Firing up the C59A - electrical questions

[Ziggster]

I’m getting ready to finish off my rebuilt flathead that has been sitting for a year, and have started looking into what is needed from an electrical perspective to get it going. I have three flathead books, but not one talks about the electrics, and I’ve been reading up lately on what little I could find, but I’m still somewhat confused. Here are some details of my engine:

C59A
Helmet distributor (rebuilt by me)
Ordinal 6V starter (rebuilt at shop)
Original generator (as was when I purchased engine)
Newish 6V battery (2 yrs old)
New voltage regulator
I think purchased a starter solenoid coil, but need to check

I want to keep the electrics as per the original 6V positive ground. At the moment, I just want to run it without the cooling system functioning (pumps will be installed along with belt) just to make sure it does in fact run, but later on I’ll likely build a fully functioning test stand. I want to hook up the generator for now just so I know what wire goes where. This is what I’ve drawn up so far.

[Mart]

Not right.

Only one terminal on starter for a start (no pun intended.)
Lead from battery should go to the coil but through a resister first.
Your solenoid might have a mechanics button underneath. That will save an earth wire to pull in the solenoid.
Mart.

[Ziggster]

Thanks Mary for the quick reply. Not entirely sure by what you mean “only one wire to the starter”. I’m using the (+) terminal on the starter as my battery (+) ground point. Is this not ok?
Added the ballast resistor and voltage regulator.

[marko39]

Starter has one terminal which receives power from solenoid. It is grounded to the engine which should have the positive cable from battery connected to it.

[Ziggster]

Got it thanks. I read somewhere the battery could be grounded to either the starter or engine. What is the typically wire gauge from batt to solenoid to be starter? I’ve read that 1/0 gauge is recommended.

[Ziggster]

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Did some more digging and came up with this. Added some of the gauges I have. Still need to get a master battery disconnect switch (likely vintage blade type) and ammeter. Not sure what the “DIM” position means on my vintage Bosch switch. Let me know if this looks good.

[Ziggster]

D’oh! Forget a leg. Added the circuit circled on the left side.

[Ziggster]

Got some help on the HAMB. Here is the latest version. Someone there mentioned I could easily just convert to a negative ground by repolarizing the generator.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Ziggster

Got some help on the HAMB. Here is the latest version. Someone there mentioned I could easily just convert to a negative ground by repolarizing the generator.

As long as the vehicle is still 6 volt, I see no reason to convert to negative ground. It will just confuse the issue might mislead someone down the line. These cars were designed to be positive ground for a reason. It seems that corrosion is less of a problem with positive ground.

[Ziggster]

Thanks @Tubman. I’m building a scratch built speedster that is based on another creation of something that didn’t actually exist, so I not really restricted to anything. I just want to keep things as much as possible period correct for a pre-war vehicle.