To give some back ground, I rebuilt the engine on my 95 formula (took engine out through the bottom)

Just finished buttoning up everything last night, pulled the two injector fuses, and the pcm fuse. Cranked over the car a few times to make sure everything is hooked up and as well build some oil pressure.

The car cranked over a few times fine then all of a sudden I see smoke coming from the driver's side front of the car, get out and I am poking around and touch the ground strap that goes from the wiring harness to the driver's front frame rail is so hot you can't even touch it.......

Any ideas on what it could be?

I checked the ground that goes to the block on the passenger's side and it was slightly loose. Would that cause a problem?

Thanks

 

Yes more resistance take more current. Take off the strap and lightly sand the surfaces and bolt it back tight. If you are running a stock ground strap you can just ditch it and get a BBC ground strap and not have to worry about it.

 

Sounds like you found the problem yes. Thiese cars are pretty sensitive to brounds. We always add at least a 0g from the engine to the chassis and a smaller one from the transmission to the chassis. They also helps keep shift cables alive!

 

Yes. Most of the current was trying to go through the braided strap, which cannot handle the draw.

 

Thanks, I'll probably add a larger ground strap to the other side as well, as I've got a few better ones kicking around.

 

FYI One of the guys forgot th small strap on a LS1 tonight and fried The on his car