Ultimate Ground Solution - Anyone modernize grounds?

[montanasurfer]

Hello Folks,

Has anyone devised a way to definitively clean, seal, and mount grounds? I'm talking about:

- Replacing the eyelet grounds in the engine bay with something sealed and hard mounted.
- Any creative solution for the engine ground strap and the trans ground strap.
- Replacing the two ground tree's under the dash with some kind of sealed connector.

I am growing weary of cleaning/cutting and crimping on new eyelets/ replacing ground straps. It would be nice to have this done and done so in a way that lasts more than a few years. Plus cutting the wires to replace the eyelets is going to eventually lead to needing to splice longer lengths of wires onto the original wire.

Any thoughts? Has anyone done an update to modernize grounds? If so, can you share what you did and how maintenance free it has been? [/list]
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1987 Vanagon GL - Wolfsburg Edition

[bobhill8]

Sodo will be along any minute
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1986 Westy
1971 Squareback

[Zeitgeist 13]

Bad grounds burn up bearings

A couple of properly mounted bus bars would do the trick. The ground crowns under the dash would be where I start.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Vanagon Nut]

Wrong or right, I scraped back the paint under the ground stars. I also cleaned up each male contact though they weren't too bad. I swear my wipers move faster and dash lights are brighter.

Neil.

This is what the paint under each ground star near fuse panel looked like. I assume this is "factory". Rain water was likely getting in which likely fouled the screw threads. The bottom of each star has pointed bits that afaik, are supposed to bite past paint into metal. Each screw was pretty damn tight.

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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[slo356]

I converted the anchor bolts for grounding to anchor studs in the engine compartment. A stud with a nut to secure the eyelets is a lot easier to deal with when you maintenance the grounds. Also, you gain a little bit more grounding surface.

I cleaned the wheel well side of the captured nut.

A lot of the grounding finds ground through the threads so cleaning up with a tap was important. Note corroded eyelet that needs to be replaced.

Inserted 6mm x 30mm bolts with star washers. Will paint later to protect from corrosion.

On the inside a flat washer and nut secured/tightened after removing paint for more direct grounding surface. This nut acts as a "jam-nut" to secure the bolt from spinning when you remove the outer nut to clean the eyelets.

Much easier checkout ,remove and clean or replace eyelets.

Don't know if there is a way to permanently protect from corrosion...unless you go with gold or silver.
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'65 T1 Sedan
'87 T3 Syncro

[mikemtnbike]

For my aux battery system, I sanded to bare per a normal sheet metal drill-and-ground addition but also installed a riv-nut instead of just doing bolt, washer, nut.

I really really like this. In every way, it's a solider connection. I did my alt-to-ground addition using regular hardware and would re-do using a riv-nut if the opportunity arose.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Sodo]

[ALIKA T3]

[Wildthings]

I smear most all ground connections with dielectric grease prior to assembly and maybe add some more after everything is back together.

[slo356]

[Beerden]

[syncrodoka]

The wbx engine grounds are a known weakness on the system, well maintained grounds are critical. Stainless galling and galvanic corrosion are real. The stainless hardware are soft and will shear but be very difficult to drill due to it's properties, zinc coated hardware are best used for the job.

[montanasurfer]

[sanchius]

Great info here.

Just a quick note that dielectric grease is non-conductive silicone grease for protecting the outside of terminals and connections from corrosion.
My understanding is that using it between contacts can result in poor connections. YMMV

Naturally, one can find a wide spectrum of opinions about this on the interwebs.
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The Syncro years (2005-16) - The 2WD years (2017-23) - Westy & WBX rebuild spreadsheet - Sanchius & Tuna: The Video
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[montanasurfer]

[Sodo]

[Wildthings]

[Zeitgeist 13]

I believe the silicone is just filling existing voids in the connectors to keep out moisture and air. An electrical contact would still provide a direct conductor to conductor pathway in the same manner with or without the silicone filling the voids. I've been using it for decades without any detrimental effects I'm aware of at this time.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[dhaavers]

[djkeev]

The title of this thread makes me scratch my head.......
exactly what is a "Modern Ground"?

I did some wiring add on ti my late teens Prius awhile back.
The grounding method of choice?
Screw eyes on the wire ends and screws into the body.

I do wonder how wide spread VW's "ground tree" methodology is.

Anyway........
We have launched into cleaning and examining various methods of connecting grounds.
But a bolt, washers and nuts are hardly "modern".
Covering connections with a moisture barrier is far from modern too.

Even the suggestion of using "modern" alloys has pretty much been shot down.

Don't get me wrong, the thread is great!
The shiny clean connection porn photos are inspiring!

The title?
Not so much. 😂😂

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert