Trunk mount battery wire size

[61K T/A]

I'm replacing the OE starter from the 70 Hemi Cuda with a mini. What size or AWG wire should I use? Battery is mounted on right.

[jordan]

I dont remember the size of the wire, but go as large as you can with welder wire.  And it must be welder wire.  I tried large gauge multi strand wire, but I had starting issues.  An old timer told me to use the same gauge welder wire and it totally fixed my issues.  Welder wire has 10x as many strands of wire.  Electrons flow over the surface of the wire.  More wires equal more electrons.  At least that's how it was explained to me. 

[crackedback]

I use 1/0 welding wire on the set up I use and sell.

Ground path/cable is REALLY important.

[dodj]

Agree with the 1/0. I use motor lead wire, (very similar to welder wire)
Be aware of your route and protect the wire where it may get chaffed by a sheet metal edge.
There are various ways to do the relocation, but, imo, the smarter way is to relocate the starter relay to the trunk as well.

[61K T/A]

I use 1/0 welding wire on the set up I use and sell.

Ground path/cable is REALLY important.

I plan to run the ground to either the bell housing or trans bolt. Not sure yet which one.

[crackedback]

I use 1/0 welding wire on the set up I use and sell.

Ground path/cable is REALLY important.

I plan to run the ground to either the bell housing or trans bolt. Not sure yet which one.

Car frame connected?  If so, drop a cable to a nut welded to the frame rail  Same up front, from engine/trans to frame rail.     No connectors, run a cable forward as you plan.





If you have efi or other sensitive electronics up front, grab a separate decent sized wire/cable from that rear point forward for a cleaner ground of a junction stud.

[HP2]

Was thinking about doing this on my current project. After looking at all the modifications to wiring, disconnect switch install, set up so the cable is only live during cranking, battery or trunk isolation, and need to feed the system with a 1 wire alternator via harness mods, I scrapped the idea and just bought a 17 pound Brail AGM battery. This thing is only like 10x3x6 inches in size. Removed all the factory battery tray items and fabbed up my own out of aluminum plate to  hold it in place. A lot of weight gone off the nose now, a lot more room around it, and no modifications to the wiring were required.

[Dmod1974]

Not sure based on the initial question if you are also doing a trunk relocation or already have the battery in the trunk, but the mini starters draw less current than the old clunky OE ones thanks to gear reduction.  So whatever you had before will no doubt work as well and probably better. 

I personally used 2/0 Extreme Copper wire from Battery Cables USA.  It's pure copper and the insulation is extremely flexible so it can be routed easily.  2/0 is overkill for most, but I don't want to deal with voltage drop issues down the road cranking over the 6.2L in the cold, or when the 220A alternator is pushing some serious current back the other way.

For the ground, I made a cable and grounded it straight from the battery to the wheelhouse alignment hole right above the trunk extension with a bolt/nut.  Make sure you have it sanded to metal and that will pass any amount of current you could possibly need; it doesn't take much surface area.  At the engine, I ran a cable from one of the supercharger tensioner bracket bolts to the inner fender.  During cranking, I barely see .1v of drop on the entire ground side from engine to battery negative.

Building a robust wiring system isn't difficult; just don't cut corners or be afraid to do some simple calculations to make sure what you're spec'ing is "good enough".

[Roberts440]

I'm new here, but I just noticed this thread.  I had severe voltage drops with my original trunk-mount 2 ga wiring.  I carefully measured each and every drop, and found that a fair amount of the drop was in the chassis-ground reliance.  I replaced the wiring with welding 2/0 for both power and ground, and ran the ground to the bellhousing.  I ended up with a huge increase in cranking speed!

[dodj]

I personally used 2/0 Extreme Copper wire from Battery Cables USA.  It's pure copper and the insulation is extremely flexible so it can be routed easily.  2/0 is overkill for most,

Is it labelled DLO wire by any chance?
Bigger is better with wiring, just sometimes makes terminating a bitch.

[Dmod1974]

I personally used 2/0 Extreme Copper wire from Battery Cables USA.  It's pure copper and the insulation is extremely flexible so it can be routed easily.  2/0 is overkill for most,

Is it labelled DLO wire by any chance?
Bigger is better with wiring, just sometimes makes terminating a bitch.

No, it isn't labelled DLO from what I see. I had no issues crimping the lugs with my hydraulic crimper tool either. I highly recommend that over the hammer strike ones.

[71-440]

My Battery is in the trunk. I added ground wires to a couple locations and used Welding cable 1/0

[dodj]

I personally used 2/0 Extreme Copper wire from Battery Cables USA.  It's pure copper and the insulation is extremely flexible so it can be routed easily.  2/0 is overkill for most,

Is it labelled DLO wire by any chance?
Bigger is better with wiring, just sometimes makes terminating a bitch.

No, it isn't labelled DLO from what I see. I had no issues crimping the lugs with my hydraulic crimper tool either. I highly recommend that over the hammer strike ones.

What I meant about terminating being a bitch, is finding a big lug to fit the wire, but small enough to fit the attaching hardware. Like you have a 1/4" stud on the relay, and your 2/0 lug has a 3/8" hole for terminating. And sometimes the lug it just too wide to fit where you want it.
And ya, hydraulic crimpers are the only way to go with the bigger wire.

[MoparLeo]

I would suggest multiple grounds. Engine to body. engine to bellhousing, starter mount to body at minimum.