Auto electronic charging issue

[Grey Brogdon]

Auto electronic charging issue:
My 1940 60Special Sedan was disassembled for body and painting work. The gentleman that assisted me in the removal of all sheet metal from the front of the car is no longer available to assist the reassembly. I was successful in the assembly except that my car is no longer charging.
The generator was bench tested and is functions perfectly, I have ordered a voltage regulator to replace the current one; although, I’m not sure that is really the problem.
This is my question:
On the sheet metal (left side) inside the engine compartment I see (what appears to be) two electronic connections. These two connections coincide precisely with the length of the two wires from the generator and the two wires from the firewall and voltage regulator. At present I have connected the two wires but not to the connectors because they appear to be only grounding points!

Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Grey

[Brett Cottel]

sounds like the generator is not getting the proper ground to complete the charging circuit.  Have you checked the electrical schematic in your manual? It should show the proper routing of the generator. Is that 6v or 12V?
Brett

[Grey Brogdon]

Hi Brett,
All my wiring is original and apparently in good condition; my generator has been bench tested and is in working order.

The two wires that come from the generator are encased in the original cloth sleeve. The length of that wiring is approximately 24" and each of the two wires terminate with a "U" shaped metal attachment.

The wiring harness comming from the firewall/voltage regulator is also approximately 24" in length  and terminates with corresponding metal devices that apparently bolt together with the  wires from the generator.

The wires are of a different gage so pairing them isn't an issue.

The question  is the two electrical connections located on the inter-fender sheet metal that seems to be the terminus for these wires; this doesn't show on any of my manuals. These connectors appear to be grounds but I'm not sure.
Brett, how is the generator grounded and what about these connectors?
Grey

[Doug Houston #2257]

As far as the generator is concerned, if it's bolted to the block, it's connected to ground!  The block is supposed to have braided grounding straps to one, or both of the forward engine mounts to the frame of the car. It's entirely possible that those ground straps were overlooked on assembly of the car.

The generator has two wires, connecting to it.The lighter gage wire is for the field, and the heavier gage wire is for the armature. The terminals on the generator, and the wires are made purposely different to prevent wrong connections.

The regulator, if it's the original design, has three terminals. One, is marked "BAT", and connects to the battery, through the ammeter on the dash. The one marked "Arm", or possibly "GEN", routes through the harness to nthe generator armature. Likewise, the one marked either "F" or "FLD"connects directly to the field, through the harness. I'm more familiar with the 41 cars, but there may be a terminal block on the inner fender for these connections, before they reach the generator. In any case, that's how the connections go to the generator.

One more thing here. When the generator is in place, and all things connected, the generator needs to be polarized. This is simply flashing the hot side of the battery to the armature terminal of the generator, qiuckly. In many cases, the generator will simply not "build up", and begin charging, unless it's polarized. This also insures that the generator hasn't been polarized in reverse, and would run in the wrong polarity. That could be messy.

[Grey Brogdon]

Thanks Doug, good rundown,
I knew about polarizing the regulator but didn't know about ithe generator. Ill try that!!
I have the ground ( from motor to frame) cleaned along with the frame mounting location and the the battery ground to the rear of motor.
thanks again Grey

[D.Yaros]

Ah, but when when polarizes the voltage regulator, are they not in actuality polarizing the generator?

This assume the VR and GEN are connected.  I guess what I am asking is, there are not 2 separate polarization procedures; one for the VR, and one for the GEN?

[Otto Skorzeny]

You are right Yaros.

The shop manual (at least for 56) describes the procedure for polarizing the generator via the regulator.