Upgraded Engine Ground Strap

About 11 years ago, I upgraded my ground strap with 1 gauge welder's wire. It was the most flexible welder's wire I could find, but not anywhere near as flexible as the little OEM strap, so it eventually broke at the engine head lug because of engine movement.

To replace it, I used a woven wire strap, like OEM, but much larger.

Here are the Pics:

The materials and the new crimper:


The finished strap:
I made it 2 inches longer than OEM to give it more flexibility. I slathered the ends of the webbing with Ox-Gard to prevent any corrosion inside the crimps.



The width of the new strap is 1-3/8 inches, vs. 7/16 inch OEM. Almost 3 times as wide and much thicker



Overall, I'm very happy with it. It's big, beefy, heavy, and very flexible. It will carry a LOT more current than the little OEM strap. The crimps are very good. I was actually hanging my weight on them, and they didn't fail.

What's cool is I have leftover material, so I can make several more if I want.

Hope this helps someone.

Nice, Make a few more & sell them here!
I'd buy one.

what did it cost ya for material? and where did ya get that at?

Looks good! There are a few folks that make products similar to this, but likely not quite a beefy as what you've created here.

How taut did you have that 1GA wire that you broke with engine movement? If you gave it plenty of slack, like the OEM cable has, there should have been ZERO chance of it getting damaged due to engine movement.

garr said:

Nice, Make a few more & sell them here!
I'd buy one.

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OK, sounds great! I've only got enough leftover braid for 2 more, but I can order more supplies if enough people want it. Send me a PM if interested, or email me at [email protected].

sinat01 said:

what did it cost ya for material? and where did ya get that at?

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The tinned copper braid and lugs cost around $30.00. The crimper was around $45.00, and the Ox-Gard anti-corrosion paste was around $9.00. Everything on ebay, including shipping. And, like I said, I have some left over.

Aurora said:

Looks good! There are a few folks that make products similar to this, but likely not quite a beefy as what you've created here.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Glad you like it.

waxer said:

How taut did you have that 1GA wire that you broke with engine movement? If you gave it plenty of slack, like the OEM cable has, there should have been ZERO chance of it getting damaged due to engine movement.

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I made the first cable about a half-inch shorter than the OEM strap, but there was still plenty of slack. I don't really know what broke it. I used a hammer-type of crimper back then. Maybe that created micro cracks in the lug material? The cable was really heavy, so the vibrations would put some stress on the attachment point, even with enough slack. All I know is that it was solid and strong 11 years ago when I installed it, and about 2 weeks ago, I noticed it was broken. Go figure.