...I currently have:
-Painless fuse box grounded to dash
Not sure I understand that one. Care to elaborate?
Just wondering how you grounded the fuse box, and why? Normally any fuse panel/box is just a pass-through with protection. No grounding because no flow wanted other than through the existing fused circuits.
Maybe I'm wrong about your particular fuse panel though, as there are some that have a convenient grounding stud for you to use as a handy central grounding point. But not any that I've seen on our Broncos.
-Negative battery terminal to engine block
-Engine block (intake manifold) to firewall
Perfect. Those are two very critical ones. As said, the one from the engine block to the battery negative should be as large a gauge as you're comfortable with (Ford used 6ga, but we often use 4ga, 2ga, or even larger nowadays) with the big one mounted as close to the starter motor as convenient, and to as clean and tight a location as possible.
What are other spots I need to connect besides the obvious grounds needed for accessories?
A direct line from the battery to the body is recommended. A 10ga wire is sufficient for most, but a little overkill is not out of line. Just that 8ga is so much more expensive and not easily available locally, so most of us use 10ga and it's fine.
I tend to run it from the battery to one of the attaching screws for the starter relay, but you can put it anywhere that's convenient to the body. Ford used the fender/wheel well area facing the engine and you can probably still see it on the inner face.
Another one is to the frame as mentioned. Most feel it's unnecessary, but anything that you want to ground to the frame later will thank you for it.
If you have an older rig (aren't they all?) with out much new sheet metal, you may find you need to run a wire from the inner fender to the grille/core support to help with headlights and turn signals.
Also the windshield frame is troublesome if there is rust. The wipers will thank you for a ground jumper to the main body (hidden behind things) if you do.
And finally the dash panel to the body. Keeps the gauges and radios and things happy.
If you want to get all up in it's face, grounding-wise, you could even ground the hood to the body near the hinge, and even the hard top to the body. Just to keep radio noise interference down more than anything else. Ford would ground hoods when an underhood lamp was used of course, but I'm pretty sure most manufacturers include the large metal hoods in their grounding scheme.
Most of that is overkill of course. But I'm into grounding overkill
Would you recommend the flat ground straps?
Sure. They work great, look cool in a "factory-ish" kind of way, and are already made up with clean ends.
If so is there a minimum specific size or gauge you would use?
Most of the standard ones for general use are the same two or three sizes. There are the small ones you find on the HELP rack in most stores that are probably more than heavy enough for most uses around the body.
Then there are the really heavy duty ones you find over on the same rack as the battery cables. I think they're a minimum of "4ga equivalent" or somewhere about there. That's what I've used between the engine block and the frame, but just like in all the other instances, what you use is up to you.
A 10ga wire with ring terminals soldered on are fine, as are braided straps. I don't really know, from an electrical theory standpoint, whether one is better than the other as a ground. Factories use both types too, so I figure they're roughly equal in function.
Paul
; and because Copper & solder don't corrode very quickly in air, or even in common rainwater. Mainly just at the battery where acid leaks out. Road salt will eventually cause some corrosion, but probably not enough to matter within the remaining lifespan of even the best-maintained early Bronco.
