Challenger Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 (edited) So I won't be home for awhile and started thinking about something that will bother me until I get home. I relocated my battery to the hatch and ran cables from the hatch to the engine bay. They went to the starter and block as well as the other wires that send power into the car. It started making me think, I have the engine block grounded and my engine electronics are grounded there, but where did the original 280z get its chassis ground? The chassis grounds are required for a lot of components. I remember I tried to put everything back to where it was when I relocated the battery but maybe I missed something. My car isn't anywhere near where I can test lights or other stuff so I'm not sure... I'll probably still add another ground to the hatch area to help the lights and components at the back of the car that are grounded. Thanks Edited November 30, 2011 by Challenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 S30s typically ground to the chassis (firewall) from a second, smaller wire off the negative battery cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) Hmm, I dont recall that on my car before, but I havent had it together for so long so I probably wouldnt. I suppose a cable directly to the firewall from the starter and than a cable directly from the negative terminal to the floor in the hatch will do the trick? Edited December 2, 2011 by Challenger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehannum Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) I just grounded the battery to the floor of the hatch, and then grounded the starter body to the original post on the firewall (where the smaller wire connected originally). Grounding nets are overrated. Edited December 2, 2011 by Jehannum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 The block isn't grounded unless you have Hindu tube fuel lines, or solid engine mounts. The stock car is very poorly executed when it comes to electrics, I think their engineers took too much to heart from those original Austin Kits after the war... But yeah, you will benefit from a ground strap across the engine mount, as well as trans mount. All the engine grounding goes through the alternator to the chassis master ground on the right frame rail. It often corrodes at connection point, or the main wire craps out. Additional small ground straps will mitigate the effects of this degradation. A wire of #8-10 from the negative post to the chassis someplace out back will help restore that factory bond like the stock setup had. Chassis grounds were a wire from negative to firewall, from the negative wire on the alternator to the right chassis rail, and then off the harness in the back behind the splash guard of the filler neck (to the smaller chassis stiffener rail above the tank). Any of them get degraded and you can start having weird electrical problems. Watch the old GM cars and they had small braided ground straps all over to give continuity to various points on the chassis to the engine. I think this was due to the chassis rusting away to nothing so quickly, as you can have a car rusted to nothing and all the electricals will still work! GM should get dome credit for their attention to grounding as electrical loads increased, they did a nice job making sure it worked for quite a while. By the 90's, somehow, they unlearned it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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