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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ ground strap

Posted by: vmills Jun 7 2005, 10:55 PM

I was wondering if there's a ground strap on the transmission or engine. I get spark when I pull a plug wire and put a plug on and ground it, and I'm 95% there's fuel and compression, so I'm wondering if it's not sparking when I put the plug wire back on the plug that's in the engine.

Pictures, help, anything is appreciated

thanks
vic

Posted by: Bleyseng Jun 7 2005, 10:58 PM

The ground strap goes from the nose cone bolts to the bottom of the trunk. All contacts should be clean

Posted by: vmills Jun 7 2005, 11:00 PM

nose cone bolts? Where are those?

Posted by: Bruce Allert Jun 7 2005, 11:13 PM

Go under the car from the rear and look up on the drivers side of the tranny where it connects to the engine. There will be a braided copper strap bolted to the top/ side and runs to the bottom of the trunk.

This strap IS EVERYTHING!

good luck...........b

Posted by: vmills Jun 7 2005, 11:14 PM

Thanks, greatly appreciated.
I'll look at it tomorrow and see if that fixes everything.

It's been a mystery as to why this thing hasnt been working.

fingers crossed

thanks
vic

Posted by: SirAndy Jun 7 2005, 11:14 PM

QUOTE (vmills @ Jun 7 2005, 09:55 PM)
I was wondering if there's a ground strap on the transmission

yes sir, there is. and without it, you'll have all sorts of electrical gremlins ...

it is located at the top rear of the transmission and connects to a stud on the underside of the rear trunk.
make sure the strap is in good condition and both ends are clean and have good contact ...

Andy

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Joe Sharp Jun 7 2005, 11:15 PM

The bolts that hold the part of the tranny that have the ears that mount the tranny to the body. Any one of the top bolts are a good location to put the ground strap. The body should have a stud welded to the bottom of the trunk floor to accept it.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe
Yep. what Andy said

Posted by: ThinAir914 Jun 7 2005, 11:28 PM

http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/images/electrical/tranny_ground_strap.JPG is a picture of the ground strap. There is a lug welded to the bottom of the trunk where one end is attached. The nose cone bolts can be seen in the upper right picture http://www.wevo.com/wevo915sideshift.htm. They are the 3 bolts at the top of that photo. Even though it's a Wevo trans, it will give you an idea of what to look for.

You definitely need this. I forgot to attach mine after reinstalling my engine. It would barely turn over and I couldn't start it. After I attached the strap all was good!

Posted by: Andyrew Jun 7 2005, 11:56 PM

If for some reason you dont have a ground strap. I suggest running a ground wire from the starter bolt to the body, easiest is where the battery grounds. bout a 7ft cable... makes a big difference..

Posted by: ThinAir914 Jun 8 2005, 12:05 AM

QUOTE (Andyrew @ Jun 7 2005, 10:56 PM)
If for some reason you dont have a ground strap. I suggest running a ground wire from the starter bolt to the body, easiest is where the battery grounds. bout a 7ft cable... makes a big difference..

I've seen this recommended as a way to cure charging system problems because you eliminate the body as the ground return. I did this on my son's 75 bus and have a cable for my 914, but haven't installed it yet.

Posted by: Rand Jun 8 2005, 01:12 AM

If it cranks strong, I wouldn't think the ground strap is the problem. Usually if a ground strap connection is bad enough to cause a problem with the car running, the symptom would be it doesn't crank (or cranks slow, or hesitates before cranking). But I digress. For certain, it's important to make sure the ground strap is clean and tight.

Posted by: xsboost90 Jun 8 2005, 05:56 AM

yeah mine wouldnt crank right, i ran a ground from the battery to the starter bolt and she cranked great! Try pulling a plug, putting it on the plug wire and set it on something it can ground itself on and crank it to see if its sparking.

edit- oh you did that. PUt a ground on it!

Posted by: vmills Jun 8 2005, 10:23 AM

Hmmm...
Our engine cranks fine, and we used one of those light circuit testers on the engine (near the spark plug) to test for connectivity, and it worked which would mean that the block is grounded. Sooo I guess we'll keep checking other things.

Thanks for all the help, you guys are awesome.

Posted by: vmills Jun 8 2005, 10:35 AM

I have another question quick which might help me fix my problem...

sort of one of those 'doh!' questions but: how do the plug wires go on the distributor? I know you just put them on, but how are they oriented? I've been looking around for photos or diagrams but I can't find ay that show it.

Thanks for any help.

Posted by: Bruce Allert Jun 8 2005, 11:12 AM

Are you asking in what sequence?

Looking at the dizzy from the rear of the car the #1 plug wire goes into the top left then its clock wise (to the right) with #4 then #3 then #2. 1-4-3-2 is the firing order.

.....b

Posted by: Mueller Jun 8 2005, 11:15 AM

QUOTE (vmills @ Jun 8 2005, 09:35 AM)
I have another question quick which might help me fix my problem...

sort of one of those 'doh!' questions but: how do the plug wires go on the distributor? I know you just put them on, but how are they oriented? I've been looking around for photos or diagrams but I can't find ay that show it.

Thanks for any help.

your Haynes manual that you "should" have shows a picture

firing order is 1,4,3,2

normally, when the motor is on #1 TDC, the rotor should be facing the hole on top of the fan housing............

Posted by: vmills Jun 8 2005, 11:48 AM

I actually looked in haynes - couldn't find it, but i swore that I've seen it there - just couldn't find it.

Thanks for the help again though, once again you guys are great.

Posted by: MarkG Jun 8 2005, 12:48 PM

A popular modification with the 'other Axis' car folks is a grounding kit such as this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33574&item=7978278740&rd=1

These kits tie every grounding point you want directly to the battery ground. I have one of these kits but so far I have only tied the 3 grounding FI wires under the hood to the battery ground