yes thats what I have found out, but before I change the battery leads for positive ground I need to find out what to check if the car has been modified to neg ground. The coil is wired with a wire going from the neg post of the coil to the distributor, and when running the battery is charging, its about 6.8 volts or so when running. There is another wire going from the neg side of the coil that I can trace to the firewall then its leads to under the car we are in deer hunting mode and I cant lift the car up to find out where it ends, also there is some type of relay on the firewall that has a ground wire going to the motor and I dont know if its getting hot but most of the insulation is gone.

the battery lead going to the solenoid goes on the negative post on the battery. in other words the battery goes in backwards

Ive been doing a lot of research and I have found that my car is supposed to be positive ground, well its got the positive battery lead going to the solenoid and the negative is going to the block. I have taken the neg lead off until I can get this sorted out. I know nothing about positive ground or how to tell which way is the right ground for the car. The gen light glow dimly after you start it and the temp gauge is staying on hot with the battery off. All the lights are working. The guy I bought the car from doesn't know very much about cars and wouldn't be any help.