battery terminal connections

[E.J.]

The bolts on mine are ground into the terminal and they don't tighten around the battery so well anymore. Considering.
1. Washers so bolts don't grind in.
2. Replacing connectors
3. Replacing the whole battery wire (would rather not do this as im sure its going to be a real pain.

Anyone have this similar problem? What did you use as a solution?

[Tifosi]

Option #2 on the postive*
Option #3 on the negative (it's only about 12-16" long in total and bolts into the chassis right there behind the battery)

*to do the positive cable in it's entirety you need to find a length of wire literally as long as the car as it goes from battery, down under the chassis, chases a 'frame rail' next to the fuel lines until it terminates at the starter.

Far more efficient to check the exisiting ones condition then get a solder on (not clamp on with bolts) type end to put on it.

[Farace]

I'm planning on replacing my cables with ones that have tinned bronze clamps. No more digging into the lousy lead connector. I don't know that I'll go with this company, but this is the sort of thing I want:

www.custombatterycables.com

Heavier gauge wire, too.

[artart]

My bolts and terminals were doing a similar thing, the two end tabs of the terminal were touching from being tightened. I removed the bolt and wedged a file between the ends and shaved off a bit of each so the insides no longer come completely together when the bolt is tightened.
I agree that the negative is easy to replace and the positive would be a royal pain and very expensive. If you do replace the negative, make sure you get a heavy gauge, not the thin ones that i've seen in some stores.

Artart

[kennypinkerton]

If you find you need to replace the positive cable, the least expensive cable you can buy would be found at a welding shop. You can get very large guage cable there in any length for less than half of what most places will charge you for normal automotive battery terminal cable.

[CaverDave]

I replaced my positive end with the Heavy Duty clamp from NAPA. The heavy clamp is designed for large trucks so is much beefier than your standard replacement end. You will have to turn the clamping strap upside down so you get a good connection on car sized cables.

Dave

[Farace]

Keep in mind that those bolt-on replacement clamps are meant to be temporary only.

[pribis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farace Keep in mind that those bolt-on replacement clamps are meant to be temporary only.

[Farace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pribis Huh

[Rich]

Hey EJ,

How about these, the one with the display will give you the voltage of the battery while the engine is on and when you turn the engine off the display stays On for about a minute.

Rich

[Rich]

Just going through my cabling to redo a new harness, and I found a few battery cables and all have different connectors for the positive side. The one I like and I guess looks original it is made of lead with the cable cooked/baked into the connector with one 4mm red wire, am i correct in saying this is the original? Can you still buy one of them? If not, I'm going to try to file mine to so that it looks better otherwise I try to make one. Has anyone tried to make one of these lead terminals?

After searching battery terminal, I came across this thread, which i killed with my ugly suggestion in the above post, sorry.
I don't think i want to go with something that modern and shiny.

Rich

Can some post a picture, please.

[vf31rhill]

Rich,

Where does one get these gold terminal ends? I replaced my ground wire with heavy duty new, but my + end is getting stretched and I do not want to remove and replace 15ft of battery terminal wire.

Thanks, Robert
1988 Black Spider Veloce

[Tifosi]

Working lead is easy, and likely you could use the metal from your existing terminal, + mabe a lead sinker to make up for material loss to make a new terminal.

You'd need a propane or MAPP gas torch, and something to melt it in that you can pour from. (a small disposable steel saucepan would work)

The mold is the hardest part as it has to (1) be accurate, (2) sustain the heat of the molten lead, and (3) be easily removable from the finished product.

#2 and #3 are the hard part of the whole process, especially given that the mold would also have to allow for the cable end to be present in there too so it can all merge together into one sexy unit.

Unless you're going for concours, I'd suggest one of the soft steel or copper terminals that has the provision to solder the end of the cable in rather than any sort of pinching, wing nutting, or clamping affair. (and if you are going concours, I'd do the solder on anyway, because judging on battery terminal correctness is really kinda anal in the grander scheme of things. Like a factory mech or authorized dealership repair shop would strip out a whole cable just to fix/change/replace the end. Riiiiiight.......)

With that type you simply melt off the old lead terminal (put a cookie sheet under things to catch the drips-n-spatter), clean and tin the end of the cable like you would any soldered electrical connection, then stuff it into the terminal receptical, heat and flood with more solder yet.

When it cools, clean off any excess solder and flux residue with a wire toothbrush and mabe give it a spritz of clear or colored spraypaint to seal against oxidation, or dope it with liquid electric tape or contact grease (again to seal against oxidation) and shrink wrap the cable to terminal joint (don't forget to put the shrink wrap on the cable BEFORE fitting ther terminal, and slide it way back there---> on the thing so it doesn't shrink before you actually get to use it LOL) then hook it up and forget about it for somewhere around forever.

[aldo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vf31rhill Rich, Where does one get these gold terminal ends? I replaced my ground wire with heavy duty new, but my + end is getting stretched and I do not want to remove and replace 15ft of battery terminal wire. Thanks, Robert 1988 Black Spider Veloce

[vf31rhill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tifosi Working lead is easy