goodness what a rusty mess !

at least you are working to improve things !

regular heavy stranded wire will be , eventually, slightly prone to
metal fatigue due to flexing, compared to a braided ground cable.  I
would only use braided cable myself, but heavy wire is better than
nothing, or something very corroded.

( speaking of, you sure should look at your transmission-to-frame ground
strap at the near the front of the trans. )

no harm in leaving an old ground strap on,
as long as you have very good ones in addition.

if I lived where this van lives, I would have a trough of WD-40 to drive
through, coming and going.

btw ....I see dusty, dirty, and corroded engine compartments all the time.
It is totally normal and standard to spray down almost everything with
some corrosion fighting juice.
I use WD-40 as it's a great moisture remover ..
and helps electrical connections..
I spray it everywhere except into the alternator .

for rust like this, that won't have much affect, but it'll help keep it
from getting worse.

it's really *very* easy to keep metal parts from rusting and trying to
get back to the earth.

scott
www.turbovans.com

On 5/6/2012 8:38 PM, neil n wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> Amongst other things Vanagon, cleaned up some grounds today. They were
> green but unenvious. Just plain out of sorts.    ;^)
>
> In Bentley I see "Ground Connections"  12  "in engine compartment
> left"  and 18  "on engine block" but.....
>
> In assuming this strap was stock (2 pics starting here showing to/from
> connections. Look for yellow arrow):
>
> https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy#5739625339124636370
>
> I replaced it with a chunk of #12 wire.  (and thinking now maybe a
> stranded wire wouldn't wear well in this application)
>
> That corroded strap doesn't appear to be OEM and I can't see it
> anywhere it Bentley.
>
> Is this strap stock? If not, any harm in have it there? (engine
> management sensitive to the added negative to frame wire?)
>
> Seems the PO might've gone all "belt and suspenders" installing that
> negative connection.
>
> Enjoying my venture into WBX territory,
>
> Neil.
>
>
>