BIG 3 UPGRADE

I need to figure out how to reorganize that table that it makes sense... I know what your trying to say and what point your proving. But in all respect, if you had a ground kit like mine, you could use them instead of a 0ga. wire. I use both the 8ga. and 0ga. When I say it is equivalent, I say that these cables together can carry the same amperage as the 0ga. Yes, now, I do know what you say in terms that 0ga. is not like the 8ga.!

The teacher has become the teached! Thanks for correcting me and all, lol! The fact of the matter is, you could still use the many 8ga. wires for lowering resistance. But yes, it IS better to use the 0ga. for main ground cables. I have even talked to Car Toys about the ground kit, and they said the same as I did, and the same as you said. LOL! Okay, okay! So lets just say we are both right! Respectively in different terms!

just to let you in on a small secret, i'm an electrician by trade, i don't profess to know everything, but i just didn't want you to be under the
wrong impression/assumption that they were the same....

if it were me, i'd run the 1/0 for the + from the battery to the alt +, and from the battery - to chassis ground. if the alt has a ground, take one from it to the engine, run 1/0 on it aswell, and from the engine to the chassis too.....then on the rest, body to chassis ground, both the cab & bed, run #6, or #4 awg and it doesn't hurt to do this in more than one place.....just remember this, it never hurts to upsize the wire (with the proper fuses if applicable), but running one too small & you will run into problems for sure!

I had a sneaking suspicion that you had some sort of electrical education, lol! I did'nt intend to make it sound like both were the same. Lol, then there would be no point for bigger cables!

I'm thinking about just getting another 0ga. cable and getting rid of all the little ones. It sometimes becomes a hassle to remove the battery.

yeah, educated @ the skool of hard knocks lol haha!, nah, i started doing electrical work after i was out of highschool @ a year, april of 95 to be exact...been doing it ever since in some shape form or fashion, for the past 4 years i've been ordering material for 100+ electricians on a large project....it has kept me very busy to say the least....

where are the other cables going to? i assume your talking about all the ones on the left terminal block on the battery in this pic?

So thats been your job all this time? Must be some good money! These cables are the ground kit. They are bolted to some random locations in the engine bay, but others go to the starter, intake manifold, chassis, etc.

if they are the ground's, you could run a large wire say 1/0 to a term block mounted on the fenderwell, and move the term block off of the battery to it...

Eh, well not going to serve me well now! Lol, I decided to rip out the ground kit and do an awg. cable plus the replaced stock 8ga. wire I have. I could'nt believe how much 0ga. cost for a foot, $7! Lol, I used to have a buddy at Car Toys give me 2ft. for that much!

I've been having a problem with my truck not wanting to start. I would go to turn it over, and it would just, "click". Like the starter would'nt engage. Then after a couple tries it would finally turn over. It has'nt done it since I got the 0ga. cable in! But its been like that, so who knows if it really worked. I bought the starter new last year!

good write up. a group 31 agm will also fit in stock location if you wanted one there i suppose.



this is beforei did my 250 ho alty and my big three though. had to cut the hood a hair to insure it was safer.

okay when it comes to electrical stuff i am an idiot. i have the gm one wire and im wanting to do this upgrade as well. can someone please explain how to do all this as if i have never done wiring before in my life. lol this is how much i hate it and dont understand it.




-justin

j, don't be afraid, it's easy, just do it one wire at a time & you won't have any probs.....all your doing is increasing the factory wire sizes to decrease any resistance that the electrical system might see....first step, find any & all of the grounds, there are a couple on the engine (block to frame, block to head, and head to frame), one on the battery, one off the starter, and there are several from the body to the chassis, if memory serves me right, one or two on the front & back of the bed, and same goes with the cab.....all came with small guage wires, just pull them one at a time & replace them with a larger guage wire at the same location...be sure to remove any dirt/rust/deposits at the mounting locations so that you get good contact.....once you've replaced all the grounds if you get real ambitious, you can start replacing some of the positive cables, one from the battery to the starter & alternator, and any other accessories that you might be powering......

hope that helps, if you need anymore tips, just shoot me a pm...