Cleaned my transmission ground strap today because...well, because I hadn't yet and figured I might as well.

The car seems to run a bit nicer and specifically the idle seems more stable.

Most interestingly though, my digital CHT gauge is showing my head temps are ~25 degrees lower! I don't believe I'm actually suddenly running cooler. I think I was running that cool all along but all the gunk on the ground strap was giving the spark plug temp sensors a higher resistance to ground and thus giving a higher temp reading.

I thought I was doing great running in the 320's on #3. I'm now running in the 290's-300's! Hot damn! That's cool!

But ..... the biggest reason to keep the transaxle ground strap clean & well connected electrically, is that it prevents frying your clutch cable when the ground goes through it instead!


Tom
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That's excellent news....

Amazing what a good ground can do.

Wow, I didn't realize that was a possibility. Yeah, definitely then!

Nice job, however I don't understand the point of cleaning it. Taylor Cable makes a brand new ground strap which is almost identical (Taylor pt. #20308) and works wonders... all for a measly ten bucks. The ground straps are almost all 40+ years old. I say replace them, IMHO.

Ground straps corrode over time and have much more resistance after 40 years.
It's one of the first things I would replace

Hey, Rich and I finally agree on something.

Thanks Guys, I just ordered 2. An ounce of prevention.......

Had this occur on an auto trans. Car wouldn't go into gear, removed the shift cable and found it had welded itself to the liner bracket.

Definitely agree. I should've mentioned that this is not the car's original ground strap. It's only 5 or 6 years old. I have the receipt for it somewhere in the giant stack of receipts the PO gave me. It's different from the Taylor strap, it's actually completely jacketed except for the contacts on the ends, which had oxidized and picked up some grime as had the contact points on the body and trans. I should have clarified that it's really the contact points I was talking about, not the strap itself. Unsoldered electrical contacts could always use a cleaning every year or so, especially when they're exposed to the outside world on a regular basis. Some 220 grit sandpaper and some contact cleaner works wonders!

Can you guys tell me how long in inches " the ground strap is?? Need to know before I crawl under to measure & purchase. Trying to save myself crawling under (2) times

Tom

A one-foot one will be too long, which just means there will be some extra wire sitting on top of the trans. Better too long than too short!

--DD

But I'm almost positive that the Taylor Cable #20308 one I posted earlier is the closest fit. It's 8 inches, which should be plenty. At least that's what SHE said

Thanks George,

I crawled under and it looks like 8" with a limp tape measure.

Tom