January, 2006
2100 Walnut Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
Local Chapter of MAFCA and MARC
NEWS
‘A’
LETTER
Heart of America Model A Ford Club
“
Certificate of Merit” 2004
“
Best Newsletter
Honorable Mention” 2004
1
You’ll Get A Charge Out of This!
I feel it is appropriate to begin the New Year with a rousing technical article to stimulate our thought process and help us
get ready for another tour season. Therefore, the topic is the electrical system. Every system in the Model A can be at
peak operational performance. However, without a functioning electrical system, the car ain’t gonna go! So, let’s begin
with the basics.
A term you might be familiar with is the watt. This is the word your wife uses when you tell her you have just bought
another Model A, or have spent a good portion of your monthly income at a swap meet. “Watt did you do!!!” When you
move your Model A, or your parts inventory, into your wife’s side of the garage, the “Watt” might be followed with the
words, “in the #*#*#!!…did you do?” Look out for a sentence inversion that goes like this, “You did, watt?” The next
term is the Ohm. The ohm is the unit of measuring resistance to your next Model A project. When you announce that you
are starting another restoring project that will take hundreds of hours of your time so you can’t do all the honey-do-
chores for the next four years, your wife will typically rub her temples and say, “ohmmmmm.” The volt is a unit for
measuring the pressure your buddies put on you to make technical upgrades on your Model A. The amp is the measure-
ment of how fast the currency flows out of your wallet and bank account for your Model A project. When the rate of
flow gets high, expect your wife to use the term “watt…”
So much for theory. Let’s get down to some practical applications. The first thing we want to consider is the placement
or the orientation of the battery. Notice, the battery is placed parallel to the frame with the negative pole closest to the
firewall. There are two reasons for this configuration. First, the electrons flow from positive to negative. The negative
pole heats up when masses of electrons are driven into it by the charging system. The forward position of this pole
places it in line with the cooling air from the radiator fan. Second, electricity always flows in the path of least resistance.
If the battery was placed sideways, the flow of electricity would encounter more wind resistance. The wind, now impact-
ing on the side of the electron flow, would actually cause a bow effect in much the same way if you held a piece of string
at both ends and placed it in the path of a strong wind. This resistance, or bow effect, would c ut down on the efficiency
of the charging system.
Finally, in this first article on the Model A electrical system, let’s consider the issues of polarity. Folks often ask me why
the Model A has a positive ground system. This system was not used because of any electrical engineering advantage.
Rather, it was used for driver and passenger comfort. When electrons leave the positive post, a positive ion force field is
created inside the car. Through the efforts of modern science, we now understand that ionic polarity has a definite impact
on human behavior. A positive ion force field makes people feel more positive, comfortable, and relaxed, especially over
the long haul drive. A negative ground system, such as employed by Chevrolet, makes people feel more negative, un-
comfortable, nervous and stressed out.
Well…I hope you find this first article helpful and informative, and that you’ll be looking forward to our next articles in
the series on the electrical system.
Enjoy the journey,
Chris Launer
