The Ford Barn

jg61hawk · 04-21-2024, 12:16 PM

Just for fun I wanted to get a base dwell reading. I have an old meter that says it works with 6 or 12 volts. It says for positive ground just reverse the leads so the black ground goes on the coil and the red hot goes on a ground. Normally a dwell meter goes to the negative side of the coil (my Studebaker 12V negative ground).

Question: On a Model A (stock set up...except modern points) do I connect the meter leads to the positive side of the coil? I tried both sides...I got what I think is a dwell reading when connected to the positive side, but the book says to use the negative side.....I don't completely understand how the system works. I do know on the Studebaker the negative coil side is the distributor side. Is the positive side the distributor side on the Model A?

04-21-2024, 12:16 PM	#1
jg61hawk Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Central New Jersey Posts: 418	Question on Hooking Up Dwell Meter Just for fun I wanted to get a base dwell reading. I have an old meter that says it works with 6 or 12 volts. It says for positive ground just reverse the leads so the black ground goes on the coil and the red hot goes on a ground. Normally a dwell meter goes to the negative side of the coil (my Studebaker 12V negative ground). Question: On a Model A (stock set up...except modern points) do I connect the meter leads to the positive side of the coil? I tried both sides...I got what I think is a dwell reading when connected to the positive side, but the book says to use the negative side.....I don't completely understand how the system works. I do know on the Studebaker the negative coil side is the distributor side. Is the positive side the distributor side on the Model A?