Hey all, lately spent countless hours browsing through threads on here about amp placement and ground points, and I've decided to place a piece of MDF under the boot carpet on top of the hump in the boot (diff?) which I'll drill my amps into (Alpine M1005, and a Pioneer GM6200F)

Anyways, come across a few questions, that I thought I would get the wise members of fordmods to help me out with...

Is the ground I've made suitable? (Back seat bolts)
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And is it alright to just place the wire (4awg) into the gap and tighten the bolt, instead of using one of those circle...things...(goes on end of wire, has a hole for a bolt to go threw)? And finally, what would be the best way of securing this piece of MDF to the hump in the boot? I was thinking some strong velcro would do the job...

Any advice would be awesome!

always best to use the connector things name escapes me at the moment. soldered is always best but if you have to crimp, make sure you crimp properly and don't just squish the wire flat inside there. for similar reasons you can't just put the wire under the bolt and tighten it up.

do it properly, do it once!

Definately put crimp lugs on.

Hmmm might have to buy some more then, cause I plan on trimming down the earth wire I was using... So what would be the best way to go about soldering those the wire to the crimp lug? I mean, the wire is huge, Previously I just squished it around the wire...?

Judging from the second picture you've cleaned the area up with some sand paper already yeah?

Best way to crimp the terminal on is to use a set of crimpers. However, the big a** ones are bloody exy, in the past I've used a hammer and chisel or a vice.

Yeah, I've sanded it back... Now I've just got to master crimping these lugs haha, these things are the most annoying part...

Personally I find using my vice the easiest. I've used a chisel and hammer before, but it's messy.

just go to your local auto electrician and ask to borrow his crips, or even ask them to crimp it for ya. they shouldnt charge, unless they are skungy bastards

It is best to use crimp lugs. The vice and chisel are a good option.My understanding of car electrics, is to make sure the earth wire is as short as possible, on a bare metal surface,and wire size bigger than the biggest out going wire.

Alright sweet, armed with all this info, should be ready to crimp some lugs!

Thanks once again fellas

If you dont wanna spend any more money then go regular ring lugs and crimp / solder them (i would highly recommend soldering though) you really dont wanna risk your gear if you go over a decent bump or something and if the cables fairly daught it could pull right out of the lug and short out.

Depending on the size of the cable I'd recommend a proper earth mount/ground terminal (see pic below) and you'll only have to then drill a couple small holes but will be stronger, have better contact etc etc. This method of securing cables is also very solid and used in many competition setups - should be able to pick them up at any car audio re-seller or possibly jaycar etc. They will take upto 0 guage (I use them in my setup although I do have them soldered also).

Can't stress enough earth cable size wont matter too much so long as it is the same size or larger than the power cable used for the same device....important thing is that the earth run MUST be shorter than the power run.

 

 

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