Extra ground ran to starter

[jmeckel]

Here is a picture of a cable that I made to add a ground to the starter. It is made from 4 AWG soft copper wire, it is 35" long with single hole connector crimped and soldered (I am a little old school and like electrical connectors soldered and crimped, I have fixed far too many bad connections on communications equipment in emergency vehicles over the years). The cable runs from the frame / battery ground bolt to the bottom bolt on the starter. I ran it along the frame and connected it to the bottom bolt on the starter. It did increase the speed the starter turns the engine over so I did have a ground problem, just did not know it! I was prompted to install this ground after the thread a few weeks ago about the metal gas line getting hot from a bad engine to frame ground.

 

[Chris H]

I did the same thing, but used #2 wire, and made it as short as possible. Like you, I crimped and soldered. It made a big difference in the starter's performance. The battery charges better too.

Chris

 

[tbirdtbird]

The ground is so often overlooked in all old cars, just taken for granted. Ya gotta have a complete circuit! No rust or fresh paint in the way! After all a 6V starter draws at least 200 amps. Many modern cars are adopting a dedicated starter ground. And dedicated grounds to all other devices for that matter. I have hidden dedicated grounds to all my Model A lights also. And any electrical connection should be both mechanically strong (crimp) and electrically strong (solder), so I am with you 100 %

 

[Mike V. Florida]

The ground is so often overlooked in all old cars, just taken for granted. Ya gotta have a complete circuit! No rust or fresh paint in the way! After all a 6V starter draws at least 200 amps. Many modern cars are adopting a dedicated starter ground. And dedicated grounds to all other devices for that matter. I have hidden dedicated grounds to all my Model A lights also. And any electrical connection should be both mechanically strong (crimp) and electrically strong (solder), so I am with you 100 %

If you have a driver, this is the way to go to ensure proper grounding.

 

[Richard Wilson]

Some guys run a 2ond ground wire to the transmission instead of to the starter since it is closer to the original ground location. Either additional ground location might help on a newly painted and assembled car or a rusty neglected one. Headlights are another area that sometime benefit from an extra ground wire also.

 

[Aerocraft]

I have been using a short braided (second) ground strap from where the battery ground attaches to the frame to the left rear transmission cover bolt. By doing it that way, I have only one ground to frame location that I have to keep clean. I do clean that connection annually at the start of the season.

Being very old school, I also solder every crimped connection when I install a new wire harness.

Gar Williams