Grounded, Pt. 2

I wish I could say I've been busting my tail the last few weeks tracking down the electrical trouble in the X-11.

Hasn't worked out like that. Ever since I got out of the hospital in December it seems like I can't do anything but sleep. Before, I didn't get more than 3-4 hours at a stretch, then I'd be awake for 6-8 or more.

Finally got out to the car Monday afternoon and did a quick ohmmeter check showed something like 150 ohms' resistance between all the ground wires on the driver's side end of the harness and a good metal ground. I grabbed a jumper wire and ran a direct ground to one of the connectors. There were some strong sparks and the wipers swept across the windshield for the first time in 5 weeks. My dash lights lit up.

Turns out everything was grounding through a skinny black wire running from an aftermarket power radio antenna to a bolt on the gas pedal mount. I haven't found where it's all supposed to ground, yet. Hope it's easy to find, and easy to get to and fix; I'm pretty sure it's corrosion--either on the ground terminal itself or on the car's body. There's too much of both in too many places.

This afternoon, I ran some heavier wire to a good ground, ran the other end to one of the dodgy "ground" wires, and everything's working like it should.

Now all that's left is to fix a few other small things under the dash, put it all back together, and get my little racer back on the road.