Mopar Muscle Association UK

When i wasn't doing my best to wreck my recored rad, I also decided to go through all the wiring to find out what the mass of spaghetti under the hood was actually doing. Turns out most of it was either attached to the non functional alarm or just went nowhere. I'm now left with a carrier bag of wire, a nice new battery, a repaired battery tray and new battery retaining strap. However, I also wanted to replace the battery cables that look like they carrried the first transatlantic telephone call. The easiest thing to tackle first was the ground to the block so I started looking for either cable and connectors, or a completely new cable.

Unfortunately the only replacement I can find is the thickness of domestic flex, whilst the one on the car is the thickness of a stick of blackpool rock. Can I just swap to a thinner modern cable or will everything just go into melt down?

I'm sorry these questions sound like 'car mechanics 101' but like I said, I've only just discovered swarfega and the joy of not having any finger nails!

Hi - as a rule of thumb, any wire or cable should normally be replaced by one of similar thickness . Copper is copper , be it vintage or modern . Check out these people for a range of handy wiring stuff http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/

Cheers,
Matt

You absolute bloody star.

God, I love this list!

Make sure the ground cables are really good and to solid grounds, the best way is to run from the battery to block, and the block to the body at the very least, I like to run from the battery to the frame as well.

I agree that the connections are indeed the usual source of problems.
However , skinny leads in the battery circuit or engine earth , even if they function OK, will cause voltage drop at high currents (i.e.when cranking) , and are best avoided. It's always good to make sure your cable is thick enough for the job . Longer cable runs (i.e battery in the boot) will require thicker cable to maintain the same performance .

Better than one thick cable is two of the same size. Ideally you want a tri-rated cable as this has much better thermal rpoperties in its insulation. Tri-rated will also have loads more strands and so it will be infinately more flexible. Its quite specialist but its easy to get hold of. Also go for crimped terminals rather than bolt ons if you can get them, and one last thing, when you strip off the insulation, tin the core with solder as it gives the terminal better mechanical strength and higher electrical continuity. This could be seen as overkill, but it will remove a lot of doubts over the integrity of the wiring. As steve said, if you get poor comnnections, or anything that increases resistance, youre gonna get heat, which raises resistance, lowers current, and then poor starting.

You could go down to your local electrical factors and buy a few metres of 25mm csa double insulated tails. They have a big current rating. They will be grey though (with black or red being the second sheath underneath). Cheap and will get you out of trouble.