt, negative ground system.

 

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

[Royal]

About the only thing you can damage if you guess the polarity wrong is the radio (if it has one).  You might want to disconnect it before you hook up the battery.  The engine, lights etc won’t be hurt by experimenting.  But, you can probably determine whether positive or negative ground by some simple detective work.

Paul’s right, my money is on negative ground 12vdc system.

[Author]

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