Ok, so my neg battery cable is connected to the engine block...the cable was old and worn out so i took it off and am now trying to replace the cable. so the neg cable is bolted to the engine block and then at the terminal where the cable connects to the battery there is another wire that deviates from the terminal that has a d ring that connects to the frame of the car.I have been looking for a replacement but cannot find one, which leads me to question whether or not i need for my negative battery terminal to be grounded to the frame of the car, when the cable is already bolted to the engine block.. also.. I cant figure out for the life of me how to take my starter off..I can get to one of the two bolts that i assumer are mounting the starter in place.. but when i go to unbolt the second bolt , the exhaust pipe is in the way of my wrench and creates a very awkward angle for me to try and loosen the bolt and makes it almost impossible with the standard wrench I have.. I am seriously hoping that I am mistaken and trying to loosen the wrong bolt.. they are or the lateral side of the starter.. should i be loosening the bolts that are head on , the opposite side of where the positive battery wire goes? 72 buick skylark 350 thank you for you help!!!
First off the chassis, the body and the block should all be connected together and to the negative terminal of the battery. This is accomplished by the bonding of the body to the chassis and the chassis to the block by factory installed flat braided jumpers. If the jumpers are missing or damaged a replacement jumper can be made from a flexible wire of at least 10 gauge. Without a good known bond between the body, chassis and block a multitude of problems will plague you because of poor conductivity relying on bolted connections between these 3 elements of the car. The bolting of the battery cable to the block assures good continuity for the starter current which is extremely high compared to any other load on the system. Some older cars relied on a cable to frame connection for this but with age and corrosion multiple problems were caused by this method. As for the starter bolts try to look at them from above and below the engine bay. They are difficult due to their location but will be available for removal replacement. You might need extensions and/or a universal joint to work them out, just be patient.
If you are using bolt-on battery terminals, adding the frame jumper is a snap. Just loosen the bolts on the terminal, add a length of wire (10 gauge is a safe bet, like the previous poster said), and crimp a ring terminal on the other end, and seal it up with heat shrink. Good ground paths are super important on a car. In a house, every socket has a positive (hot) lead, and a return ground. On a car, 95% of things just have a hot lead, and then are grounded to the frame to complete the circuit. Electricity REALLY wants to go to ground. If you don't give it a nice, easy path, it will make it own path, even if it means grounding through the fuel lines, or across the radiator. This can lead to destroyed components, fires, non-functional systems, flaming death, etc. The two big obvious bolts on the bottom of the starter are the ones you're after. As you do more and more wrenching, you'll collect more and more "oddball" tools to do things like this. Maybe a crow's foot wrench would help you get around the exhaust? Also... be aware that there may be a third bolt. Many of these old GM car came with a little bracket that supports the nose of the starter, connecting it to the block. The bracket is pretty much bloody impossible to get to. The first time I encountered this bolt, I spent like 8 hours removing my alternator, AC compressor, and exhaust manifold to get at the damned thing. The second time I encountered one, I used a sawzall on the bracket, took about 10 seconds. You might get lucky and not have one of these on your car. Most "old time" mechanics threw them in the garbage the first time the starter got changed out. This is what I did, and I have had zero problems, on either of my cars. Some guys on the board swear it is super important, and without it you will bust starter noses and tranny bellhousings all day. You'll have to decide what you think is best.
My car has no such ground wire either. I have seen a couple of variations of this lately at some area car shows. Grounded to either the inside of the fender or to the rad support. Would those be acceptable locations to run the ground to? I do seem to have uneven charging, noticeable by the lighting getting brighter and dimmer. Hoping the ground might help (couldn't hurt). Not trying to hijack your thread.
At least a couple of ground straps should be used. 1. Rear of intake to fire wall 2. Battery to fender Use soldered terminals not crimped. I like to use "star washers" on these points as they bite into the metal. A small dab of dielectric grease is nice too but any grease is better than none.
I have no idea what is "correct", but I have my ground strap running from the negative battery post to the core support, not the inner fender. The headlights and horns are all grounded to the core support, and you definitely want those going to ground via the shortest, least resistive possible path. My rear ground strap runs from the passenger side cylinder head back to one of the mounting screws for the voltage regulator. Again, I don't know if this is "correct," but testing with a multimeter shows me good continuity through the whole system. I'm currently using a 6-gauge lawnmower battery cable... but it is inconvenient and looks terrible, I will be switching to a 'correct' braided cable in the near future. Ken is right about the star washers. Spray paint is basically plastic, which is an insulator. At the very least scrape some paint off to make sure you're getting a metal-to-metal connection, but the star washers are better. Plus they don't back out. "Crimping" with pliers or a crappy homeowner-grade crimper is not acceptable, but crimps made with decent tools hold up well. A good crimp will have the ends of the tube curl down and bite into the wire. If it is just squeezing the wire, it will slip off every time, usually at some terribly inopportune time. Me personally, I like to crimp terminals to the very best of my abilities, and then run some solder into them, and then heat shrink them. Creates a good connection electrically and mechanically, and is weather-resistant.
72 small ground attached from the negative cable to the fender. early 70 may have used this as well. Most 70 battery cables had no small ground. 70 and msot of 71 used spring ring cables and 72 used side post.
