Battery terminal earthing??

[Baggy]

Hi All,

I have an 81 RRC 3.5 ltre V8 with the standard carbie set up and manual choke.

Starting her can be a chore (first up) :( and recently I had an auto electrician (who knows Land rovers) come out and replace ignition lock.
During his visit he witnessed it being cranked over and said in passing (when he was leaving) that an additional battery earth terminal lead would improve the starting.

Its current position is bolted to body through side of front housing where battery sits. It also has the old braided brass type wire lead with battery lug on the end.

Should I keep the current lead where it is (clean contact point to body) and add an additional wire to motor. Does this additional lead need to be the same thickness as say the power lead wire with an appropriate fitting on end so can be fitted through an existing bolt or should I change the braided lead for the std plastic coated type found in most cars, abandon the old earthing point and fit this directly to motor.

Also where is the best new fixing position .....example using the current bolt that holds coil bracket to front of motor or there seems to be a spare bracket (with hole) near the alternator (that's doing nothing) that I could bolt the new lead directly to.


Cheers

Baggy

[bee utey]

Make your additional earth as big as you like, so long as it connects to a solid part of the engine or bracketry. You can't really overdo an earth cable, using automotive cables. Leave the original earth, just clean any terminals. Also consider chucking out the old Lucas starter and fitting Bosch starter from a later Disco. This made all the difference on my old ute.

[drivesafe]

As bee utey posted but also check all your leads and connections, both neg and pos and see if any are loose or corroded or frayed.