I thought it was a plug wire issue but it’s nkt, brand new accel wires yesterday also no arcing. I get out of the car and touch the roof or something and get a good zap. I don’t think it’s static electricity either bc I had just put the car on a friends hoist and came back and touched the bottom of the frame and got a small shock. What the heck is going on

 

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to finally give up the corduroy. Time for a new wardrobe.

 

ok funny but for real I need help lol, before pulling the engine I never got shocked, and I never get shocked in any other of my families cars

 

So by shock are you referring to a static shock, or a continuous shock?

 

No joke, that really is the answer. It's just static electricity.

12V battery won't shock you. Your skin is a good enough insulator to prevent that. You can get burned from heat if you decide to thrust your hand into the middle of an active short circuit event, but that's about the only way you can get injured.

There is one device on the car though that runs around 40,000 Volts and it will pop the **** out of you. It's the ignition coil. But the chassis is battery ground so you can't get shocked by touching the chassis.

 

And uh.... maybe somebody else should fill your gas tank until you get a new wardrobe.

You probably should check that you have good ground paths from engine to chassis, and chassis to battery. That would be wise no matter the situation.

 

Thats where I was going with my response.

It takes about 60v before human skin becomes conductive. Less if you are sweaty as the salt/oil/moisture will increase conductivity. The only thing generating that kind of voltage is the ignition coil and that will find the nearest ground so wire to block, chassis, or hopefully coil to plug.

 

I think you’re on to something, I remembered when I reinstalled the engine, a body ground wire got pinched between the engine and trans, the engine was painted and the trans is aluminum so it makes sense it wouldn’t work. To test this I fabbed up a wire, it can go from anywhere on the block that’s a good ground right? That rear bolt on the passenger side cylinder head is hard to get to

 

ok so I found a ground that went from the firewall to the engine block (pass side cyl Head) and it was pinched between painted engine and aluminum trans. So I’ve made another wire that I attached to the firewall with the others, but am trying to find another engine ground since that bolt is a pain to get to

 

more like a static shock

 

Starter motor. This will be a large cable to handle the huge current draw of the starter.
Engine block ---> Battery (-) terminal
--OR--
Engine block ---> chassis ---> battery (-) terminal

Alternator. Will use the same ground cables that you laid for starter motor.

Engine electrical. Will use the same ground cables that you laid for starter motor.

Vehicle chassis electrical. All this stuff is connected to the vehicle body somewhere on the car, so you need to finish the circuit back to battery with a 8 AWG wire, or whatever is appropriate for your electrical loads.
Chassis ---> Battery (-) terminal

You can see it's a more simple wire layout to just run cable from engine block to chassis and then to battery because you're going to need a path between chassis and battery anyway.

On my own car I ran engine ground directly back to battery (-) terminal because it's better from an electrical standpoint. I also ran a separate 6 AWG wire to chassis for the rest of the vehicle electrical system. It was expensive, more complex, and used more cables.

 

It's static, I get shocked by my truck every time I get out. Once the heat and humidity comes back, the shocks go away..

 

so where is a good place to ground the chassis to engine? It’s the ground strap that goes from firewall to rear of passenger cyl Head. That bolt is super hard to get to

 

I get what you’re saying, but why don’t I get shocked in other cars then?

 

These are unibody cars with seams and sealers and tiny little stitch welds, so whatever I say somebody else is going to jump in and say something different. LOL!

I just did whatever is convenient and landed on the subframe rail in the engine bay close to battery. Don't rely on bolt threads for the connection. The bolt is just there to clamp down the wire ring terminal. The connection should be between the flats of the ring terminal and bare metal on the car. Whenever you run a wire anywhere put the copper to the metal. Shoot a little paint on it after assembly if you're worried about rust forming.

 

makes sense to me! So where on the engine did you attach the wire then

 

Any place with an unused threaded hole. Raised bosses work really well if you've got one.

I have an LS engine so different choices than you. I attached mine to the side of the cylinder head because it was convenient. Notice that convenience kind of rules a lot of my decisions?

 

Totally normal. And, it's why Kye Kelley named his car "The Shocker".