1977 fj40 ground straps should I be adding any? (1 Viewer)

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curtislow

Third fj40
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Threads
99
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377
Location
Western Massachusetts
I've done a frame on restoration over the last couple of years,adding a few things (hei distributor).I've had the 2f rebuilt and reinstalled and it runs good, although I have a large oil leak at the rear main seal but that's another problem for another day.
I was wondering if i should be adding some ground straps. The only ground on the vehicle body is the cable from battery to engine block, what would be a good upgrade in grounding correctly.
 
should have one from started bolt to frame
I'm gonna have to look, that may be there, I did not install the motor,I did all the monkey stuff.Do you think there should be any ground straps from the aluminum body to frame or from the distributor to frame etc?
 
There are small ground wires within the harness to connect body to running gear, but it wouldn't hurt to add a 10ga wire from a accy bolt on the side of cyl head to a bolt on the firewall. Also, make sure the battery neg to chassis ground cable is shiny & greased up at both ends. Same goes for chassis to starter cable: clean & greased up.
 
I added two extra grounds from the metal blinker reflector (inside the housing) to the chassis. @Coolerman recommends and illustrates how to do this on his website.

I also made some of these but haven't needed to use them yet.

 
There are small ground wires within the harness to connect body to running gear, but it wouldn't hurt to add a 10ga wire from a accy bolt on the side of cyl head to a bolt on the firewall. Also, make sure the battery neg to chassis ground cable is shiny & greased up at both ends. Same goes for chassis to starter cable: clean & greased up.
There are small ground wires within the harness to connect body to running gear, but it wouldn't hurt to add a 10ga wire from a accy bolt on the side of cyl head to a bolt on the firewall. Also, make sure the battery neg to chassis ground cable is shiny & greased up at both ends. Same goes for chassis to starter cable: clean & greased up.
Thanks everyone, i'm going to run that 10 ga wire and clean and grease my existing ones.
 
Ground is always a problem in our Cruisers.
As an electric guy I don't like the battery to engine, engine to frame/chassis straps. That's putting cables in series and asking for problems. So I modified my ground cables a little and now have 3 ground cables.
Neg battery to engine block (shortest return path for the alternator).
Neg battery to starter housing (shortest return path for the starter).
Neg battery to Voltage Regulator housing on the firewall (for all the other stuff that is grounded to the body).

Rudi
 
What gage wire would you use for these? I don't understand this ground stuff that well, that's why i posed the question. I know last year I had starting issues with my 88 ford f-250,the guy who finally solved my problems found it was all the rust all over the truck. I had changed ignition module (several times), fuel pumps(couple of times), computor etc. thinking these were the issue but it turned out to be a ground issue.
Ground is always a problem in our Cruisers.
As an electric guy I don't like the battery to engine, engine to frame/chassis straps. That's putting cables in series and asking for problems. So I modified my ground cables a little and now have 3 ground cables.
Neg battery to engine block (shortest return path for the alternator).
Neg battery to starter housing (shortest return path for the starter).
Neg battery to Voltage Regulator housing on the firewall (for all the other stuff that is grounded to the body).

Rudi
 
Toyota apparently learned about grounding properly for reliability: VERY SLOWLY... The reality is, it probably had more to do with saving money, than making things more reliable.

My truck is Battery - to frame Point A, then Point A to starter mounting bolt. I also have a 8 ga jumper from the alternator to the engine block. This ensures the alternator doesn't fry the 18ga regulator to alternator ground if it doesn't have a good mounting ground. This is very common if you paint or powder coat the alternator bracket so that is does not make a good ground.

Early trucks only have two harness grounds: One is the main chassis harness regulator ground. This ground pretty much grounds EVERYTHING in the main harness that has a ground like the headlights, alternator, wipers, regulator, heater blower and the VSV. Lose that ground and your truck is going to really act strange. The other ground is in the rear chassis harness and is for the 4WD switch and the fuel sending unit.

Later trucks have a much better grounding system with multiple harness to body grounds and most, but not all, of the lights have separate grounds.

Some grounding tips: If you have a nice paint job and mount all your body panels with washers (especially if you put nylon washers under the bolts to not scratch the paint) you will need to run ground wires from the frame to the front fenders to ensure they are grounded properly. You MUST make sure they touch bare metal somewhere! IF you can think of it before you paint the panels, weld a threaded 6mm x 1.0 stud somewhere on the two fenders and bib to use as the future grounding point. That way you only have to clean the threads of the studs of paint to get a good ground. Do the same for the frame if you're anal... You should coat all your grounds with grease (nasty dirt magnet), Fluid Film, (still nasty to apply, but will not attract dirt) or better yet any liquid rubber stuff, or polyurethane like undercoating.
 

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