1969 VW Bug Question
 

A buddy just bought a 69 bug.
And in checking things out we've noticed that the POS post cable of the battery is bolted to the chassis and the NEG post cable of the battery disappears into the engine compartment, most likely goes to the starter.

Is this how the old bugs were set up? I use to own a bug but I've forgotten how the battery cables were set up.

Negative should be attached to the chassis and the positive goes through a hole in the chassis to the starter.

Are you sure that what you think is + is really +, and same for - ?

I thought only the Brits used positive ground?

VW's are negative ground.

Flip the battery around. ;)

I once had an '67 MGB that was originally +'ve ground. Obviously the engineers didn't think that through very well, or completely forgot about electrolysis when the decision on how to hook up the electrical system was being made.

Certainly wouldn't expect the Germans to do such a thing.

Yup, I"m absolutely certain. The battery has a + molded into the plastic and "that" cable is bolted to the chassis.

Hooked up a DMM to the car, Pos batt to chassis and it read -12vdc.

OK, it's backwards. I shudder to think what else you have going on....

I have owned three '69 Bugs and a '69 K-Ghia... all were negative ground.

You may have big problems. Is the battery dead?



As far as I know, they were all negative ground. They switched from 6V to 12V in 67, I think.

I remember that all Fords in the '50's were positive ground AND 6 Volt.

Y'all know you can charge a battery up backwards, as in, reverse the polarity? Old boss' dad did that accidentally on a Stupid A tractor. Fella didn't know he'd done it until the battery went dead again in the field and he checked it with a volt meter.

FWIW I hooked the battery up backwards in the 356 when I was young (about 12, Dad was original owner). Car ran fine but the tach wanted to go backwards...

This

When you drove it did you have one speed forward and four reverse?

Man, you best check that car out double close before you drive it anyplace, especially stuff that can kill you, like brakes and fuel lines, your DAPO probably did a lot of things wrong.

If the cable on the + teminal is now going to the chassis, and you hooked up a DVM/DMM between the Pos Batt terminal and the chassis, it would read zero volts, not -12vdc.

On a bug, the battery sits under the backseat and negative bolts to the chassis. The 12V positive cable goes directly to the starter motor.

Here's what im thinking. I once helped a friend out with an old BMW where he saw a red and a black cable. He hooked the battery up red to POS, black to NEG. He fried the electrical system. After looking at it, I realized that the red cable was actually brown. He thought that the red had faded to that color. On German cars, Black is 12V and brown is ground.

Can you post a picture? If I recall correctly, the NEG cable should be a braided strip.

One other thing, Does the car have an alternator or a generator? I seem to remember having to modify the wiring on a few bugs because the original generator was no longer available and an alternator had to be used. I think that some alternators back in the day had to be polarized before you used them.

I'm telling ya it read -12 vdc. (neg twelve volts direct current).

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow.

Braided cable, yeah, seem to recall the negative post goes out board. They could have replaced the ground with something funky though

LOL, no. I don't the engine would run in reverse. That would mean #4 cyl is acting as #1 and I believe the timing would be off.

12v positive ground, last 6v in 66, should have a 1500cc single port Type I engine.