Battery Cable

[Joe Mopar]

I have another question :grin:.

Car..............64 Dodge 440
Engine.........440


Went to pick up a cable today for the negative side ( thought it would be simple ) . Anyways.............does it ground to the frame, or to the engine, or to the frame and then from there to engine (2 pc. ) ? :edgy:

I had nothing to go by and thinking any one of them may be ok, but want to do it right................the first time.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

Most all old Mopars ground to the front of the engine.

 

[Joe Mopar]

Most all old Mopars ground to the front of the engine.

Thanks 69 !

 

[1badstroker]

my 66 ground goes to the top of the head.

 

[HitIt]

A 2.5 foot negative cable should be about perfect
to ground to the front most manifold bolt.

 

[morbidgoat]

too many grounds is never a bad functionality (maybe improper looks) i personally bought one of those long braided style grounds that has holes every 8" or so and i first grounded to the inner fenderwall with one of the middle holes and then to the oil pump with the end of that strap on my 69 gtx 440 but make sure there is a little slack to accomadate for engine torqueing

 

[72Satellite440]

my 72 neg battery cable came with a 2nd ground wire any idea where that 1 grounds guys?

 

[Histoy]

The small wire grounds to the radiator support. There should be a hole for it to attach in front of the battery location.

 

[fatecaptured]

so does that second wire serve the same purpose as an engine ground strap?

 

[Joe Mopar]

so does that second wire serve the same purpose as an engine ground strap?

I'd say you still need the heavy duty engine to firewall ground strap.

 

[1948 santa]

Body ground is usually from the top right rear of the engine to firewall.

 

[fatecaptured]

Interesting, my 70 c-net didn't have one on it when i bought it. I thought it was strange, but thought maybe mopars were different. I went from a ford guy to a mopar guy, and now I don't think i'll ever go back.

 

[bandit]

Mine is grounded to the engine and the engine is grounded to the firewall in back with braided wire. I also added a smaller wire from negative to my fender bolt for extra ground. The battery was in the trunk just grounded to the trunk floor when I bought it.

 

[Sixer]

Can't have too many grounds.

 

[Ron 73]

This is a old thread but wouldn't hurt to add a little to it, maybe help someone in the future. I don't know exactly how much this will help, but a 30 year mech told me this once having problems starting my car, The grounds i should have. Ill leave it and you guys can be the judge, It sure stopped my problems once i added a couple and cleaned what i did have.

"from the battery negative to the engine block
from the battery negative to the body
from the engine block to the firewall.
from the engine block to the body"

And I couldn't agree more with Sixer, You cant have to many and for some reason Mopars thrive on them to work right.. Sometimes its more then a ground that causes problems but, It is good to have them clean and enough. Seems like over kill, but they aren't that hard to put on and hide..

 

[Hemi Rebel]

I agree too. Good grounds are a must. I know of people who sold cars for electrical problems they couldnt figure out, and the new owners fix the ground problems inside of an hour.
Electron flow is a funny thing, a bad ground can cause it to flow to weird places causing other things to work. Like bad tailight grounds making interior or dash lights to do strange things.

 

[bigredbird]

my 72 neg battery cable came with a 2nd ground wire any idea where that 1 grounds guys?

I've got the double-ground cable on my '72 also, and I want to move a Flaming River battery disconnect switch to inside the car from its current spot near the battery. I'm tired of lifting the hood to disconnect, and need to disconnect because I've got a %$*&# parasitic drain from hell. The switch is hooked up to the negative, so it's connected to the battery (1' cable), block (18" cable), and radiator support (8" cable).
Do I need to run three long sections of negative battery cable from the switch when it's inside the car, to the these same places under the hood, then?

 

[Photon440]

Can't have too many grounds.

Can't argue with that. I learned my lesson when I had a '74 Dodge truck. The headlights went brighter when I pushed down the clutch. Somehow the engine ground wasn't getting to the chassis properly.

-=Photon440=-

(although, with the OP being two years in the past, this may not be that useful any longer