running a 4 ga ground strap

Extra grounds are like the reserve parachute for a sky diver. If the main one fails, there is always your reserve.

The 3G has a 130 amp capacity, so you wire the power side with 4 gauge wire. It stands to reason that the ground side handles just a much current, so it needs to be 4 gauge too.

The best plan is to have all the grounds meet at one central spot and connect together there. That eliminates any voltage drops from grounds connected at different places. A voltage drop between the computer ground and the alternator power ground will effectively reduce the voltage available to the computer by the amount of the drop.

I would like to say thanks to timewarped1972 for his photo of the ground spot near the windshield washer filler. I would like to use it in future discussions on grounds if at all possible.

If your looking for 4ga ground cable locations,I can offer this.

From the negative battery cable on the block to the front sway bar mounting bolt/s.

From the empty drilled and tapped 7/16" hole at the front of the stock E7 head to the sway bar mounting bolt/s on the driver side.

These sway bar mounting bolt locations are the easiest and strongest readily available connections for a strong chassis ground connection.

This post has done two things for me....1. Helped me understand some things. 2. Confused me about one thing:

I just bought my car and the guy I got it from has run an 8 gauge wire from the negative battery cable to the actual "computer". He said that someone told him to do this. I haven't actually seen the cable in the computer but he has run it through the firewall next to all the steering stuff (<--nice mechanical vocabulary). Does this sound normal? I'm wondering if he was supposed to put the cable on the firewall (like the pic above).

dec322 said:

This post has done two things for me....1. Helped me understand some things. 2. Confused me about one thing:

I just bought my car and the guy I got it from has run an 8 gauge wire from the negative battery cable to the actual "computer". He said that someone told him to do this. I haven't actually seen the cable in the computer but he has run it through the firewall next to all the steering stuff (<--nice mechanical vocabulary). Does this sound normal? I'm wondering if he was supposed to put the cable on the firewall (like the pic above).

Click to expand...

Is this wire run in parallel or in lieu of the OEM computer ground (if you know)?

Aha! Okay, I'm a bit clearer on the whole deal, now. I'm going to leave the rear-most ground cable where it is, and probably soon add a second 4-gauge cable ground from the front end of the block to the common ground point near the solenoid, just for good measure. I was kinda thinking of originally going for a 2-gauge cable as the primary from the alternator to the solenoid, but I didn't figure there'd be THAT much juice being pumped through there at any given point ... er, right?

Anyhow, many thanks. Sorry if I hijacked a bit, I just wanted to be sure I didn't totally screw the pooch on the grounding setup when I did my 3g upgrade last week.

HISSIN50 said:

Is this wire run in parallel or in lieu of the OEM computer ground (if you know)?

Click to expand...

Hmmm....I'm not sure. I would look but it is pouring down rain right now. It seems to do this every Saturday in central AL. This is the third saturday that I've had the car and can't look under the hood.