Manning

The insulation is brittle by now and can crack and short or let the wire strands inside corrode. Neither is good.

Rock

Can battery cables really make the car run better? damn? didnt know that

Friendan

Curious, what are the actual wires being replaced? How long does it take to change them over?

IceShark

In this particular case Neon Driver is replacing the main negative battery cables and adding a supplemental negative from the front of the engine block to the forward frame rail. You would be surprised how much a difference it makes. Besides old grounds being corroded something is going on with our bodies. I believe it is the zinc from the galvanizing doing its least noble metal action and the body is becoming less than the greatest ground. Whatever the root cause, new negatives make a big improvement.

Only takes an hour or so to replace them.

Yes, Rock. The electricity has to get around somehow and the battery cables are the first link. If the cables get bad enough you will stop running altogether. Somewhere under 10 volts and the ECU/DME stops working. Then there is ignition, fuel, sensors ...... well, you get the picture.

hosrom_951

Ice Shark & Eyal: I believe Eyal was talking about the positive battery cables thread? maybe you got mixed up Eyal?

father2nate

Dan -

I just got the cables today. They look phenomenal. However, I am at a loss on how to install them. I read the instructions, but am still a little fuzzy.

Can you tell me where to hook the cables up?

I have a short one and long one attached to a terminal. Where do each of them go? I also have the supplemental... Where does that go?

I have an early car, and can't really get a good visual picture of the install.

If anyone has a picture of the install, that would be helpful. Thanks for your help.

David Ray

Iceshark: How much for a complete kit for a '89 S2. And yes, our God is a forgiving one - so all the accounts previously listed are just words, pagan or not.

IceShark

Jonathan, you have an '83. That has the old style bare copper cables for the main ground: one short bare cable from battery to inner firewall in the battery box and another bare one from the engine bay side of firewall to the bellhousing. You can find these easy as they are the only bare copper cables under the hood.

My main negatives have a short cable and a long one. The short one replaces your original from battery to inner firewall. The long one superceeds the other bare cable to bellhousing. You will see a rubber gland in the firewall by the battery where wiring is already passing through. You want to run my longer cable from the battery through this gland, along the top of the firewall and down to the bellhousing ground point. As I explained in the instructions you will need to slit part of the tail of the rubber gland to squeeze the new battery cable through it. Use dish washing soap to lube things up so the cable slides through easier. Install should be fairly easy as I have done this myself on Ryan's pre 85.5 car. Then throw both of those original bare copper cables in the trash.

The forward supplemental install should be fairly well explained in the instructions unless you don't know what the upper balance shaft cover looks like and where it is located. If you don't and can't figure out where it is then we can get some pictures posted ..... I'll have to figure out where the best picture is located. There are several floating around.

David R., For the last build the complete kit came in at $264 with the shipping in the lower 48 USA. The new build, if we get enough guys/gals together and it actually happens, will be a bit more as I know copper prices went up for cable. How much exactly, I'm not sure, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm not going to go and purchase supplies until enough people send in $100 deposits to justify a new build. If the new build doesn't happen I'll just send everyone their deposits back and say "Sorry".

father2nate

Dan, I think that is where I was getting confused. So, IIUC, I would run the short cable the where the current bare copper wire connects the the firewall in the battery area, then I would run the longer one through the plug and down the firewall to where the other bare copper wire is. Then I would attach it to the bellhousing.

Then, I attach the supplemental cable as instructed. Thanks!

I will post pics when done -

IceShark

Jonathan, yes, you have it exactly correct.

It probably is a little confusing for the pre-85.5 owners that have never seen a later car where Porsche at least tried to wire the grounds up right. When you get the cables installed you are really going to notice a difference.

father2nate

Hey Dan - I got the main ground cable installed. Excellent product! The car actually runs better. I guess the old grounds were crapola by now.

One question. The old bare copper cable going from the firewall to the bell housing; I hooked the long one up to the firewall and removed the old one from the connector. However, I couldn't get to the bolt that attaches the bare copper cable to the bell housing. ( I guess that is where it attaches, I couldn't see **** back there ) Can I just let it hang around there? It doesn't seem as if it is bothering anything.

IceShark

No. no, no,no, no, Jon!

But yes you can let it as is. You are missing much of the improvement in the ground. You want my long ground to bolt up directly to the bell housing. Throw away that copper strap from firewall to rear motor.

Maybe you need to remove/disconnect the engine sensors plugs at the top of the rear of the motor and the heater hose and get them out of the way. Then you can get at the proper bellhousing stud. It is a deep dark hole. Only takes 10 minutes. Make sure you cover up the inspection hole by the reference sensors with a rag or duct tape. Otherwise you may pooch the clutch if fluid or a nut falls in there.

I really want this to work for you so shoot questions.

father2nate

OK - I'll run that long cable and bolt it to where the old copper cable bolted to the engine. Yes, I'll have to remove some crap to get to the bolt. So, the ground from the firewall to the bellhousing is being replaced by the long cable.

Please forgive my expressly and seemingly stupid questions, but I don't want another electrical fiasco. I just recovered from a horrible situation.


Update: It's done. Great! PITA to get to the bolt, but that's the last time I'll have to do that unless the engine is coming out of the thing. I'll do the supp. cable as soon as I find out where the balance shaft cover is at. (Haven't had to do anything with those parts yet!)

IceShark

Jon, GREAT! It is sort of a deep dark hole down there.

I have an excellent picture of the balance shaft cover with the bolt circled that Swede Rennlister Gustaf B. sent me. For some reason Rennlist doesn't recognize me as a member so I can't upload the picture here. I sent you an e-mail with Gustaf's picture attached. It is a pretty good picture and you should be able to find the top bolt of the balance shaft cover (there are 3 equidistant bolts that hold the cover on).

Matthew951

IceShark -

Do you happen to have a website? So I can check out pictures of all the upgraded wires, and the Fullboat light kit? I am somewhat interested in this, however I think all my funds will end up going to the suspension this spring.

Thanks,
Matt