I’m getting ready to replace the original positive battery cable in my 73 Coupe.

Is there any reason to upgrade the thickness of the positive battery cable?
If so, what did you upgrade it to?

Who makes the best quality positive and negative battery cables?

I looked at Letric Limited and Corvette Central.
They both offer a 0 gauge positive and negative battery cable set. $212.00 and I’m assuming CC is Letric Limited’s vendor.

As always I appreciate the input!
Greg

 

For about $6.80 a foot (1-0) you could purchase Marine grade cable from West Marine. This cable is probably the best cable you can purchase. Of course, you will need the crimp terminals for your application.
I'm guessing $100.00 plus shipping...

 

I believe the original cable (at least on my 71) is a 2ga. If you've upgraded the alternator iy would be a good idea to up size appropriately. I plan to go to a 0ga. I.m not sure you makes the "best" corvette specific cables but you usually can't go wrong with Letric Limited. I plan to get custon cables made from an online outfit like batterycablesusa.com. $5/ft

 

You can make your own real easy theres even a tutorial on you tube go figure

 

 

The marine grade cables are still fairly flexible even at the large diameters of the heavier cables. Then get the right size heat shrink for the ends and use the marine grade heat shrink as well as it has heat activated glue on the inside of the heat shrink.

It is nice to be able to support our Corvette suppliers but that price difference is enough to get me to make my own cables. After installing the ends of the cables be sure to "TIN" them to keep the wires and ends from getting oxygen inside it and corroding away. You can tin a wire in many ways, it is possible to do it with a propane torch and a roll of solder. After the wire cools down it is time to put the heat shrink on the wire.

When I upgraded my alternator I ran a wire from the alternator output to the battery (12 volt+) post on the starter motor. From there the original battery wire can handle the load without any issues. The wire you need to upgrade is the one that takes the power from the alternator output post to the battery (+) post on the starter motor.

I use the marine grade/style of wire on anything on the Corvette. It is a better grade wire than what was used and will last a long time. I am sorry but I would not spend the money to buy a $212 wire from Lectric limited if it cost 2-3 times the price of the wire and the parts. Buying a heavier gauge battery positive wire is another waste. There is no reason to do this as the existing wire is more that capable of handling the current.

If you use a gear drive starter motor on your Corvette that would reduce the amount of current needed to start the engine.

 

Best quality and great prices.
https://www.batterycablesusa.com/

 

I went with wire barn.
https://www.wirebarn.com/Battery-Cable_c_1447.html

The cable was had enough flex to work with. But you have to make your own ends.

And went with these battery terminals.
https://www.knukonceptz.com/product/...tive-negative/

 

The battery cables were beefed up in 1972. I replaced the cables on my 71 with 72 cables and it made a big difference in cranking.
If you upgrade you should do all 3 cables: Positive battery->starter, Ground Battery->Frame and Ground Frame->Engine block.

Here's the difference between 71 and 72 cables.

 

I did exactly what Zwede did above. my car is a 71 and I ordered a cable for a 72. I got mine from american autowire.
Pat

 

Bigger is better and do positive and ground. Welding cable is fantastic. The more strands the better.


JIM

 

Nobody's answered this part of OCB's post. Myself, it seems an unnecessary improvement. I added additional loads on the stock cable and saw no unanticipated problems.

"Better is the enemy of good enough"!

 

Like the 72 cables pictured above my 73 cable is the larger thicker cable and believe it may already be 0 gauge.
I know my question was only about the positive cable, but my plan is to replace the negative and ground cables with the same gauge wiring.
I purchased all new wiring harnesses from American Autowire and am very happy with what I received.
They don’t show the gauge for their battery cable sets, so I’ll give them a call.

I am running a Powermaster gear drive mini starter!

Thanks everyone!

 

I called AAW and they said their oem replacement cables are 0 gauge cable for both positive and negative.

 

I might add that what makes wire “marine grade” is the fact the copper is tinned thru out

 

I looked over this website and they have some really nice options including marine grade cables.
This may be the best option.

They don’t offer side mount battery terminals.
What do you guys think about installing top post batteries over the side post batteries?
I can see there would be a big advantage to a top post battery for access to the terminals and don’t see any drawbacks to the top posts.

 

I was kind of looking for the E = I x R stuff.

________________________
Unbelievably, to me anyway, some part of my spell check "help" decided that when I typed E=, it unhelpfully inserted a 2.718 there. I.e. base e = 2.718281828. I am really tired of all the "help". If I set the cursor somewhere at the start of a word, up pops some sort of dictionary entry, so I have to start at the end of some sequence if I want to select a section for some reason. We're all idiots as far as my computer is concerned.

 

Yes and it should help provide additional protection against corrosion which I like since our positive cables are exposed to more heat, moisture, grease and dirt than other cars.

Of course only if we actually drive them!

 

IIRC my 72 battery cable was aluminum, due to copper prices back in the day.
Hence the larger diameter to carry the load.
But I guess they were lighter?

 

If you want to get real serious...run negative to the block and some grounds from block to the frame. The battery is often grounded directly to the frame...but a frame is "electrically" not a great conductor. It works pretty well...but not as good as a stranded wire/cable.

And yes...the whole circuit counts. The ground needs to carry as much current as the positive.

The stock stuff works fine for stock...but start adding more loads and it can get dicey.

JIM