It doesn't look like the braided strap attached to the top of the transaxle has ever been replaced on my car. I thought about removing it, cleaning and reinstalling. Will anything bad happen if I just leave it alone, as-is? Will the car start any quicker if it is replaced? Right now it struggles, spins slowly, then will catch and fire up.
Car is '74 1.8. Thx in advance for the advice.
EJP914

I your problem is caused by the ground Strab can be proofen with a jumper Wire clamped from the Battery grount to Engine. If done so and the Car starts better, shange it, if not .

I have the same starting issues, with the new ground strap all is fine. The change is done in 10Min. or so.

I hope you are typing on a phone

Take it off, degrease it and soak it in white vinegar for a few hours, then sand the ends clean.
Take a knife and scrape the body lug and tranny contact area down to clean metal, then reinstall.

You should only need to replace it if it's broken.

What is your time worth? A lot of people post questions looking for permission to cheap out. This is probably one of them. Bad grounds are the cause for a lot of small and large electrical problems.. How much is a new ground strap?

I think 914Tom was trying to say that you can test your ground strap by connecting a jumper cable between the negative post of the battery and your engine. If the car starts up noticeably quicker with the jumper, you need to clean or replace your strap.

It's 40 years old, constantly exposed to the elements and likely full of resistance (corroded). I say replace it. Summit Racing has these for like ten bucks. I put one on and my starter immediately spun faster.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tay-2030...-_-taylor-cable

Many thanks for the replies. It wasn't a question of cost. It's crawling under the car again. Getting too old for this.

I say clean it and test it with an ohmmeter. If it has zero resistance between the terminals, it is doing its job. Corrosion and crud at the contacts between the strap and chassis or tranny is the more likely problem. Why throw away a perfectly good part?

Hi Monroeville,

Ex-Bridgeville & Dormont here (up to `63), & can empathize with crawling under cars at our age!

In addition to starter issues, that strap provides the primary ground path for the engine/transaxle, & if bad connections &/or flow at the strap &/or connections, then the power will seek the next easiest path - which usually ends up frying clutch cables. Primary symptom of that is clutch cable snapping more often than normal.

So probably a good idea to either recondition & clean-up yours as noted above, or to get a new cable (age increases resistance in copper wires, etc.).

PS - My Dad worked at Koppers there up until `63, until a new job moved us to San Diego. He was a Pitt Grad, Army Chemical Corps, & Petro-Chemist there working on plastics & coatings, including the polyurethane varnish & polyurethane paints on our cars.

Cheers!
Tom
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Not really worth thinking about ,very important,cheap,easy to change.... end of story.
Made one from piece of welder earth cable,had the eyelets crimped on @ electrical shop my buddy owns,cost was $4.
Thinking about running a second one as a just in case,

I had a poor starting experience on an outboard motor, would only crank very slowly.
The Pos cable terminal was a little corroded when I tried to clean it it came off the cable which was a very heavy gage cable. Looking at the wires, they were very green and corroded. i cut about a foot off the cable and the wires inside were still very green and corroded. Since the cable was several feet longer than needed, I cut it back several feet and finally found non-corroded cu wires, put a new connector on and problem solved. So if your car has been near oceans with salt air could be internally corroded.

My '74 1.8 had a broken ground strap that was on the rear of the trans-axle that ran up to the trunk? All Ground Straps are all basically the same and in various lengths and thickness. You can get them at most Auto Parts stores. Yes replace it, grounds, or the lack of, are problems for 914s. I also have another ground wire running to the an engine/frame bolt from the battery in addition to the factory ground behind the battery going to the body. These were all there.when I bought the car and maybe over kill but someone for a good reason put them there I'm sure. When Translog rehabbed the car they left them connected and commented it was a good set up.

One good strand can give you 0 Ohms resistance. That doesn't tell you how well the ground strap is flowing current under load.

If you're already under the car with your meter, take a socket with you and change the ground strap. What kills us old guys is going under the car and climbing back up over and over.

Amen

agreed if your there do it right! and check it off the list

I got rid of my 45 year old ground strap and bought a 2gauge 18 inch ground strap at my FLAPS.

FYI. An ohm meter will show zero ohms in almost any case. It will be the current carrying capacity of the conductor to be concerned about. An ohm meter won't show that. One foot or 26 gauge wire will show zero ohms and here it would burn through like a fuse.

Its and easy thing to replace and not expensive, I just put a new one on my 40+ year old car...IMHO