Grounding & Ignition Questions

[S_Beaudry]

I know the engine should be/must be grounded to the chasis, so does anyone know how heavy the wire or strap should be to be a good ground?

I am guessing that the ignition switch should be grounded to the chasis also?


Any thoughts . . . .

[Ron61]

Beaudry,

I have mine grounded in three places with a heavy piece of battery cable. I also have one of the old style kind of flat woven type ground straps. I have so many grounds on my car that it is ridiculous but with these cars I just felt it was easier than trying to chase down an intermittant problem caused by a single ground that may have gotten loose. I also have all gauges multipled togethere and ground leads from each end going to a special terminal that I got and installed to let me feed 12 grounds out of it. It is grounded to one of the big main ground straps. Overkill maybe, but I have never had any ground problems.

Ron

[Steve R]

Ron,
YOU'RE GROUNDED! GO TO YOUR ROOM!

[Michael C Henry]

The actual ignition switch doesn't need to be grounded. It could be located in plastic and there would be no difference. You move it it just makes or breaks electrical connections. Any thing that operates or moves by electricity needs to be grounded gauges, starters, solinoids,If the engine is grounded properly it is the groud for temp sending unit ,strter,spark plugs etc.The fuel tank needs to be grounded for spark suppersion and the fuel quantity sending unit that grounds to the tank. The starter solinoid is a electro magnet and needs to be have the housing grounded to operate the magnet thhat connects the heavey switch. The Dash needs to be grounded for the gauges and lites.On a fiberglass car, ground wires need to go to almost all componets . Most componets were intended for 12V neg ground systems on conventional metal cars . Most of the time the metal car was the ground syteem but some manufactures still ran an extra ground wires just to be certain.Copper cables carry more curant and have less resistance than steel frames.The grounds are all interconnected to form a system connected back to the battery. Do not forget the ground path back to the battery for the alternater usually through the engine.