jej3

This may be an entirely stupid question but....

Can you just fuse the ground cable and if there is a short anywhere, wouldn't that cause the ground to blow?

Like I said, may be an entirely stupid question

G.P.

This is the safest option when the car is parked in the garage at home, but with old wiring, you need to regularly check or replace the battery ground strap. The insulation around the strap may be worn out and the copper strap itself may come into contact with the car body where it passes through the narrow entry into the battery box, therefore providing a path for fault current back to the battery negative terminal, even though you have disconnected it at the terminal behind the rear tailgate cover panel.

Majestic Moose

Since no one has brought in any data about the starting current, I tested my cars. My meter is rated up to 700A and calibrated every year, however it is designed for AC current.
These were cold starts, temperature about 35F/1C, and neither car has been started in months.

1983 with Hi-Torque starter rated at 1.4kW measured a peak of 81.2A.
1989 with stock starter, unknown rating, measured a peak of 155A.

I did a second cranking of my 1983 with the fuel pump fuse removed for five seconds and only measured 33.6A.
I would like to compare to someone else's measurements - 33 amps is hard to believe.

Lizard928

polecat702

The fuse needs to be on the power side, if it gets grounded out it gets red hot. Like a lighter. The negative side is always grounded to the body.. The exception would be British cars that had a positive ground, famous Lucas electrical system. I neve had one but heard plenty of horror stories.

77tony

yep^^...

FredR

All my British motorcycles had positive earth- the only time I had any problems with them was when they actually worked - blessed be their magneto ignition system!

polecat702

That's hilarious Fred! My Brough Superior SS 100, is a Lucas-Magdyno or Separate Dynamo Lighting Equipment, is negative ground, 6 volt system Engine ignition by a Magneto.

FredR

It's also true! Just after I graduated I was fixing up my BSA Rocket Gold Star [650 twin] so drive it to my new digs down south. I always tried to avoid riding long distances at night for fear of electrical failure and I wanted to depart midday latest for a 200 mile ride to my new home but first I had to fit the cylinder head and I was delayed from setting off until about 3.00pm. I thus had no time to fix a lighting issue so I figured I should be able to get there before dark. All went to plan until I got to Oxford and I ended up getting somewhat confused by a rod sign on the ring road wherein I ended up going westwards instead of southwards and that cost me about half an hour to recover. By the time I got to the outskirts of the town I lived in it was dark with no lights on the single carriageway country lanes so I had to aim for oncoming car headlights and veer off at the last minute. I then had to ride through the town centre and out the other side for about 3 miles to get to my place of residence. As I drive through town I saw a police car's blue light flash up some distance behind me so with the benefit of street lighting and some adrenaline rush I legged it out of town full throttle and that bike could go some on top end with a full fairing on it and a works racing tuned engine. I got home safely -somewhat relieved! about a week later a police car stopped allegedly for a license check and then wryly threw into the conversion that he had seen a bike like mine scarper out of town in the dark about a week earlier. He said he tried to catch it up but couldn't and that he only wanted t advise the rider that his lights were out for safety reasons! I smiled and advised him that my lighting was spot on to whit he dryly remarked that there was no other BSA Rocket Gold Star in town faired like mine. Turned out he was a bike nut and he invited me to go riding with him which we did a few times.]

Did you purchase the Brough from Lawrence of Arabia by any chance?

jpitman2

Why is the situation different for an OB? Different main cable routing to the hot post?
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k with a DIN88

Billu

Michael Benno

Maybe this is another option to consider...

Audi A3/VW Golf R models with a VR6 models (2005-2010) have the battery in the trunk. Whereas the smaller 2.0-turbo motor A3 models do not. Some folks retrofit the rear battery option when making engine modifications with bigger turbos or weight distributions. Here is some info and pictures on that kit copied from another forum. Maybe this is useful for the discussion...

8P0 937 548A - Battery Fuse Box in trunk

[EDIT] this same part is used in a wide variety of Audi and VW models. Specifically, it is used with the Audi Q7 with the 4.2 V8 motor.

1K0 937 517 - Engine compartment Junction Box

FredR

Electrons flow from negative to positive but "current flows" from positive to negative just as high pressure flows to low pressure.

polecat702

Lawrence died before I was born. I did in fact own King George the 5th, for about 30 years. One of the 9 Brough's that he owned during his life. It had a dent in the right gas tank, and bent forks from the accident that took his life. The SS 100, that I have today was included in the trade that I made plus cash for George the 5th. I bought KG 5th, from a museum in London, they dismantled the display due to lack of interest. Imagine that. The 38 that I have now has already been paid for by the same gentleman that has KG 5th.

Harley copied the Brough to build the 36, 61 cubic inch Knucklehead. Though the Brough is a 50 degree V twin v 45 degree twin for Harley. The only thing I don't like about the Brough is the right foot shifter. Harley didn't have a foot shift or hand clutch till 1952, always on the left except the K model, which later became the Sportster. The Brough is still the Rolls Royce of motorcycles. With a price to match.

FredR

T E Lawrence on King George V
Wow!

You might find this website interesting:
https://farbound.net/thomas-edward-l...00-motorcycle/