I'm helping my dad put together a Depot Hack he's had for years....almost there. The ignition switch he had was questionable, so he decided to buy a new repop. The new switch has a screw amongst all the other ones for a ground wire, the old one didn't have a ground. Is the switch supposed to be grounded?
Ignore it.
My new switch back had one to. It's not used on my '25 or '26. I do wonder why it's there.
When connected to ground, the ground terminal "grounds" the coil box input terminal. Without this someone could connect a jumper wire from the battery terminal on the terminal box to the coil box to bypass the ignition switch. A quick pull on the crank handle and away they drive with your car!
I forgot to mention that the grounding of the ignition is only when the key is in the "off" position
Bob
The ground was also used for an accessory magneto that needs a ground to turn off the sparks and stop the engine.
I have them both ways. I don't think the Ford issued switch backs had a ground terminal.
It may depend on who the switch suppliers was, I am sure I have seen the ground terminal on at least one Ford switch.
The ground at the switch doesn't do squat for securing the car unless you can lock the hood too. All you have to do is remove the wire from the coil box (to switch) and replace it with one going from the coil box terminal to the battery terminal at the terminal block (#1). Bingo, coils sparking.
I have a 1919 C-door with a Clum ignition switch. On the back it has a connection marked ground? It was grounded to the dash. I put a new wiring harness on it today. Was planning on grounding it because it had been grounded?? Should I ground it???