[64speed]

I was told by a person who does a good bit of restoration work that all these things from the Sniper EFI that say they have to be connected straight to the battery can be connected to the starter power lug in order to clean things up. Is this ok? Also where should I ground the battery and make my other grounds? I am starting from a blank slate.

[Stuart]

I'm sure the manufacturer's position is that any additional connections between the EFI and the battery are potential sources for problems down the road, since they may loosen up over time, corrosion may build up, etc. You would *probably* be okay using the starter lug and a good ground point on the engine block, just keep it in mind that those connections will need to be monitored as time goes on to make sure they stay good.

[Formulajones]

I ran all my Sniper battery and ground connections on both cars straight to the battery. It was important to me to just make sure there was nothing in between that could potentially cause an issue.

You could connect to the power lug on the starter solenoid if you wish, and will work. Like Stuart said all the connections in between that need to be good and monitored for potential issues just to prevent a problem.

Not that hard to hide everything at the battery though. I run all the wires inside the fender, and they just pop out right by the battery terminals. For battery terminals I use a style that has extra connections on it, and the wires just merge with the battery cables themselves for a clean appearance that really isn't noticeable. In fact on the car with a side post battery, you can't even see any of it. Just one way of doing it.

On your battery ground, that needs to run to the engine block/head somewhere, and usually they have an extra small wire that runs to a fender or core support to act as a chassis ground.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I ran all my Sniper battery and ground connections on both cars straight to the battery. It was important to me to just make sure there was nothing in between that could potentially cause an issue.

You could connect to the power lug on the starter solenoid if you wish, and will work. Like Stuart said all the connections in between that need to be good and monitored for potential issues just to prevent a problem.

Not that hard to hide everything at the battery though. I run all the wires inside the fender, and they just pop out right by the battery terminals. For battery terminals I use a style that has extra connections on it, and the wires just merge with the battery cables themselves for a clean appearance that really isn't noticeable. In fact on the car with a side post battery, you can't even see any of it. Just one way of doing it.

On your battery ground, that needs to run to the engine block/head somewhere, and usually they have an extra small wire that runs to a fender or core support to act as a chassis ground.

What about the wire from the alternator? Can I run it to the starter lug? I was looking and it would just be oh so easy to hide it under the header against the block instead of running a mile of red cable all over the engine bay. Can you post a picture of your battery terminals?

[wbnapier]

Have you thought about using a junction block? Run your alternator to the j-block. A charge wire from the battery to the j-block. All your EFI + wires, etc...

[grivera]

Sniper installs can go sideways if you don't take proper precautions and then you have extra troubleshooting to do. Here is some good advice from EFI System Pro regarding wiring:

#2 Wire It Properly
Most important!!! MAIN POWER AND GROUND need to go to the battery. Directly to the BATTERY!!! Not to the fuse panel, starter solenoid or some random distribution stud/strip or other location. Direct to the battery means to the battery. Make sure you are using proper wiring practices. Incorrect connections will result in excessive resistance. Resistance results in heat and heat results in more resistance. A common issue we see is a result of poor fuel pump grounding running a eyelet from the pump ground to a rusty or painted surface. The resulting resistance can burn up fuel pumps, wiring and relays. Extending wires with too small of a wire gauge will also result in the same damage.

https://www.efisystempro.com/efi-pro...olley-tom-kise

[punkin]

I would hit the Sniper forums. This product has a lot of internet discussion relating to wiring and EM/RF interference. Whenever an installation doesn't go well, it almost always seems to come back to did you follow the instruction and how are the wires routed.

[JLMounce]

You can technically run your constant power wire to the starter lug. That circuit doesn't carry much juice, so by connecting it to the main power wire to the starter, you do satisfy that requirement. That said, there does seem to be people that have issues with it. There's probably issues elsewhere in the system that may be contributing though.

The biggest issue with wiring these systems is grounding and wire management. There are both signal and power wires that encompass the EFI and ignition system. It's easy to develop EMI issues when you have wires carrying a lot of power in close proximity to wires carrying sensor signals.

The best thing to do is plan your wiring accordingly. The first thing to note is that in general the harness you are provided is not long enough to cleanly route wires without having them all in a single bundle. Instead buy wire in various colors as well as loom. Be prepared to extend your harness as necessary. In general you should attempt to route signal wires on one side of the engine bay and power wires on the opposite side. When a signal and a power wire cross, they should do so at as close to perpendicular as possible and they should never run parallel to each other.

GROUND THE CRAP OUT OF THE CAR. There should be several grounds in the engine bay. Battery to block, block to body, body to chassis. It is not always necessary, but it can be helpful to run a ground from the unit itself to the body as well. I would plan on doing it, there's no harm.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

There should be several grounds in the engine bay. Battery to block, block to body, body to chassis. It is not always necessary, but it can be helpful to run a ground from the unit itself to the body as well. I would plan on doing it, there's no harm.

My car came from the factory with two ground straps at the front of the engine to the frame, two more at the back of the engine to the firewall, and other various ground straps from the radiator support to the frame, etc. You can't have too many of them.

[Scott65]

I would definitely not power the ecu from an alternator connection under any circumstance. Straight from the battery is best, that's why it's advised by the manufacturer. With respect to grounds, do some reading about ground loops. Then ground the ecu, and any wires associated with it either straight to the battery, or to the engine block/head. ALL to the same place, whichever it is.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by Scott65

I would definitely not power the ecu from an alternator connection under any circumstance. Straight from the battery is best, that's why it's advised by the manufacturer. With respect to grounds, do some reading about ground loops. Then ground the ecu, and any wires associated with it either straight to the battery, or to the engine block/head. ALL to the same place, whichever it is.

Correct, don't do that, it's too noisy. When you connect directly to the battery, it's acting as a power conditioner.

[djustice]

Main power and ground (heavy red and black wires) straigth to battery. The battery is like a buffertank it smooths out incomming and outgoing power spikes, unlike distribution lugs og starter lug that migth get a sudden surge of amp/volts. That migth damage sensitive electronics.
Another source of interference when you are up and running the system is sparkplug wires, atleast my experience is that running wires with "normal"resistance is a plus.

[64speed]

Well can I run the alternator to the starter lug?

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by 64speed

Well can I run the alternator to the starter lug?

Are you planning to use the starter lug as a power source for add on circuits?

Your new engine harness should have a 10 AWG wire that runs from alt. plus post to the starter lug. That same wire should be the power source for the cars factory electrical circuits.

IMO I do not like a bunch of extra wires on the starter lug when an engine has headers on it.

Need a list for all your add on's and amp load for them. And where you plan to get power for them. Note that an extra charge wire will not have 'voltage sensing' tied into it. Voltage sensing needs to come from a common point so alt. charge covers all circuits. That's factory stuff plus add on.

Clay

[Paul E]

With all the modifications and upgrades to your engine management and also an increased amperage charging system I would think of putting in an upgraded system under the hood. I installed a fuse and relay panel. It is important to give good voltage to your fuel and ignition components as well as the starter solenoid upgraded. I also used relays to pull in the A/C horn and hi and low beams. I used the original wiring and switches to the relay box to energize and then ran new wire from the relay box to the individual components. I put a weather pack connector on the relay box in the event I need to repair or add additional wires etc. (no kit did it myself)
Paul

[64speed]

I have a 104 amp one wire alternator. I don’t want to run a big red wire across the engine bay. That is the only thing I’d have on the starter lug. As far as added on circuits I have a painless wiring 7 circuit add on for that

[JLMounce]

Put an MSD solid state relay behind the battery on the firewall and use it to trigger the components you need. It hides wires nicely, can be triggered by power or ground, can be run in series if you need more juice etc.

I use all 4 channels on mine. FiTech's systems are on a channel, ignition system is on a separate channel and my cooling fan on another, all triggered by ignition. I have my final channel triggered by the ACC circuit powering electronics in the car.

[fairwayhit]

Originally Posted by Paul E

With all the modifications and upgrades to your engine management and also an increased amperage charging system I would think of putting in an upgraded system under the hood. I installed a fuse and relay panel. It is important to give good voltage to your fuel and ignition components as well as the starter solenoid upgraded. I also used relays to pull in the A/C horn and hi and low beams. I used the original wiring and switches to the relay box to energize and then ran new wire from the relay box to the individual components. I put a weather pack connector on the relay box in the event I need to repair or add additional wires etc. (no kit did it myself)
Paul

Hi Paul E, can you provide some details on the Fuse/relay box you re-wired? It looks really nice.

Looks like Ford Relays. Is it a Ford box? Do those use the same delphi wire terminals like the GM boxes (metripak 280)? Tanged or tangless?

I bought a Bussman RTMR box, but now I am contemplating a re-wired OEM box. However I can't find much info on how to wire one or how to identify the OEM relay specs, etc.

Any info or "lessons learned" you can give me?