Dumb young'un '62 generator questions

[Rob Edwards]

I think I have a generator or VR problem on the '62-340. The ammeter shows a slight discharge when running and about -30 with the lights on. The battery ran completely down once, and I trickle chaged it back to life. It's the right (1102268)generator, I'm pretty sure the car's wired right (it showed a net charge until about a month ago). The VR is an 003E from Jan '63. No messing with wiring, grounds, etc. lately.
Review of the archives brings up the following tests from 8/25/03:

For Polarizing the generator:

1. "Try jumping the battery terminal of the generator to the field terminal on generator"

Or, another description by Chuck Gongloff, 1999:

"Ground the FIELD(F) terminal on your generator to the frame, engine, etc. Take a wire from the positive battery terminal, or any other hot terminal (horn relay), and touch and "spark" the ARMATURE(A) terminal on your generator. Don't connect the wire to the armature terminal....just "spark" it. That's it....you're done."

For polarizing the VR:

2. Jump the two lower terminals (BAT and GEN) of the voltage regulator."

SO: Dumb young'un question #1: I ASSume the car does NOT need to be running to polarize the generator. What about for polarizing the VR?

If the polarizing of either component doesn't fix things, the next suggestion was:

2. "Momentarily ground the field connection on the generator and test the generator output. It should be about 15 volts. If so, the regulator is probably bad. If it isn't, then the generator needs a rebuild."

SO: Dumb question #2: On page B159 of the '62 AIM, it looks like the case of the generator is grounded (via the mounting bracket, or the braided sheilding on the generator harness?) so to measure the generator output, A) the car needs to be running (?) B), I ground the field terminal to the case? (or engine block?), then measure DC voltage between the armature terminal and ground?

If I can do this without burning the car to the ground, I've got a restored VR if it tests no good. While the generator appears to be in great shape, I don't honestly know the last time it was apart. If it needs a rebuild, do any of the SoCal guys know of a trustworthy rebuilder locally? It should be clear from my questions that I wouldn't be up to the task myself.....

Thanks for any input that avoids me hurting myself and more importanly, the car!