vehicle prep and upgrades PRIOR to next years 500hp sbc with N20 engine swap

[LTb1ow]

If you are sticking with a car that will be raced more than straight line stuff the nascar style double door bars is a good idea. The chances of another car trying to introduce itself to your body is higher in that aspect of racing. Pretty popular on protouring stuff.

[IROCZman15]

Originally Posted by LTb1ow

If you are sticking with a car that will be raced more than straight line stuff the nascar style double door bars is a good idea. The chances of another car trying to introduce itself to your body is higher in that aspect of racing. Pretty popular on protouring stuff.

very true. I will have a discussion with Mike and Randy at S&W when I drop the car off in a few weeks. If they think the double door bar is overkill, I wont do it. For me it was more about chassis rigidity since I do plan to keep the swing-out bars out of the car most of the time and only put them in when I am doing a track event.



spoke to Pat at Nyes Racing engines again today. valvoline 15-40 VR1 oil is his strong recommendation. I decided not to get a high capacity oil pan because I have read on thirdgen.org that the dyno-don's headers/y-pipe will not work with a non-stock oil pan... and I plan to reuse my dynodons setup for at least this next upcoming year. Dart SHP block will use a factory configured water pumps as well as factory style motor mounts. he will have the cam spec'd to provide good vacuum for the street and i should not need a vacum booster for the brakes. the static compression ratio will be around 10.4:1 or 10.5:1 and will run on 93 octane fuel. the engine will make awesome mid range hp as opposed to high rpm power. the engine will be given a full break-in while at their shop and then afterwards it will be put on their dyno and tuned. I requested videos and photos and he said sure thing.

engine order was placed today and payment was made for the bulk of it. it will arrive at my doorstep in about 4-5 weeks.

[IROCZman15]

about 3 more weeks until the engine arrives !

I dropped off the car at S&W racecars this morning. they wont be able to get to it next week due to other customer projects, but they were nice enough to let me drop it off early since I brought it to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and their house is 8 mins away from the S&W shop.

we discussed the lower permanent door bars and they agree that it would certainly aid in chassis strength since I will not be keeping the upper door bars in year-round. went with mid steel tube, all TIG welded joints, No diagonal support bars over to the driveshaft tunnel, Stroud 5 point 3" wide black harnesses with cam-lock. figured out my seat position and handed them the keys. was told a few weeks . when I go pick it up I am going to ask their opinions about flexplate and trans shields, the battery relocation, kill switch wiring, and how to get the SFI approval sticker on the roll bar.

[IROCZman15]

without going into too much detail yet, I figured I would just put a small and disappointing update on here.
.... I had a super unexpected, probably expensive, personal life-emergency come up recently. Not sure how much detail I'll disclose, but I had to make the wise decision to ask for the car back from S&W because I don't know how my situation will play out. They were very understanding, and I left them a few hundred bucks for their trouble. They made it very clear that i was certainly allowed to bring the car back to them in the future for the roll bar project. Luckily, they had not started on the car yet, so that was good and I went out there last week with my cousin to pick it up. I drove it home in the cold rain in traffic, and it made it, despite engine misfires and all that. S&W did already order the 5 point safety harnesses, so they will be shipping them to me. I'll either keep them or sell them online, but with no roll-bar in the car, they can't be installed.

Regarding the engine, I spoke to Nyes and they are also very understanding of the emergency. They offered to put things on hold for short term or even for long term and I will be getting back to them soon. They have the block machined already and most of the engine components have arrived.

That is it for now. not looking for any replies, but I am just working on figuring out some life stuff now and will get to car stuff as it comes.

I might have some $ and "free" time to still re-locate the battery to the trunk and put in a kill switch on the tail light. Something I have wanted to do for a LONG time regardless of future racing/tech rules. it is not too expensive and maybe I can work on it in the meantime as a smaller inexpensive project (when compared to the engine, roll bar, radiator etc). I'll have to study up on wiring diagrams and see how much cash I can re-allocate for wire, end terminals, clamps, and an on/off switch. shall see.
For many years I typically would disconnect the negative terminal on the battery when I was parking the car for anytime longer than a week, and that gets old, annoying, and has been opening up the threads on the optima terminal over time. An on/off switch would be a much better solution, and would allow more engine bay space etc. I'll do it so it is NHRA legal for if I ever do get to race this thing, so yea.
If/when I post about it, its just a small project I'm working on to keep myself content while sorting out the personal situation stuff. Any help/advice on the wiring is appreciated. I have already read a LOT and seen some diagrams online about it. I talked to Ron Francis wiring guys during the UMI autoX event too. I want it to be done right the first time and never to have to be altered ever again.

photos of it over at S&W

[wretched73]

Sorry to hear about this update, hopefully you can get back on track sooner rather than later

[IROCZman15]

thanks man, I had a pretty well shaped plan for how the next 3 months would play out, but unfortunately things took an unexpected turn. roll bar can wait. I'll need the $ for other life things instead. The engine will still be built since I paid for 2/3 of it already and the block/parts are ready to be assembled. pat will send over photos once they get started.

In the meantime, I will be proceeding so relocate the battery to the rear of the car and install the master kill switch in the tail-light. After much research, I THINK I have come up with a proper gameplan.

I have attached a schematic that I drew, so if anyone sees anything wrong with it please let me know. Some people have had luck with not using a battery --> engine block ground wire, and just using chassis grounds, but I want to eliminate all possible sources of faulty electrical issues, so I plan on running one. Also, in the Ron Francis wiring booklet, it says to run this important ground wire.

Unsure if I am going to use welding wire, or just buy some SGX or SXL cable?

Also unsure about a plastic vs a metal battery box. It will be going sideways in the area of the trunk where the spare tire used to be mounted. I'll have to fab up a flat/level plate for it to sit on, and also mount it to the "frame-rail" under the car. Even though its an AGM optima battery, I'll have the box be vented. Thoughts about the best box to use?

Not wanting to put the dual "dump/charge? terminals outside the car like most drag cars have... instead I'll have a junction box/jump terminal mounted under the hood for the + jump spot. I have read that using a mega fuse on this line is a good idea.. but NOT to use any fuse on the positive battery/kill switch --> the starter wire since amps get high and it would blow the fuse often.

Double pole, single throw kill switch mounted in the rear drivers side tail-light.

Will ground both cylinder heads to eachother and then the block to the chassis, as well as the block back to the battery negative... and the battery negative to a chassis ground at the rear of the car.

a question I have (and may call holley about) is if I do turn the kill switch off often, when parking the car for short term, will this cause the "memory" and "settings" in my Holley Sniper EFI unit to be erased???

[wretched73]

Looks good to me, I rewired the battery in my truck and that's how I did it.

Two quick things, that may not even be important-

Make sure 4g is big enough for your alt and how long that cable will be, and I'd also put an inline fuse between the alt and battery. People seem to go both ways on this, but I figured it wouldn't hurt

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by wretched73

Looks good to me, I rewired the battery in my truck and that's how I did it.

Two quick things, that may not even be important-

Make sure 4g is big enough for your alt and how long that cable will be, and I'd also put an inline fuse between the alt and battery. People seem to go both ways on this, but I figured it wouldn't hurt

I just bought a long spool of 0 gauge and ran one line from starter to kill switch and one line from alternator to battery.

Then a 0 gauge ground chassis to alternator case.

I do not have a fuse or circuit breaker on my setup, may look into it this winter pending how my car goes. Running a dedicated ground from block to battery may be overkill IMO.

[IROCZman15]

Went to Bruces speed shop today to see what he had for NHRA rated sealed battery boxes. Picked up the Taylor 48200 box for $93. it specifically holds the type of optima red top 75/25 battery that I have. I ran into a snag when i went to put the box in the spare tire location, .. the box is just about 1/2" too wide to fit down to the floor of that area. Its being blocked by the stamped metal support inside the fender, that I think is there primarily to hold the spare tire and jack. i will never be putting a spare tire back there, and I havent had one there in 10+ years anyways. I know that any metal in these cars around the body is structural of some sort, but would cutting/bending this stamped bracket have any huge negative consequence?

I looked for other NHRA rule 8:1 type legal battery boxes, and the dimensions of the ones that would qualify, well, most are wider.. actually nothing is narrower that will pass tech. I dont want the battery in the trunk well because I will need that space for sure. Thoughts on manipulating the inner fender bracket/spare tire mount to gain clearance in order to make the Taylor 48200 box work? Need photos?
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[sweetbmxrider]

You either yank that or build a shelf to keep it at/above frame rail height.

[IROCZman15]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

You either yank that or build a shelf to keep it at/above frame rail height.

awesome, thanks for confirming I was ok to do that. I went ahead and removed it. Built some shelves out of angle aluminum to sit the box on sideways. then through bolted it through the floor with 3"8 threaded rod (as per NHRA) while using some tube aluminum supports to act as vertical supports surrounding the 3/8" threaded rods to keep from pulling the box down when it is all tightened up. it is all loosely mocked up for now, and its pretty solid. I know we don't have an actual rear frame-rail there in our cars, but my aluminum angle is bolted to the U shaped stamped channel of the floor which is as close as we can get to a frame-rail I'd say. no photos currently.

I was working in the garage with the main door open just 2 days ago when that snow storm came by. snow flew in everywhere within a few minutes. what a mess!

pulled the nose and bumper and hood support and hood off of the car for the engine removal/install portion of this winter's projects. just to avoid scratches or clearance problems since I intend to pull and install the engine and trans together.















The next area I have to handle is the battery disconnect switch. This car will be a street/strip/autocross car and I do want the switch to be mounted in the passenger tail-light (black panel by license plate) and I want it to be the type of switch that you turn (not a push/pull handle). My questions arise about the type and capacity of the switch :
-Should it be a 4 pole switch or the 2 pole switch? The car has an 1 wire alternator (Powermaster Model #37802) which produces 140 amps max and 95 amps idle.
- is a high capacity/weatherproof switch the type I need? such as the Longacre # 52-45791 switch ? max amps and continuous amps seem to fall within parameters? or longacre 52-45783 ? the car is a street car so weather and water might exist so i am thinking the "weatherproof" version is worth the extra $10
- http://www.longacreracing.com/produc...---4-Terminal-
- I want a switch that has a "dress plate" like the one above for a cleaner install, but on the inside of the car, will I need to drill a big 3" hole in the sheetmetal in order to feed the thick wires to the back of the switch, or is the switch housing long enough that it will protrude past the inner sheetmetal. (I will be installing the oem black panel over everything when its completed, but was just curious if I should plan on cutting a huge hole to route the wires to the backside of the switch?
- I think the 3/8" stud size would work well with the 1gauge positive cables, but not sure if I went with 0 gaugge cables would need bigger terminals and a bigger stud size??

The wire itself:
- will 1 gauge welding wire be sufficient for the positive power wires connecting battery, switch, starter, amp, and junction block? or do I need to go find 0 or 1/0 wire? the local speed shop only has up to 1 gauge red wire and he says he uses it on all the race cars he builds with no problems.
- will 2 gauge black coated welding wire be sufficient for the ground wires. from battery to chassis, from cylinder heads to eachother and then to chassis, and a ground wire from engine block back to battery? or do I need to upsize the ground wire to something bigger than 2 gauge?

wire routing:
- see attached diagram. I created this after much research and I would like feedback from you guys who know this stuff well enough. the one thing I am defintiely unsure about is, should the power wire coming from the alternator be going to the optima battery, or go to one of the studs on the kill switch? I'm thinking this would depend on if I got a 2 pole vs a 4 pole kill switch right? or ?

fuses:
- I intend to run a 175 or 200 amp megafuse on the positive wire coming from the alternator and heading to the back of the car (see above..either to batt +, or to kill switch terminal). a fuse here is a good idea right?
- I also intend to put a fuse after the junction block (in engine bay) on the wire leading to the fuse block... the junction block will send power to the starter's solenoid and to the fuse panel. a smaller fuse would be needed here since I plan to use 8 gauge wire from the JB to the fuse panel. correct? The junction block can also act as a jump-post for if I need to jump start the car from the front ?



please let me know your thoughts and tech advice. my next step is to find the proper kill switch, order it and install it. then remove some interior components and run string-lines in the car and engine bay to get an approximate number of feet I will need when ordering all the wire. then I'll have to know what size wire is ok, as mentioned above 1g for power and 2 g for ground? or ?

[LTb1ow]

For the sake of keeping my battery terminals clean/simple, there is only one lead per post. Hot to switch and ground to chassis.

Alternator hot feeds the battery post on the switch if I remember correctly, I can check later today. Other side of switch has starter/car power/fuel pump.(Two post switch)

On the topic of fuses, technically if you want to protect all runs, you would want a fuse on the hot side right at battery, and one right at alternator. That would protect both runs while engine was running.

[sweetbmxrider]

Alternator and battery are on the same side of the switch, yes.

Grounds should be equal to power leads.

Your link doesn't work but I looked around a bit and saw what you were referring. Its tough to tell with that switch but the push pull style can be shortened up to have a clean install and keep it tight to the sheetmetal without a foot of rod out the back if you know what I mean. I was thinking you could make an extension for the rotary style you are looking at but you would have to figure it out after purchasing.

I'm not sure why they do separate circuits for the alternator on the 4 pole style. I never had an issue with a 2 pole.

Originally Posted by LTb1ow

On the topic of fuses, technically if you want to protect all runs, you would want a fuse on the hot side right at battery, and one right at alternator. That would protect both runs while engine was running.

What about a fuse on battery ground?

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Alternator and battery are on the same side of the switch, yes.


What about a fuse on battery ground?

On a ground, you would only worry about a hot lead shorting to it. So if you have your hots protected, then the ground can be sans fuse.

Now, that goes out the window IF your main ground point is a lousy one and the line shorts to ground providing a better ground and then arcing. But thats pretty out there odds wise.

[sweetbmxrider]

Originally Posted by LTb1ow

On a ground, you would only worry about a hot lead shorting to it. So if you have your hots protected, then the ground can be sans fuse.

Now, that goes out the window IF your main ground point is a lousy one and the line shorts to ground providing a better ground and then arcing. But thats pretty out there odds wise.

I meant fuse the battery ground instead of fusing the alternator and battery.

And personally, I'd look into circuit breakers that can be reset if a short does occur.

[IROCZman15]

cool, thanks guys. much appreciated. it may be overkill but I will runa 1 gauge ground cable from the engine block --> the battery terminal. Ron Francis and other sources recomend this. so that would mean I would have two ground wires coming into the battery box. one for the battery --> chassis ground at the rear of the car, and another for the battery--> engine block ground. I'll have to drill another hole in the Taylor box then, and use a gromet to seal it... if that is legal to add another hole to the box?


from my calculations I will need:
about 48 feet of red 1 gauge power wire
31 feet of black 1 gauge ground wire
18 1 gauge ring terminals for 3/8" studs
2 battery terminal mounts 1 gauge
2 fuses (or possibly resettable circuit breakers???)
10 feet of 8 gauge red power wire (from junction box to dashboard fuse panel)
2 8 gauge ring terminals
a 4 post weatherproof kill switch (longacre 52-45791)


I have never looked into a re-settable circuit breaker setup. didnt know it was a thing for automotive electrical. any links to specific ones you would recommend??? I have the high output alternator (specs listed above) and a high torque mini starter, and might eventually put a amp/sub woofers back in the car also...

[TaKid455]

1 GA should be fine but we always run 1/0. Always a power & ground front to rear along with the rear chassis ground. The diagram has a ground going from L - R on the block. Sure but not necessary unless you maybe have ground junctions on each head for the later EFI stuff. Maybe I am mis reading it. Didn't see a body ground from the engine/ frame to the body. Yes , its a unibody but still. This can be a simple braided cable. Nothing fancy.

Always get more length than you calculate and see where the price breaks are. A few bucks may get you a bit more length. Dont forget good shrink tubing. We use soldier pellet lugs for 4 ga and larger. You may find it cheaper to get supplies from multiple sources.

I agree with the resettable CB idea over fuses. You're fuse box will handle the fuse loads(systems) .

[IROCZman15]

Thanks Larry!
Bruces speed shop only had the 1 gauge wire in house, but they can order more of it, or 1/0 if I request it. unfortunately their shop will be closed from X-mas all the way to January 2.. so that's unfortunate. Therefore I was considering buying the wire tomorrow and some terminals to just get started, but probably not having everything I'd need to complete the job. Bruce has always been friendly with me, and he told me that If I buy cables and terminals from him, he would gladly let me use his $600 hydraulic lug/terminal compressor in the back of the shop with his help. I shop there often, but sometimes the prices are high. Their price for 1gauge welding cable is 20 cents and inch. ... So I'm undecided if I'll buy everything there, or shop around elsewhere instead.

As for the ground connecting both cylinder heads, I had read somewhere that it was a good idea, but its extra, and not really required. Also, There is a wire from the engine block/head to the body/chassis, its a blue line and is drawn by cylinder #1 in my sketch. Larry, Is this what you are referring to, or did you mean another ground wire I am missing still? Please let me know. I've seen that braided/woven ground lines often, I could do that, or use some sheathed black 1 gauge wire remaining from my other grounds, but I'll definitely have one from the engine block/heads --> chassis/frame.

When I was measuring, I was a bit generous with the measurements. I err'ed on the side of adding a bit extra wire. I even built in a 1 foot "slack loop" that I will leave under the rear passenger seat bucket in case lines/wires need to be moved or adjusted. My first thought was that I might need the slack for a future roll bar install (at S&W hopefully), and if I ran the lines tight along the doorframe, they would have extreme difficulty getting them slacked enough to be moved in order to safely weld down the 6"x6" floor plate for the main roll bar hoop. So i've added in some extra length to the lines.

I have read about the solder pellets. If for some reason I decide not to use Bruce's hydraulic wire crimper and go the solder route, I will do it with solder pellets.


I gotta do some research next about this re-settable circuit breaker!! that concept is brand new to me. I would like to mount it in the spare-tire area to be hidden but accessible. what line(s) would it go on? a heavy amp one on the line coming from alternator --> kill switch??? how about a lower amp one on the line going from the engine bay junction box--> the under dash fuse panel ?? none on the line going to the starter right?

Thanks guys!

[wretched73]

For what its worth, Stock my truck had Negative battery -> frame -> block -> drivers side head -> pass head -> firewall -> hood

So since cyl head to cyl head ground was done on a stock vehicle, I'd definitely do it on any other vehicle.

I wouldn't do a slack loop, That is a lot of waste and a lot of mess. IMO, you're overthinking a bit here. S&W is professional, they won't have a problem moving some wires to avoid burning them

[IROCZman15]

thanks man. I eliminated the slack loop idea. I still may generate some slack when i finally mount all of the wiring down, so that should give some play for future roll bar install.



today I bought 75 feet of 1 gauge wire, in red.* Bruce did not have any 1 gauge in black, and for some reason the black was going to be almost twice the price for the same size 1 gauge wire if they had to order it.* so I just got 75 feet of 1 gauge red. I will clearly label it as " - ground" with the new label maker I bought, every foot or so once I finally mount the cable in the car.*

today I also bought a 200 amp re-settable optifuse weatherproof circuit breaker to install in-line between the alternator and where that line connects to the kill switch.* it will be about 18" away from the kill switch. (does this sound right, is this the correct type of circuit breaker?!).* I also bought a red junction block/jump post that I will be mounting up in the area where the battery USED to be. it will have the battery feed line terminal, the starter feed terminal (both 1 gauge 3/8 hole) and then a smaller gauge terminal/wire that will go to a smaller distribution block nearby, that I can run all my positive leads and relays positive wires to ..(taking them off of the starter's lug, and also for MSD box, and nitrous relay).*

I laid out the 1 gauge cable throughout the car, cut it to length, and labeled it.* I put shrink wrap onto the cable loosely, prior to cutting off the insulation on the ends, and loosely installing the 3/8 terminals* (I used a 5/16" hole terminal for the alternator connection, its smaller).*I tried to "clock" them accordingly, so that once they are crimped, the wire wont need to be twisted to have the terminal sit flush. tomorrow I will go to the speed shop and use his hydraulic press to crimp all these terminals on.* then i can run the wire in the car and secure it down.*

I will NOT be using those taylor battery post mounts in the photo. instead I am using the ones just to the left that are crimp on style, instead of the taylor screw-together style.


the last thing I need to buy (i think.. I hope) is the longacre 4 post weatherproof high-capacity kill switch* part number*52-45791* * *.anyone have any thoughts or other recommendations*on this switch? or else I'll buy it tonight.*

[sweetbmxrider]

Sorry between the holidays and the server being down, I wasn't able to hop on here. Circuit breaker looks good, emergency vehicles usually have that or something similar for all of the additional gear installed.

I was going to suggest getting in touch with Brian to see what heat shrink he used. You might have the right stuff but it has that weatherproofing snot inside that melts out and makes a nice bead at the end of the wrap. Really nice stuff, just gradually build the heat up into it. Once you find the sweet spot, you will have some nice looking heat shrink ends!

[IROCZman15]

thanks. glad you guys mentioned the circuit breaker idea. once I did some research on it, I realized it was going to be much better than an ANL fuse since I would just have to re-click the circuit breaker if needed, instead of carrying around a pack of fuses and wrench to change them out (if ever needed).
- I wish I had got the adhesive lined shrink-wrap, with the glue like you mentioned. I have a cheaper brand that just shrinks. I've seen the glue lined stuff.. I think we used it in our 24 hours of lemons car.


sorry in advance for the long, detailed, update here....


I ordered the longacre kill switch, and it will be here on thursday. when I get it's front dress plate mounted, and gently carve out some of the plastic tail-light housing structure behind it, how am I going to get the four 1 gauge wires to the back of the switch.. I am pretty sure I'm going to have to cut some hole(s) in the car's sheet-metal, especially to fit the four large wires, that all have to come in at different angles, to sit on the 4 posts of the switch. I was wondering how people did theirs basically. I know the inner trunk plastic dress panel will cover any holes I have to make in the metal, but I was curious how others had routed their wiring from inside the car, to the back-side of the switch basically. somehow the 4 wires have to get through the sheetmetal behind the tail-light



I brought all the mocked-up wiring over to Bruce's speed shop and used his hydraulic press back in the workshop area. that thing is cool and did a damn good job crimping on all of the 1 gauge terminals.... except the two terminals for the battery posts.. we soldered those ones together. photos below.

I then routed all of the wires in the car, labeled them accordingly, and mounted them in place with a combination of 1/2" clamps and zip-ties. Aside from the 4 wires that mount to the kill-switch, I have everything taken care of in the trunk area and the interior of the car.. up to where the wires will enter into the engine bay, by the firewall and lower foot panel on the passenger side

I wired the ground wire, alternator wire, and starter wires up momentarily in the engine bay. then I bolted the "companion connections" together where the kill switch will go, and then hooked up the battery. turned the car on, and let it run for a minute. was happy that it started and ran! I then unbolted one of the 2 "connections" that are where the kill switch will be (battery wire -> all engine bay wiring) and the engine instantly died. dome light an other electronics died also. Awesome. Next I tried the same with the other set of connections that will be at the kill switch (alternator-->circuit breaker-->battery). engine was running and immediately shut off when I undid the bolt. great! So, it seems like the wiring is correct and once the kill switch is in, it all should work properly. cool!
... question though, should the engine die when I click the circuit-breaker to trigger it "blowing"? I had the engine running and I hit he button to trigger the circuit breaker, but the engine did not turn off or do anything at all... should it have? or is the circuit breaker just there in case of a massive amp spike, yet will not impede current if I were to manually trip it?? is the circuit breaker "directional" and perhaps I have the feed in/out connections to it backwards? its in-line between the alternator wire and the kill switch wire, mounted in the trunk close to the battery box and kill switch area.. not underhood. you can see it in one of the photos below, should i flip it upside down in case it is directional??


I have a 4 post kill switch coming in the mail, not the 2 post style.
the longacre wiring schematic can be viewed here: http://www.longacreracing.com/instru...nnect%20Switch


Positive wiring setup goes like this"
~ Battery top post ---> post A on kill switch ---> large junction post in engine bay --> one wire to starter and another to the future positive junction strip
~ 95/145 amp 1 wire alternator ---> 200 amp circuit breaker mounted in the trunk area ---> post B on kill switch ---> battery side terminal


Ground:
~ Battery top post ----> engine block ---> chassis ground (and soon will be grounding both cylinder heads together as well)
~ battery side post ---> chassis/frame ground at rear frame-rail of car

with the 4 post style kill switch, I thought this was the appropriate place to put the circuit breaker. I know the circuit breaker is not a kill switch, but I had figured that if I manually tripped it, the car would shut off. I guess not though .....
..... the reason I did not put any type of fuse or circuit breaker on the battery--> starter wire is because I read that the huge power surge that the starter needs to function would constantly trip the breaker/fuse. I had read that a circuit breaker should only be used in the alternator line in case of a problem power surge, the circuit breaker would trip.. and prevent harm to anything beyond the circuit breaker. is this correct? I am not a pro at this, so I am doing research and asking questions while trying to learn and understand as best as I can.




got the bulk of the interior back installed. once the kill-switch is here, i'll wire that up and take the car out for a short drive. after that, I'll be spending the rest of the winter working in the engine bay.. pulling out the old engine, redoing brake lines, eliminating proportioning valve, removing old radiator, removing old wiring and relays, welding up unused holes, primer, paint, and then installing the new engine.

some photos below of the progress... let me know if anything seems odd or wrong. thanks guys


the taylor box is bolted through the "floor" of the spare tire well, but it does not sit on the "floor". I built two aluminum side-shelves on each side of it, bolted the bottom of the box to these. next, I used the NHRA required 3/8" threaded rod to bolt the whole battery and box assembly to the "floor" of the spare tire unibody. I also cut some hollow aluminum tube to use as spacers between the bottom of the box and the foor.... to keep the box from deforming if I cranked too hard on the nuts at each end of the 3/8" rod. it may sound confusing, and I wish I took a photo of it, but it is damn solid.



Next, I am currently searching for a nice looking power distribution block to put up in the engine bay. I'll want to fuse this also. I am not sure if I want to/or need to use a ground wire junction block. I had planned on running the grounds in the engine bay over to a nice clean metal part of the chassis. should I use a distribution block?

here are some that I have in mind:
1. https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...f90AR8Q8wIIhwM

2. https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...DHQ4PBDzAgjzAg


3. https://www.ebay.com/i/152141092075?...UaApOvEALw_wcB


4. https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...f90AR8Q8wII6QI


thoughts? do I need a ground junction block? what size fuse should I put prior to the power distribution block so it doesn't get blown away if something goes awry when the starter is cranking?

Basically the Battery postive line will go to a positive jump-post in the engine bay. one wire will go directly to the starter. the other wire will go to a 150(??)amp in line circuit breaker, and then it will go to the power distribution block for all things engine and chassis that require a positive power lead.

I was thinking this for the distribution block because it has several large and several small screw terminals to use. thoughts? https://12voltconnection.com/product...busbar-3-8-red

And for the circuit breaker (instead of an ANL fuse) I was thinking this: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...iABEgKcxvD_BwE
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[sweetbmxrider]

If the circuit breaker is inline with the alternator charge wire, its only going to stop the alternator from charging the battery. You would continue to run off of the battery. Its purpose is to prevent excessive amperage that would cause the wire to heat up, melt through the insulation, and arc out against the body/ground. I had suggested putting it on the ground wire from the battery to the chassis. I think you are running two now so you wouldn't be able to do this but the idea would be the surge of amps would still trip the breaker, it would protect all of the wiring instead though. Of course, I could be dead nuts wrong

[wretched73]

Wiring looks good.

Honest question, what is the benefit of 4 terminal battery disconnect vs 2 terminal?

[IROCZman15]

yes, thanks Adam. I sometimes get in my own thoughts too much and forget that the simplest answer is usually true. So you are right, the alternator was disconnected when i triggered the circuit breaker, but this alone will not stop the engine from running off of battery. makes sense.


wretched73: thanks. I read a lot about 2 post vs 4 post switches. I am not using a remote starter solenoid which could complicate things more.. and I didnt want to run the alternator wire back to be on the same terminal of the kill switch as the battery feed will be on..because.... Even though a 2 pole switch will take away power to the ecm and fuel pump etc, the alternator still feeds the battery for a moment or two while it slows down. the way my simple brain (still learning this topic as I go along) understands it, is that a 4 terminal switch instantly cuts/separates all the battery, alternator, electrical feeds instead of allowing the alternator to have a short "run on" period, which could be dangerous in a bad crash/emergency? but, when the alternator power is cut-off abruptly, a random surge can possibly pass through the wire and cause problems/spikes.. which is why a circuit breaker device is used to halt that surge. the 4 post switch adds in the need for a few extra wires, but it is recommended to ensure quick and immediate power disconnect for everything in an instant.

anyone else with more knowledge care to elaborate and/or to correct me?


I just ordered a 150 amp circuit breaker and the bus-bar/distribution block a little while ago.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't think I'll be using the black "ground" one, but I might decide to. unsure if I want all grounds going to it, or If I will just run grounds elsewhere nearby each component that needs a ground. I might use the block though, . I'll have to see how much space I have in the old battery tray area and how I can lay things out; neatly, spaced apart, and safely.


thanks for the help everyone. keep the comments, suggestions, and advice coming. This is my first time doing this, and I want it to be done correctly.