Hi all. I’m looking to do a big three upgrade on my 2001 sport. I have an aftermarket sound system that was experiencing some issues with an unstable ground so I want to make sure that all of my cabling on the charging system is tiptop. When I checked under the hood, all of the grounds were in good shape except for the one on the left side fender well near the battery. The connection is tight, but the bolt that holds the ring terminal Is able to just spin inside the fender. I tried gripping the nut that it’s threaded into using the opening in the fender, but that nut is just spinning and I think it’s rusted onto the bolt. Do you guys have any idea how I can get the original bowl unscrewed so that I can swap it out? I’d like to avoid drilling a new ground location in the fender.

 

cut the nut off the stud.

but for me a new hole, bolt and nut with nice clean ring terminals is the option for me. but go ahead and cut if you wish to retain stock location. a dremel will probably do the job.

good luck

 

Well I don't think this will help but.....
So there a threaded square piece of metal that bolt goes into in the fender.
It is not part of the fender.
How do I know this you ask?
Cause I tried to take that ground off and the square came off with the bolt.
Leaving a square hole in the fender.
So since you are replacing the batter cables I say try and knock it out.
I used a bolt, a washer and nut behind the fender, another washer on the engine compartment side, with one of those star washers
and cause of the big square hole was able to get one of my ignition wrenches in there to tighten it all up.
Also decided that when I have to disconnect my battery I don't remove the terminals but take the lugs off the military terminals.
So this way the terminals never come off the battery and I don't have to mess with the ground wire I Mickey Moused.

 

I’d be glad to do that if the nut (square piece) wasn’t inaccessible behind the sheet metal. Do you mean just cut through the factory bolt snd knock the back part through?

 

Im starting to lean toward this option. If I can’t easily cut and knock the old bolt through then I’ll do this. Definitely going with military style terminals.

 

Remove the battery and grind the bolt head bit by bit with a dremel or whatever until you can push the bolt into the fender. If you use a dremel, the discs get eaten pretty quickly, so have a couple ready. Please wear safety goggles.

 

Exactly what I did, with all 5/16" stainless parts. Only I ran the bolt through from the back side with a star washer, cinched it down hard with a flat washer and a nut. That gave me a 5/16" stud sticking out of the fender. Then I put my new battery ground cable over that, then a nut. I removed the paint around the hole first, of course.


That factory ground point is flaky as all get out. I like my upgrade a lot better. Drill a new hole if you have to.

You will be glad you did. I don't use anything else anymore. If you need cables, check out BestBoatWire.com Made to your order, cables, connectors, heat shrink. I like to get the clear heat shrink so I can see what's going on under there. I've had quite a few cables made by them, and the quality, price, and service have been very good.