70 BARRACUDA GROUND ISSUE

[70 Grand Coupe]

Hello everyone,

Have a 70 Barracuda that I am putting back together after bodywork and paint which was completed 8yrs ago and sat in a warehouse until I bought it 1 week ago. The original 318 is in it, just need the interior and a few odds and sods.

Upon checking the bulbs, marker, park and tail lights, I notice that none of the REAR BULBS WORK unless I ground them out on a trunk latch bolt. This goes for all of the rear bulbs. There is a GROUND CABLE from the BATTERY TO ENGINE BLOCK (ALUMINUM HEAD) and a small GROUND STRAP from the engine to firewall. Is this enough? Are there other grounding points I am missing to look for? I look forward to your help and wan to thank you in advance.

P.s. the fuel gauge is not working either.

Darcy 
Medicine Hat, Alberta

[HP_Cuda]

The rear bulbs ground to the housing that they go in, so if you painted these areas then you will not have a ground.

[TelisSE440]

The rear bulbs ground to the housing that they go in, so if you painted these areas then you will not have a ground.

  Every housing of the back lights is holding onto the the frame with four bolts and nuts, if these aren't screwing onto clean chassis, they will surely not work. As for the ground , I would install a ground strap from negative battery side to chassis and everything is perfect, but not your problem for the back lights, the installation you have seems adequate IMHO. As for the fuel gauge, you have to go under your vehicle and watch the sending unit on the fuel tank .Is the blue wire connected? If yes, then check if it has current with ignition on or in accessory position. If it does have current then check the fuel tank ground strap. It's a strap that attaches from the sending unit (the tube which gas runs from) to the fuel metal tube that goes from back to front of car. This should be grounded and one of the most common problems with fuel gauges.

[70 Grand Coupe]

Thank you for your sound advice.

Today I noticed that with the headlight switch and the ignition in the OFF POSITION, I can ground out the rear marker and tail lights and they turn on.....wtf  I am leaning towards a faulty headlight switch. If I was to pull the switch, can someone tell me how to check it with an Ohm meter?  Any other suggestions are welcome. 

[Lbs]

Not and expert, but I have recently reassembled my 73 Cuda that had been completely restored and painted top to bottom. You cannot believe the problems I had from the lack of a good ground. It showed up on everything electrical in the car. My wiper switch dimmed my dash lights, my amperage gauge wouldn't read correctly because the voltage regulator wasn't grounded to the fire wall, etc, etc, ect....bottom line is most of your problems will be settled by a good ground. I ended up running a couple of ground wires from my dash panel and my switch panel to my battery ground and all my my dash problems disappeared. Just my 2cents. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.


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[70 Grand Coupe]

Thanks LBS. I will certainly do exactly that, ensure that all systems are properly grounded. Thank again man.