Electrical Stripped Ground Bolt Location for Negative Battery Cable

[Imatk]

Ok so I had to replace my battery cable and now I'm trying to put the bolt back through the cable and the hangar... that spot near the oil filter on the driver's side... and the bolt will not tighten.

If I only put the bolt in without anything else it will get tight, but I think it's hanging on a few threads MAYBE.

What would be the fix for something like this?

Or is there a way to mount the cable hangar and the battery ground in a different spot.

Thanks for any help

 

[General karthief]

The bolt hole is in the timing cover so it's aluminium, you can drill and tap it for a bigger bolt or attach it to the ac bracket, not optimal but it can work. When I go out to the garage in a little while I'll look to see if there is another place

 

[Imatk]

Cool man thanks... gotta love 30-year-old cars

 

[General karthief]

Ok, after looking at my engine, the correct way to do this would be to drill and tap it for a bigger bolt, that would require removing the PS pump for room but if you want to get down-n-dirty get a metric bolt that is a smidge bigger, slice the first 3-4 threads in several places with a hack saw, like a thread cutter, use a lock washer and some red locktite on the threads and run it down tight, this is likely a one time hack so don't get heavy on the tighten down.
It's aluminium so should be an easy fix either way,

 

[Imatk]

What I wound up doing was to relocate the ground wire to the front of the timing cover stud and use a nut to secure it there.

Then I bolted the hangar back into the same spot with a rubber grommet to get rid of the "slop" and it's tight enough that it isn't going anywhere. BUT I couldn't tighten it enough for the ground.

I was having ground issues in the first place and I thought it was because I had one of those quick disconnects on the negative cable, but I now suspect that the ground in the stock location was just losing connection because that bolt was probably loosened over the years and caused the issue.

If I get ants in my pants and decide to drill and tap the other stock spot I might, but I doubt it since this works perfectly and I don't have to worry about it coming loose again.

Looking at it... I'm thinking it probably wasn't the best idea on Ford's part to put that ground bolt in the same location as the hangar since I'm thinking over 30 years of stress from the hangar probably pulled on that aluminum threading just enough to make it unworkable.

 

[General karthief]

All that hanger does is hold the cable and a couple wires so there would be no stress, what likely happened was an little over zealous tightening of the bolt.
glad you got it handled