OK, I got 22 feet of 4 gauge high performance wire, a nice battery clamp, I used a factory ground strap relocated to the rear and left the other ground strap in the front. I also left the hot lead in the front that go's to the little red terminal thing on the strut tower. I cleaned off all connections and put on anti-corrode gel. I tightened everything and tried to get every connection tight.

Where should the hot lead coming from the back connect in the front? What kind of ground should be used and where?

The car barely cranks and it just doesn't work. When I drilled the hole for the ground in the back I removed a tail light and drilled it though there for access. The bolt comes through near the spare tire. Everything is grounded and the hot leads are hooked up so what am I doing wrong. Is there a trick to this mod? Do I need a better ground or? What?
Very confused here. I thought the stuff would just bolt in and work. So far this is the only mod that has given me this much guff and you would think it is simple.

**** and I mounted my MSD box where the battery was. Time to move things again until I figure this **** out!

HELP!

 

Sounds like you have a weak connection. The car barely cranks because it cant get the amperage it needs. Did you sandpaper the area that you bolted the ground to?

 

Yes I wire brushed the thing to pieces. I will try getting a grind wheel to it tomorrow and then post again. I changed the connection of the positive that is up front from the small red clip on fender thing inside our engine bay OVer to just the old abttery terminal and I tried taping it tight but that worked worse. Now that I switched it back to the fender mount wire thing it slow cranks again. The only thing I could do more would be to have someone with a large sauder iron, sauder the connections at the battery and have a sepereate spliced wire in the front with a saudered on wire coming from the back which would be a pain in the ***. Then another ground in the front by cutting off the old battery terminal

On the good side I drilled little holes for screws and mounted my MSD 6AL right on the old battery pad. It looks BADASS from the top now Finally my engine is looking a little unique

 

how old is the battery? you have to remember, you need to push power a long ways! as it goes the distance, it will lose some power along the way. piper aircraft used to have this problem alot for the same reason. alot of guys will put it 1 gauge or 2 guage to try to get rid of that problem jegs even has a 16 volt battery due to all the electrical stuff needed to be turned.

 

I didn't think it would be this dificult or time consuming but I know what i gotta do. I have to sauder every connection for the least resistance and buy an oversized powerful battery. I'm going to have to fabricate a new positive lead to the car and ground leads. I think I can do it with those stinger components though. I will just apint them silver so they match everything

 

The factory power distrobution block is a POS and can't handle that power. The best thing to do is get a good distrobution block and use that insteat of the factory peice. I just cut the terminal off of my facotry lead (had two wires in it) and put those in a RF distro block I got from Best Buy and then put my hot lead in the other end of the block. I have heard of a lot of people having the same problem and this always seems to solve it. It sounds like the ground is fine if you have already taken a grinder to it.

Good Luck

 

Thanks man* I was seriously thinking of that the first time the problem occurred. I was like.... maybe this harness sucks and I should get a few seperate wires with a dist. block..... I am going to try that and recheck the ground. Cheers

 

I have never had luck with this car and a rear mounted battery. Going to a lightweight dry cell up front.

 

Yea, I am definately going to an optima battery soon. I talked to a guy at autozone who said that those batteries aren't worth it at all but when I look on the board.... thats what everyone upgrades to... I am going to go with an oversized juicy one and keep it in my trunk

 

I had three same problem with the battery. I was told that 4 guage would do it. NOPE. I have O gauge and a blue top optima back there. starts like a champ. plus.... it is really easy to wire the stereo.

 

That's what I did with mine, got the Moroso battery relocator and bought a brand new Optima, was having major problems, my mechanic friend did the ground on the bottom of the trunk area which happens to be coated steel, my car kept dying on me because it kept grounding out!

I was sooo pissed, AAA figured it out, cuz I thought the battery was dead, and when the AAA guy tried to jump it, he moved around the ground a bit and VIOLA, it got power! The tow guy sandwiched a penny between the negative cable & post, then I drove to my mechanic, he then ground around the cable connection, and I haven't had a problem ever since.

Every once in a while though it sounds like the battery is going to die, and once it cranks up it's just fine.

 

I run an Optima and have had no luck. I figure the weight saving of 20' of 0 guage cable and the battery should be be well worth the 16 lbs I am putting back up front.

 

You guys may not want to hear this. The Unibody DOESN'T conduct electricity very well. It is fine for your stereo's amplifiers, etc..., but not for a 900CCA battery. If you have a rear mounted battery, you will want to install WELDED IN subframe connectors if you haven't already. The subframe connectors will tie the front and rear subframes together. Ground the battery to the rear subframe with alteast the same guage wire as your power cable. Make sure the engine block is grounded to the chassis and that the alternator is grounded to the engine(I found this out after I powdercoated my alt./AC bracket, the alt. couldn't get a ground throught the coating). In the front you should have no problem attaching the power to the stock distribution block. Use 2 guage power cable or better. FWIW, I have used 4 guage without problems when everything was done as I described above.

 

4 gauge is too small! i used 2 gauge going from the battery to the front of the car! hell the wire going from the alternator post to the positive wire bundle is 4 gauge i must just be lucky cause ive had my battery relocated in the trunk for like 2 years now and not one prob although i did pretty much replace all that factory wiring junk!

HERE is how i did mine!

 

Yeah.....4 guage wire is probably too small....I did this in my race car, and used 1 guage. I hooked the 1 guage up to the starter post, then made a "jumper" with 4 guage from the starter to the alternator, and then to the plastic junction block on the fender.

Works fine.

Randy