Carl's Track Goblin - 05 SS SC donor, Chassis # 39

[Waterdriver]

At this point I only have two ground points for the wiring harness. The pedal box and tunnel.
It was pretty easy/quick to determine what the issue was. Probably took me longer to untangle my multimeter leads than diagnose.

 

[Waterdriver]

TRUE, so true.

 

[dperkins]

That is part of the reason that I linked all of my grounds together. An extra 10 feet of wire is cheap insurance

That sounds like a good idea. Was it just the pedal box, the center tunnel, and somewhere on the engine?

 

[Waterdriver]

My ground issue was at the wiring harness ground lug to pedal box.
Used a micro high speed grinder with a stone to make sure all paint and primer was removed from both side the lug touches along with the side the nut/washer is touching.

 

[Briann1177]

I ended up consolidating all of my grounds into the tunnel area. Instead of having a stack of grounds like pancakes all over, I just have a single lug. If that ground fails, then nothing at all will work.

 

[KJP]

That is part of the reason that I linked all of my grounds together. An extra 10 feet of wire is cheap insurance

What gauge of wire did you use for this?

 

[Briann1177]

You should probably use the same gauge as the battery neg cable. I think it's about 1 AWG.

 

[DanPerryy]

This ground wire will carry little current. The majority of the current is of course the starter and that current is carried through the chassis (and the batter positive wire). I would not put anything bigger than 12 gauge. I connected all my grounds with 16 gauge. I do have several grounding points throughout the car but the grounds are all interconnected with wire.

 

[Briann1177]

Yes and no. If you're still bolting the grounds to the tunnel and pedal box area, then you can probably get by with a much smaller ground wire. However, if those grounds aren't solid, get loose, or whatever then the majority of the current will be carried through that smaller gauge wire. Keep in mind you have other high current devices such as BCM and power steering. Both of those fuses are rated for 50 and 60 amps I think. Pushing 60 amps through a 16 AWG wire will smoke it pretty much instantly.

Yes, I realize the power steering module will never draw 60A and neither will the BCM, but the wiring should still be sized based on the rating of the fuse ahead of it otherwise you risk burning things up.

 

[Karter2026]

What gauge of wire did you use for this?

I used 12ga. I have 3 ground lugs. One at pedal box, Tunnel,and one at the battery box where the negative cable mounts. I saw no need to run any heavier Ga. wire Look at what you took out I think that the heaviest was 10Ga. Other than the engine ground strap.

 

[Briann1177]

How did you attach the variety of grounds at each location to the common one? I couldn't figure out a good way so that's why I just decided to cram everything into a single lug.

 

[DanPerryy]

Yes and no. If you're still bolting the grounds to the tunnel and pedal box area, then you can probably get by with a much smaller ground wire. However, if those grounds aren't solid, get loose, or whatever then the majority of the current will be carried through that smaller gauge wire. Keep in mind you have other high current devices such as BCM and power steering. Both of those fuses are rated for 50 and 60 amps I think. Pushing 60 amps through a 16 AWG wire will smoke it pretty much instantly.

Yes, I realize the power steering module will never draw 60A and neither will the BCM, but the wiring should still be sized based on the rating of the fuse ahead of it otherwise you risk burning things up.

You are absolutely correct, you need 60AMP grounds for the PS and the BCM and 12 gauge does not cut that.
I did directly ground the BCM and the power steering motor (and of course the starter) to the frame. I just ran lighter 12 gauge wires between all the other ground lugs. If I drop a ground on the BCM or the PS I would smoke the 12 gauge. I was only worried about dropping one of the other grounds. I have had my tunnel ground of an on many times and never worry about not having a ground.

 

[Waterdriver]

You are absolutely correct, you need 60AMP grounds for the PS and the BCM and 12 gauge does not cut that.
I did directly ground the BCM and the power steering motor (and of course the starter) to the frame. I just ran lighter 12 gauge wires between all the other ground lugs. If I drop a ground on the BCM or the PS I would smoke the 12 gauge. I was only worried about dropping one of the other grounds. I have had my tunnel ground of an on many times and never worry about not having a ground.

Something like this could be used for anyone wanting to go this route.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/BLUE-VMS-RACING-UNIVERSAL-5-POINT-10MM-GROUND-WIRE-SYSTEM-KIT-B/263261679411?fits=Make:Ariel|Model:Atom&epid=26008076897&hash=item3d4b9e6f33:g:IyQAAOSwuxFYzBNn&_trkparms=gclientid=_1wjPhwmsf55_mus3E8hNGhnefA_4wlrFcwWWMm6PXMal0zgraqxUD3QHDZKRdXB&_trksid=p248

 

[dperkins]

I just took some spare 12 GA automotive hookup wires and wired it between the battery ground, to the pedal box, then to the tunnel center ground, then to the main harness rear engine ground. It shouldn't need to carry 100% of the power ever, so 12 GA was ok with me. It's just a backup if one grounds are iffy

 

[Waterdriver]

Had a little time and decided to work on the rear taillight wiring, temporarily mounting the lights.

 

[JeffsGoblin]

Those look great! Reverse lights too? A night time picture would be cool to see.

 

[Briann1177]

How in the world are you going to get the suspension on? Looks like you're in some pretty tight quarters.

 

[Waterdriver]

Those look great! Reverse lights too? A night time picture would be cool to see.

Going to use a seperate backup light along with a third light.
I'll try and get a night time picture. It's kind of difficult since my garage faces towards the setting sun, days are getting longer and I have get up so dang early for work.

 

[Waterdriver]

How in the world are you going to get the suspension on? Looks like you're in some pretty tight quarters.

You can see that in the picture can you. Yes, it is tight in there and I have the dents in my shins to back it up.
I measured out the garage before even ordering the Goblin and it should fit. Tightly.
If I have to take out that end bench, so be it.

 

[FTC]

Had a little time and decided to work on the rear taillight wiring, temporarily mounting the lights.
View attachment 3834

I have the same lights on my car project (non goblin). Not sure how the GM wiring is but these scooter/motorcycle lights required a diode on the parking lights and the brake lights wire for my car circuit. The circuit inside these lights (cheap China) allows bleed over to the other circuit if one is on. So for example if I turned on my parking lights/head lights the third brake light would energize because of bleed over into the brake circuit. If I had the lights off but stepped on the brakes there would be bleed over into the parking light circuit. Hopefully you don't run into this but the fix is easy with the diodes.