ELLSSUU

Dan sent me his supp. ground this week and I installed it today. For someone who knows what they're doing (not me) it should take 20 minutes.

While at the parts store I checked their grounds and found IceShark's to only be a few dollars more ($20) and the difference in quality to be substantial. Run out and add this to your car now.

This upgrade is just part of my cooling system rebuild. New radiator, new thermostat, VW/Audi Blue, Distilled Water, 2 containers of Water Wetter. Couple of notes, I've also drilled 2 1/8" holes in the thermo to increase coolant circulation and "combed" my A/C because it was marred to @#$. Thinking of the turbo thermostat "while I'm in there." Anyone have a how to?

89magic98

Is there anything to keep that from working its way forward onto the alternator belt?

Any zip ties or logical points to hold the cable off the engine to keep it from rubbing?

Kevin

ELLSSUU

Not yet but there will be at least 2 although with the AFM installed there seems to be very little wiggle room for it to come forward. Also the line is very stiff and doesn't move that direction without a good bit of force, but again I'll have atleast 2 zip ties holding it back firmly.

Manning

Isn't it incredible how nice Dan's products are. You compare that cable (I have all of his cable kits) to something you get at Pep Boys or AutoZone and it makes the store bought stuff look about as sufficient as dental floss.

SidViscous

Thermostat is a pretty big pain. Kept in with a strong C-clip. Doing it in car where you can't see what your doing would be nigh on impossible. So if your removing the waterpump, go for it.

IceShark

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Kevin, That cable isn't going anywhere near the front of the alt. Just cable tie off to the arm for the airbox, though put a piece of plastic or rubber between them as that arm is an inverted U with two edges. I measured this pretty exactly for our cars. And you won't get engine vibrations wearing through the sleeve and then underlying insulation. And if you did, it really doesn't pose a threat as it is the ground cable. I only put the fireproof fiberglass sleeve on this particular ground to protect the cable insulation from heat and abrasion. It is sort of stuck in a deep hot hole, especially on the turbos. Guess I could have used Teflon wire like I do in a part of my headlight kit. Just multiply cost by about a factor of 5 to 7 if you could get someone to make you 50,000 feet of it. And that Teflon insulation would be as stiff as ***** Clinton with Monica.

Scott may be mis-explaining the stiffness of this particular cable. The cable is designed for 924/944 s. It is #4 covered with the fiberglass sleeve. So it will take more to move it than a small 10 gauge wire. Once you bolt down both ends you are pretty much there in routing as it is measured well.

It is the stranding, and jacket, that you need to be concerned with for the jump from engine to body. It needs to take vibration and flex without fracturing. Smaller strands are better. Mine have 440 strands in the #4 cable. About 900 in the #1s. Look at your local shop auto ground cables and I bet you can count the strands in 15 seconds. Heavy strands will fracture with vibration flex exhaustion.

The problem is cars don't last very long and you can always stop them and get off. Unlike airplanes and boats, and of course our fellow Rennlisters under attack in Iraq or Afg that may not want to stop in that particular spot. You want your freaking electrics overbuilt! Anyway, crap wiring is common on cars.

SidViscous

"Anyway, crap wiring is common on cars."

Amen brother. Wish I had the time and place to re-wire my car. For one I'd put quick disconnects between center-console and dash.

Spent many years wiring, wasn't that high quality of cable, but all custome wired cabinets. Makes a big difference. We could walk up to a cabinet with 1500+ connections and spot the bad one in about 2 seconds. BEcuase if you plugged it in wrong it looked out of place.

And that was one of. In cars they should be able to do something similar at a decent cost.

89magic98

I neglected to say that it does look like a very nice product.

Sid, I guess with the problem with making quick disconnects for the center console is that it's a tradeoff - the whole thing was probably never meant to be removed - maybe once in the life of the car. It's probably a cost-cutting measure to not have some kind of quick-disconnect there - I wonder if those types of plastic connectors (being near the heating system) would get brittle and crack when removed.

On the other hand, the speed of assembly is another cost factor that may make the quick connectors more cost-effective overall.

That being said, I would like to re-wire my radio so that the car had a standard gm/ford harness connector so I could remove/install my radio more easily.

Kevin

TheJonesBoy

I remember a while back, someone on this board was making a ground wire kit.... Is that still avaliable? Where do I order/get it? I know mine is in sad condition.

IceShark

JonesBoy, That is me. I just described it over on Pelican here:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...hreadid=130309

Let me know what you want because I just ran out of the negative military/marine battery clamps and have to order some more from Molex.

Rich Sandor

Along those lines...

I decided to try replicating Dan's ground kit. I'm sure the quality of mine is adequate, but it's not as beefy as Dan's. Mine's still much beefier than stock, but not as much as Dan's.

The main point is, it wound up costing me about as much as Dan's kit would cost, and I searched for the cheapest / best quality stuf I could find.

The welding wires with fine strands cost me $4cdn /ft. I got 6 feet and made an extra ground strap going from the rear of the engine ground bolt to the front lifting eye on the engine. Then, $10 for 10 (only needed 6) tabs that go on the end of the cables. and $8 for the biggest negative terminal clip i could find. $5 worth of heatshrink. After everything it's marginally cheaper than Dan's kit. next time I'll save myself the hassle..

Anyways, together with a new battery, new plugs, etc, I'm really looking forward to starting the car..

IceShark

LOL! Rich, you found out one of the real problems, parts sources and prices. You just can't get these even if you are a low level manufacture, much less at a reasonable price. I lucked out and made friends with a guy that swings a big stick, and does me favors on purchasing since he directs many millions, probably billions, of purchasing $.

The Molex parts I use are all low volume because few want that sort of quality. Outside of the Military Contractors, I probably rank way up on the list of buyers. My order cleared out all the stock in Molex's Industrial Division in Tampa. That is where all the industrial parts come from.

It is really strange to call a big international company and find out that you are one of the few that order the part. Too Good and Expensive. You Choose. I'd rather have good base parts rather than wasting money polishing up to a mirror a SS exaust under the car.

iloveporsches

All of Dan's stuff is third on my list, after suspension this winter and tires in the spring. I really wish I could afford all of that stuff now.

Last spring I picked up just the negative (ground) wire from Dan. Boy, what an improvement it was over the stock grounds. I really wish I would have taken a side-by-side picture of the two. Dan certainly does some bang up work with the wiring/ lighting in these cars.

Randy_J

Amen... please more people order a FULL BOAT LIGHTING KIT, so I can get another lighting harness for the 968 Cab - IceShark needs 25 orders with deposits to get another run going! (PS: Do it before he realizes how much work it takes again!)

Ice, Rich was over my place this weekend as we changed the tranny fluid and brake fluid on Ian M's 89 951 and he spotted the Neg Cable I installed after they left. So he knows first hand what it looks like! I even remembered to tape over those clutch inspection holes too before I got the socket down there - add that to your instructions! To be extra careful, I went in with a deep socket 3/8" this time and long extensions instead of the 1/4 drive I used on my other car! You really DONT want do lose a socket or extension in one of those 2 inspection holes - and yes, people do that all the time.

Rich Sandor

I took your advice and stuck some duct tape on the hole.

Do you think it's safe to leave it there until after I've started the car and bled the coolant - but then fish it off before I actually drive it?

BTW, Dan, add me to the list of peeps wanting the lighting kit. When you hit 25 let me know.