[Friski]

Hi All,

I was thinking about upgrading all the earthing cables in the vit with a minimal 4 gauge cable.

My question is, is it worth while to link up all the earthing points in the engine bay? I mean, right chassis to battery to fire wall to left chassis and even rails as I have a lift kit on it.

All comments would be much appreciated, I'm also in the process of creating my own headlight upgrade loom.

Cheers,
Mic

[Reubs]

Friski wrote:

I was thinking about upgrading all the earthing cables in the vit with a minimal 4 gauge cable.

My question is, is it worth while to link up all the earthing points in the engine bay? I mean, right chassis to battery to fire wall to left chassis and even rails as I have a lift kit on it.

The 3 standard earth connections are Battery to starter (at a guess it looks like 25mm2 maybe - just a fraction larger than 4AWG), battery to firewall and engine block to firewall (both cables to/from firewall maybe 6mm2 or 10mm2).

The voltage drop over less than 0.5m of 6 or 10mm2 cable at the stock alternators max output isn't much - so as long as each of the essential 3 connections is good there will be negligible gain adding extra wires into the equation unless you already have a problem (such as maybe a poor earth from battery to starter), or you have an alternator upgrade and you have already upgraded your fusible link, wiring and added extra loads that you have switched on all at once.

IMO if you do 'upgrade' the cables, make sure you properly crimp the lugs on each end and ensure a clean and tight bolted connection otherwise you are wasting your time as the connection at each lug is as important as cable size.

Also, there is no electrical advantage by connecting both halves of the chassis or both halves of the body together as they are welded together as a continuous piece of metal - also the only thing I can think of that is earthed via the chassis would be the fuel guage and the connection between body and chassis should be good even with poly body lift blocks installed so no need to upgrade there.

IMO check the condition of your earth cables and leave them alone unless you already have a problem.

[Friski]

Thanks for the tech info, I've just gone over the car and discovered the following:
1. Right chassis rail to battery (6mm standard cable)
2. Starter to battery (10mm standard cable)
3. Gearbox to battery (4 AWG)
4. Engine block to left chassis rail (4 AWG)
5. Dizzy to firewall (standard cables)

Guessing I'll have to do the following:
1. Starter to battery (4 AWG)
2. Gearbox to firewall (4 AWG) relocate from battery

Future mods in relation to cabling:
1. Upgrade alternator to EL alternator (4 AWG power supply)
Main reason for upgrade of alternator is due to the current winch sucking the power away (especially at night with the lights on) and looking at installing 4 spot lights, under body lights and as well as upgrading the interior lights.

Any recommendations will be much apprecited and if I'm going down the right path with all this.

Cheers,
Mic