Wiring questions

[Lisa P]

Since you all have been so helpful in the past, I have a few more questions for you.
 
1. Where does the ground wire from the generator go?  Does it go to the frame or the voltage regulator or elsewhere?
 
2. Since the little switch under the dash for the instrument lights is too rusty to work, can I wire the lights from the headlight switch, perhaps at the parking light terminal?

3. When I put my voltage regulator back on, do I have to polarize something? (I read a bit about this from some other posts).

4. And last but not least, my temperature gauge is pegged (hot) when the key is turned off but once it is turned on, it swings all the way to the left (cold).  I can't really idle the car too much as I still don't have a cooling system, but does it normally register hot when the key is off?

Thanks in advance once again for all your advice!  Next task, fuel line...

[Kenn Evans II]

Check your polarity, these cars are a positive ground.  The positive cable from the battery connects to the frame and motor and the negative cable is just the opposite. The negative cable runs from the negative post on the battery goes to the starter solenoid, where that current is directed to the starter when the solenoid is engaged, and to the other connections that terminate at the starter solenoid.  If it is hooked up backwards your gages will be off also.

The Kaisers also use circuit breakers for the lights and that, I would call Kaiser Bill or Seth Jones and just pick up a replacement light switch and keep everything as originally designed.  The original design can be improved on but for correct operation I would personally keep it as designed, You don't want any fires from dead shorts.

To polarize the generater Guys correct me if I am wrong please and  Lisa please wait to do it to make sure I'm correct,  You must polarize the generator every time it is disconnected or serviced. To polarize the generator, simply make a short jumper wire to short between the battery (b or bat) and generator (g or gen) lugs on the cutout relay or voltage regulator. Only a split-second or a spark is required, so simply tap your jumper wire onto the lugs and pull them right back off.  I hope this will help you a little bit.

[joefrazer]

On the early (47-8) cars, the temp gauge does park at full hot when the engine is off. That's normal and is nothing to be concerned with.

Yes, you will need to polarize the regulator. A quick touch of a piece of scrap wire between the B (BAT) and A (ARM) tabs on the regulator before you start the car will do it for you. This only needs done when a new or rebuilt regulator is installed. It does not need done every time the battery is disconnected. As mentioned, you'll see a spark, that's OK.

There are 3 wires on your generator. All three match tabs on the regulator.

You can wire the instrument (dash) lights directly into the headlight circuit so that when either the headlights or parking lights are on, so are the instrument lights. I did that with my 48K because the rheostat to control them had corroded. Just make sure that all of the wiring is in good shape. The old cloth covered wires can build alot of resistance and that cloth burns fast!

[Kenn Evans II]

Thanks Joe, It has been along time since I have had to do any electrical.

[Fid]

Do all three wires from the generator match those on the regulator on Kaiser?  They don't on the Henry J and I don't think they would on anything else either but it depends on what is meant by "terminals" on the regulator.  The regulator has 3 terminals. The generator has two terminals - the Field which connects to the terminal marked FLD on the regulator (skinnier wire) and the armature which goes to the ARM terminal (sometimes marked GEN ) on the regulator (thicker wire).  There is a third wire which connects directly to the "case" or body of the generator. That one is a ground wire which usually goes back to one of the mounting screws (as opposed to a terminal) on the regulator.  You definitely do not want to connect that ground wire from the case of the generator to the third terminal on the regulator, which is the "BAT" terminal feeding the battery.

[Lisa P]

Thanks everyone, you saved the day again.  The diagram I have has two distinct connections from the terminals on the generator, one for armature and one for field which both run to the voltage regulator.  There is a screw on the generator case as Fid mentioned that is marked "G" and that is the one that was not discernible in the diagram. 

Don't worry about the old wiring, it is gone!  I am making a new harness to get it driveable until I can afford one of Mr. McBrides. 

One more question, has anyone converted a non-turn signal car into one with turn signals by adding the required terminal blocks and another socket in the taillights?  Thanks again for the great advice, I really appreciate it.

[Fid]

I've added signal lights to a Henry J.  All that was required was changing the front sockets as the rear ones use the brake light terminal for signal lights.  On the J you don't change the terminal block.  I'm not sure on Kaiser. Weas has a Special which has signal lights and the terminal block on that one has 5 posts.  I believe the outer two are for the signal lights.  One is parking lights, one is low beam, one is high beam and the other two are L and R signal light.  And actually, you don't really need to change the front sockets if you don't mind going without parking lights which no one uses anyway. I did find on the J that the bulbs used for the parking lights caused the flasher to go way too slow so when I did change to the dual terminal sockets using the correct bulbs, it works great.