relocating ground from shock tower to battery tray

[Jaxx_]

make sure you keep all 4 wheels on the ground too(or at least 1), otherwise your grounds can cause an electrical anomaly (no place for the ground to go).

[dnguyen1963]

The electrons have a path to follow that is designed into the body/frame of the car. When you change that path, they must find another route to take, sometimes this causes them to take routes that are not designed to handle the extra load of current, and thus, usually at points that have been welded, the seams can break. This then leads to the current flowing through other points and over loads other seams, kinda a domino effect. Before you know it, you'll start your car and all the welds will break and you'll be sitting in a pile of perfect e30 parts, with just the welds having been disintegrated.

Grounds are SRS BSNS.

I doubt that will happen with a 12 V car battery and the amount of current that it can put out. Please show me a picture to convince me.

[N2MYE30]

I put mine on the tray when I did my swap/M3 harness cover.

[xwill112x]

I doubt that will happen with a 12 V car battery and the amount of current that it can put out. Please show me a picture to convince me.

Never say never. A bit exaggerated yes...but its true in someways. I've seen a Boss 302 go thru 2 sets of rod bearings in 6 months due to the electricity arching across them because the engine ground was poor and it took the path of less resistance thru the motor. Kind of crazy.

[slammin.e28]

I doubt that will happen with a 12 V car battery and the amount of current that it can put out. Please show me a picture to convince me.

[nando]

the stock ground point is polished and plated. you'd be better off leaving well enough alone, unless you have a specific reason to move it. "it looks cooler" isn't a valid reason.

99% of the people in this thread have no clue when it comes to wiring and electronics. grounds are important, and no, a ground is not just a ground..

[dnguyen1963]

Common, that car was completely disassembled for other works. You can't convince me that all that damage was due to improper grounding.

[dnguyen1963]

Never say never. A bit exaggerated yes...but its true in someways. I've seen a Boss 302 go thru 2 sets of rod bearings in 6 months due to the electricity arching across them because the engine ground was poor and it took the path of less resistance thru the motor. Kind of crazy.

Yeah, but to have the car completely destroyed due to improper grounding is hard to believe. Now, if you work on the car and have gasoline vapor around and improper grounding creates a spark...kaboom...but that is a completely different story.

[CHIF8008]

Op.- Yes you can move the ground, and to everyone else, obiously he will need a good ground connection.

Paint over the old ground spot, and the new ground spot should be on raw metal-that will give you a good connection. You should make sure the tray itself is connected properly to the car. You don't wanna ground to a rusted or glue'd one.(you want good metal to metal contact) Maybe remove the tray and ground to something more solid if that is the case.

[b*saint]

Haha it won't matter if you move the ground 10". You will not blow the welds on the intake. Or smoke rod bearings. If anything you're going to cut the ground wire making the grounding leg to the battery that much shorter to make a practically immeasurable lesser amount of resistance. If the grounding spot is plated or whatever from the factory its for corrosion, not to increase conductivity. Use a copper washer on the new spot which unless the original post was GOLD plated, copper washer is better.

The only time you don't want to move a ground is when something is not PE grounded (i.e. sinking inputs off sensors.)

[FLG]

Actually the ground NEEDS to be higher than the battery (unless its grounding strap like on oil pan), if you put a ground lower than the battery all the acid in the battery starts to siphon out. Crazy really.

Move it, itll be fine.

I love how some responses in this thread seem to be taken seriously....

[Stoner Sam23]

I wouldn't drive in thunder storms after you do that.

[slammin.e28]

I love how some responses in this thread seem to be taken seriously....

You're not the only one....

[b*saint]

I know the welds on an intake is ff reference.

[einstein57]

I've seen several cars catch on fire because of improper grounding. It was usually from a stereo system though.