Grounding pods

[zachmac]

yeah.. who? i would LOVE to put new pods back on my car after the upcoming paint job, rather than these OEM jobs; after 30 years, they could stand some time in the spares box.

Okay, maybe my lips overloaded my ass. Midwest -Bayless has REFURBISHED NOS or USED. they are a whole $5.99 each and BTW I know they currently only have three on the shelf. See this link and be the first to call!

http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladviso ... =246517069

I will keep looking as I KNOW I also saw them for sale somewhere else.

[mbouse]

found this stuff...

3M™ Zinc Spray 16-501

gonna check it out. literally zinc in a spray can, not paint!

Protects metal (iron or steel) from corrosion during
long term exposure to corrosive environments. Use
on electrical generation, transmission and distribution
equipment including towers, transformers, light
standards and other metal and galvanized surfaces.

[manoa matt]

Mike,

Rustoleum also makes the same product: "Cold galvanizing compound" its not the same "zinc" as zinc plating. I've used the Rustoleum product many times successfully, but it is mainly to replicate hot dip galvanizing. The grounding pods are electroplated with zinc, and specificaly cadmium zinc which replicates that irredescent gold color.

The cold galvanizing compound is like a powdery paint. Its a great coating because if scratched it will heal itself and the scratch will not rust. I used it on my lower control arm pivot bolts, hubs, and some other misc parts. I don't know about its electrical conductive properties.

Its main use is in the field when cutting, welding or installing hot dipped galvanized steel members, think chain link fences, industrial light poles, and bridges.

Anyone can zinc plate parts if you use one of the Caswell or Eastwood kits, and the ground pods would be perfect candidates. Pete Angle has used the cadmium zinc plating kit with great success. I've thought about getting a kit to zinc plate parts, but I already have all the materials with the exception of the electrolyte. I have a large 5 pound hunk of zinc that was a sacrificial annode from a steel sheet pile. I'm planning on making a large bath to do large parts like springs, control arms, trailing arms, exhaust manifolds, brake rotors, etc...

If things work out, I may accept orders. Send me the part to plate and I'll send it back all blinged out. At this point that service is a long way off as I have too many projects half started.

http://www.eastwood.com/specialty-coati ... -zinc.html

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/zinc.htm

http://www.medial.com/suzuki/zinc-plated/

[zachmac]

found this stuff...

3M™ Zinc Spray 16-501

gonna check it out. literally zinc in a spray can, not paint!.

Couple of thoughts:

1 Why spend $10 for a can of 3M spray and have to remove, clean, spray and re-install your pods when Midwest will sell you two ready to bolt on for about $12 plus a buck or so shipping?

2. Why not put round spades on all those ground wires and throw the pods away? Why do they need to be plug in connections versus bolted to the ground point directly? Was Fiat expecting a need to constantly trouble shoot the electricals or is this there version of a fire extinguisher?

3. Why not do what I did with an X1/9 years ago, elimiate the common ground point and re-terminate and gground all those componets as close as you can to the component itself? I must hav ecut out a mile of ground wire and everything worked fine. Plus if a ground does go bad it only takes out that component. if a pod connection goes bad you will loose every componetn on it. Again, it seems Fiat new they were building rolling oxidation machines and that local gorunds would fail due to rust / corrosion. No reason to be held to that 30 years later on cars that are now mostly fir weather toys versu daily drivers. And yes, that means if you have a rusty daily driver you love you should keep the common ground points.

[mbouse]

1. i am a Fiat owner.
2. $10 is less than $12 (see #1)
3. adding ring connectors and pitching the spade connectors increases project cost (see #1)
4. time is money. (see #1)

[zachmac]

1. i am a Fiat owner.
2. $10 is less than $12 (see #1)
3. adding ring connectors and pitching the spade connectors increases project cost (see #1)
4. time is money. (see #1)

Time, in the context of an individual, is an abstract construct by which we measure the duration of a limited lifespan.

Money, particularly a fiat currency, is also an abstract construct created for the sole purpose of being able to substitiue paper in the place of actual goods and services thereby enabling wider commerce and trade than would otherwise be possible. The ability of the Fed to print more money at will is ample evidence that it has no intrinsic value and is truly unlimited in supply.

If "time is money" then time would also have to be unlimited and have no intrinsic valuew, which we all know are the opposite of true when applied to our own time.

I believe what you may have meant is that we have all the time we are ever going to get (hence the obsurdity of the statement "I never seem to have enough time") and what matters is how we choose to use it. The existence of paper money means that we can either elect to do something ourselves OR give someone the fruits of our labor elsewhere to do it for us. This frees up our limited time supply to do something we'd rather do.

Your first statement, "I am a Fiat owner" demonstrates a propensity to spend your limited time supply on a labor of love of things mechanical and "fixable", something I wholeheartedly agree with and can relate to as I make the same choice as often as I can. Happy wrenching.

PS Which was the bigger waste of time, me typing this while I have my morning Joe our you reading it!

[mdrburchette]

I don't know, it seemed to make sense in a wierd way.

Mike, spend the extra for good parts. It just doesn't seem right to even be telling you this since you're always preaching against Harbor Freight tools. I think we would all benefit from better made parts for our car if we demanded quality instead of looking for the cheapest way out.

[zachmac]

I don't know, it seemed to make sense in a wierd way.

Mike, spend the extra for good parts. It just doesn't seem right to even be telling you this since you're always preaching against Harbor Freight tools. I think we would all benefit from better made parts for our car if we demanded quality instead of looking for the cheapest way out.

Denise,

In this particular case the part that Midwest is offering are no better or worse in quality as they are NOS or used pods that have been cleaned up an re-plated. I was just makinbg the case that for the couple of $ difference between buying them and re-doing your existing ones you could free up some of the time re-doing them to do other things to the Fiat. The assumption was and is that ALL available time MUST be spent doing SOMETHING to the Fiat!

[Zippy]

In the electrical industry we use a product called De-Ox on aluminum terminations to keep them from corroding. It is an electrically conductive grease and oxidation inhibitor. I think it would work well on the ground points as long as it isn't going to get washed away by rain or road spray. It has other names like Penetrox and Noalox.You can usually find small tubes or squeeze packets at Home Depot or other home improvement stores.

Al

[katsi]

Wow, I did not mean to spark such a debate. I just thoutht that if I cleaned and them soldered the grounds in place that would elimanate any future problems.

[mbouse]

hey, it's cold up here, John. what else do we gotta do 'cides debate grounding pods?

[manoa matt]

The reason our cars suffer from poor electricals, bad grounds, and corrosion at terminals is due in part to the electroplating technology that existed back in the 60's and 70's. The electroplating was not very good to begin with, but has come a long way since then. Having your fuse box terminals re-plated with modern plating technology would be a good thing for the system, but pricewise you could just install a new modern "blade" type fuses that have larger contact areas than the old German style ceramic fuses.

I believe the re-plated ground pods would actually be better than NOS original pods with the original plating. The key to the whole system is getting good contact between the ground pod and where it mounts. I scuff away the paint behind the ground pod so that the pod is actually touching the fender metal. If you only rely on the interface between the ground pod and the stud there might not be enough contact area.

BTW the dielectric grease does not transfer any current through it. However, as Al stated there are some greases as that do transfer some electrical energy. The main goal of dielectric grease is to encapsulate the connections and limit the exposure to oxygen. Metal exposed to oxygen and water/vapor causes oxidation and leads to high resistances within the circuits. You should apply the grease after the connection has been made and not before. If the grease is in the way of the contact surfaces it can actually hinder some of the electric transfer. No need to go out and buy fancy electric grease as Vaseline does the exact same thing.

[bwilson27]

After I repaint my car and re-install the wiring, I was going to try to use a dremel grinding wheel on the ground areas to remove the new paint, then hook up the ground, prime and re-paint the whole connection area, terminal and all.

Would this work ok? Seems almost factory in some cars.

[pope]

Good write up Matt!
The only thing I would add is that Vaseline is a petroleum product and will dissolve over time, a year or so later, you will have to reapply. Dielectric gel is a silicone base and wont dissipate over a short period of time, once and done.

Cleaned my fuse box today.

[KillerB]

This is what I gooped on my pods after cleaning them up when I first got my car. 3 Years and no dim lights...



http://www.skygeek.com/dc4.html

We use it on the aircraft's anti-static grounding points, and power receptacles.