[vdubeats]

Anyone have any experience with this? Mine are in dire need of replacement.

 

[mx5 2nr]

I replaced my ground wire (battery) with old 4ga power cable I had laying around & added a multi-output terminator on the positive terminal when I redid the stereo. I also added a ground "turn-off knob-thingee" terminator on the negative cable. What would you like to know? It's pretty straightforward...

 

[nickt93]

The lead for the ground is very short - it goes directly from the battery to a nearby grounding point. That should be fairly easy to replace - you can pick up a new terminal and wire at any auto parts store. The positive lead may be a little more complex, but just replacing the terminal only should be easy.

 

[vdubeats]

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah I figured the negative cable would be easy but my positive cable is all mangled. I get a rough electric start from it and the previous owner did a poor electrical tape wrap for as far back as who knows where. Sometimes it causes no power at all and I have to go back and shimmy the battery/cables around to get it to start. I don't have much electrical experience so I might find a specialty shop around my area.

 

[imperfekt]

Sometimes it causes no power at all and I have to go back and shimmy the battery/cables around to get it to start.

this. lol... i only want to replace it to add an extra ~3 inches to my positive battery cable, it's short and difficult to connect it to the battery - and new terminals would be nice too!

 

[Wesley Pipes]

Count me in on this. My positive terminal is pretty corroded and also very short.

I'm thinking cut out all of the corroded ****, get a low gauge wire of the same size, then torch solder it together with a MagnaLug butt splice.

Nothing like using a torch that close to the gas tank!

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Use Brass battery terminals; they will never support corrosion at the terminal. Be sure you get true brass and not brass coated.

Were it me I would also convert to side post at the same time (supports switching to an AGM battery like Optima Redtop).

 

[Squiblez]

The lead for the ground is very short - it goes directly from the battery to a nearby grounding point. That should be fairly easy to replace - you can pick up a new terminal and wire at any auto parts store. The positive lead may be a little more complex, but just replacing the terminal only should be easy.

not quite. the negative goes to the frame and the PPF all as one cable as seen below.

you could cut the cable here leaving the bit from the frame to PPF and just replace the small section from the battery to the frame, but that seems lazy to me.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Doesn't seem "lazy" to me. Keep in mind that the current-carrying capacity of a given cable is dependent on both the wire gauge and the length. So even if you intend to upgrade the battery cable capacity (by going to a larger gauge cable), the section to the frame ground point is probably more than adequate wire-size-wise. The voltage drop difference of 4GA vs 0GA over 1 foot is near-zero; over 10+ feet though and the fatter cable shows promise.

You could then decide if the section along the PPF needs upgrading by itself. Possibility would include running directly to the Starter/alternator/etc; certainly the connection to the PPF works, but copper or brass to aluminum is not ideal as far as electrical connections go (aluminum oxide is a poor conductor and is the reason aluminum house wiring no longer meets building codes). Would be cheaper (large gauge battery terminals + ring terminal costs more $$$) and without any capacity drawback.

In any case the decision re: OEM or alternates here should be made with an overall plan in mind (upgrades could be done later).

 

[Squiblez]

Doesn't seem "lazy" to me. Keep in mind that the current-carrying capacity of a given cable is dependent on both the wire gauge and the length. So even if you intend to upgrade the battery cable capacity (by going to a larger gauge cable), the section to the frame ground point is probably more than adequate wire-size-wise. The voltage drop difference of 4GA vs 0GA over 1 foot is near-zero; over 10+ feet though and the fatter cable shows promise.

You could then decide if the section along the PPF needs upgrading by itself. Possibility would include running directly to the Starter/alternator/etc; certainly the connection to the PPF works, but copper or brass to aluminum is not ideal as far as electrical connections go (aluminum oxide is a poor conductor and is the reason aluminum house wiring no longer meets building codes). Would be cheaper (large gauge battery terminals + ring terminal costs more $$$) and without any capacity drawback.

In any case the decision re: OEM or alternates here should be made with an overall plan in mind (upgrades could be done later).

i recently re did mine. was having ground issues. Ran a temporary cable from battery to frame, it fixed the problem. thought having the 2 lugs on that ground point looked like crap (my trunk is gutted). Decided to run replace the whole cable. took an extra 5 minutes. now it looks much better.

Personal preference i suppose? idk