TOPIC:

Bpop2019 wrote:

Well thanks for the concern.
id like to say that maybe I rambled and made it come off as confusing then.

in an attempt to simplify, my question is was the negative battery cable grounded to the chassis from the factory? best if grounded to the engine casing

there is also larger gauge ground from the starter relay to the starter motor. This is "live" not ground

looking at the diagram in the service manual, the red/white from the relay taps into the black/yellow chassis ground wire that is connected to the negative post on the battery. Wrong - connecting red/white to black/yellow will destroy the regulator/rectifier and start a fire

I was planning on keeping it exactly like this, only matching the gauge wire in between the relay and starter, and using a longer length to a more hidden location.

hopefully this is less confusing , if not , I’ll take my beatings 

Please see highlighted above in bold and below, I am not trying to be a "smart ass" just hopefully save you a fire and a big expense

 

Crap, so i got the wires mixed when i was writing that originally ...
I meant the red / yellow from the solenoid being spliced to the black / yellow, not red / white so thats definitely an error on my part.

as for the wire from the solenoid to the starter motor, that makes sense. i incorrectly assumed that was ground by looking at the diagram. but my plan was to just route a longer wire of the same gauge and terminate it exactly how it was originally.

would you have a recommendation on where to connect to the case for the battery lead? 

i definitely appreciate the guidance. i was staring at a pile of wire and diagrams late at night so i think i got frazzled, or at least thats what ill tell myself

No worries, there should be a ground point on the motor where the original ground was bolted up to

The engine ground should be kind of near the neg battery terminal & the original cable may give a clue as to where it should be connected.