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Post by horen2tas on Apr 29, 2012 10:43:42 GMT -5
This may seem a stupid question but I'm having a lot of electrical problems with my GT2.
It seems to have an intermittent problem (among others) with spark to the motor.
My coil is mounted on the side wall of the engine compartment whereas most that I've seen are mounted on the fan shroud. Does the coil get it's ground from being mounted on something that is already grounded?
My turn signals are also an intermittent issue.
Ive just finished running separate grounds in the driver's side rear tailight to a terminal block and the lights work fine, I plan to do that though out the car wherever the grounds are daisy chained but the intermittent stuff in the mean time is driving me nutz!
Anyone have some thoughts?
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Post by skip20 on Apr 29, 2012 15:13:14 GMT -5
My coil is mounted on the side wall of the engine compartment whereas most that I've seen are mounted on the fan shroud. Does the coil get it's ground from being mounted on something that is already grounded?
The coil is not gounded.
The top has + & - for the power.
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Post by Gary Hammond on Apr 29, 2012 18:03:31 GMT -5
Hi Mike,  The stock set up has the battery grounded to the floor pan and all the individual circuits grounded to the pan (including the engine/trans axle assembly).  This is a poor arrangement with a ground bonding strap between the trans axle and pan/battery.  It is much better to ground the battery directly to a starter mounting bolt on the engine and then make sure you have a good bonding strap with good connections between the trans axle and pan. Then make sure each individual circuit mounted on the fiberglass body has a good ground to the pan and/or the engine/trans axle.  Running the heavy starter current through the trans axle to pan bonding strap in the original design will usually lead to poor connections over time and cause lots of problems in anything grounded back to the engine.  The coil primary grounds to the engine through the breaker points or points replacement module, through the distributor, and then back to the battery from the engine. The coil secondary is "grounded" through the spark plug, through the engine/trans axle and back to the battery. So a good connection between the engine and battery is very important for not only the starter, but for any circuits that use the engine/trans axle as part of the circuit path. Gary Hammond,   |
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Post by horen2tas on Apr 29, 2012 19:30:18 GMT -5
Thanks Gary, I wasn't sure about whether the coil had to be mounted on something that was itself grounded.
The Battery negative does go to the starter mounting bolt through the trans and engine case. The ground between the trans and chassis was originally hooked up to the trans nose mount on the chassis and I moved it to the trans itself and the chassis.
From there I used MJ's suggestion and picked up #2 ExCellene welding cable and ran it from the trans nose up the heater channel to the front and brought it inside the foot well.
I ran a second cable back to the drivers side rear light well where there was a really nasty looking bunch of wires all twisted together with a blob of solder on them I used the terminal blocks suggested by JSP on the "Belchertown Special" and soldered and shrinkwrapped away. Result--the tail lights work fine, but no juice to the motor.
I hope that I'll find it - but somewhere there's an intermittent - and I'm not real great at shooting electrics.
Also my turn signals--sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.!
Too dangerous too drive a twoie without turn signals, I can't get my arm through that little window quickly and easily enough to signal.
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Post by Gary Hammond on Apr 29, 2012 20:30:52 GMT -5
Hi Mike, You may have an under dash problem on the positive side with a poor connection at the fuse panel or ignition switch. Might even be the ignition switch itself that has a bad internal connection. Does this happen right away or only after several minutes have passed?  Sometimes a bad connection only acts up after it has a chance to heat up and doesn't show up when power is first applied to the circuit. Bad switches can especially act this way. Trace all the intermittent circuits back to their common origin and you'll probably find the bad connection. A volt meter will show a voltage drop at the bad spot, and it will probably also be hot to the touch. Gary Hammond, |
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Post by horen2tas on Apr 29, 2012 22:01:54 GMT -5
Thanks Gary, The under dash is my next step.
As you might know Steve was a mad man, besides the afterburners that are activated by a micro-switch on the shift handle, there are blue flourescents all around the underneath of the car, that and pretty much everything else he added on is done in red wire which he must have had a huge spool of.
There are faded masking tape tags here and there on wires, some of which are cut off and some which have three or four different color wires spilced in one line as well as cryptic notes in the build manual, believe me it's not for the faint of heart.
I think you're correct with your suggestion on the fuse blocks and ign switch, I plan to start there. Though I'm not exactly sure how to use a volt meter, I'll figure it out.
Thanks for the input!
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Sometimes a bad connection only acts up after it has a chance to heat up and doesn't show up when power is first applied to the circuit. Bad switches can especially act this way.