Ground my alternator

[dbackfan12]

When grounding an alternator are you able to use any of the mounting pins/screws? I have a Singer 370 amp and it only has 2 connections and the front connection is a bitch to get to because once I loosen it the alt wants to fall to the ground and I was thinking of just using the other pin towards the bottom, would it achieve the same result? And also, should I ground the alternator directly to my battery and to the chassis or would I end up with a ground loop since my battery is already hooked to the chassis as well?

[rockFord_Expedition]

By pins, do you mean mounting bolts?

Most alts dont have a dedicated grounding bolt. So anywhere on the case is fine. Mounting bolts are used all the time. Just make sure that your closed end ring terminal is in direct contact with the alt case

[SnowDrifter]

Post pics.

Grounding using the alt bracket usually works very well.

Ground your battery to frame. If applicable, strut tower bolt works well. Ground your alternator to frame. If possible, same ground as the battery. Be sure to sand the connection clean, and a dab of grease or vaseline works well to prevent corrosion

[rockFord_Expedition]

Yup^

Sorry OP I forgot to address grounding locations.

Just to reinforce. Alt and battery should be grounded to a common bolt on the vehicle frame. If your car is a unibody then strut tower is great also, but not instead of frame if frame is an option.

[dbackfan12]

Im pretty sure I have a unibody, its a 2013 mazda 3 and to my understanding most newer cars are unibody. So I should just groung my batt and alt to the same location on the chassis and not directly from batt to alt? Also to avoid corrosion I was wondering if I would be able to spray some plasti-dip over the connection to give a little layer of protection from the elements? Thanks for your inputs guys it really helps out.

[ShadeTreeMechanic]

For external connections I use adhesive lined heat shrink on the crimp and dielectric grease on the bolted connection to keep out moisture.

[dbackfan12]

All right ill probably use somr of that grease then i've heard some good stuff about it. Would using zinc nuts and bolts work as well?

[MotorCityFats13]

in this case the bolts are not in the continuity chain so you can use anything you like but Ive never had any problems just using what ever stock bolts hold down the alt or other things bolts are holding.... you shouldnt ever have to remove any added bolts unless you sell and remove the wiring so if they start to rust who cares the lug is grounding directly to the ground point.... I run alt to inside fender, block to inside fender, frame to inside fender and inside fender to battery

[ShadeTreeMechanic]

I use grade 8 bolts that are some kind of alloy and hold up against rust very well. I also use stainless bolts especially on battery terminals for the conventional vented lead acid wet cells. It is hard for me to feel all warm and fuzzy about a connection when the bolt is all rusty. But that's just me.

[dbackfan12]

So I was re-doing my battery grounds on the back end of the car and came across two possible spots. The first looks like sheet metal and seems to be the same consistency of my trunk.

The second spot is much more thick and seems to connect the car from left to right.

I'm thinking the second spot would be better but i wanted to see what you guys think because the first spot is much closer to the hole I was able to make but if I use it I feel like I could have simply used the inside of the trunk.