Just bought a reman computer for the IROC and I'd like to put it in w/o destroying it with static elec. I guess I just don't understand the concept of grounding as well as I'd thought. With the battery disconnected, is the car chassis still and adequate source for grounding? Or do I need to wire myself to the battery itself? Thanks for help in advance.

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89 Iroc-Z LB9 TPI auto 2.73 posi:
3" Dynomax muffler, K&N filters, TB bypass, 3" pipe in place of cat, cleaned and flow-matched injectors, accel 300+ wires, cap&rotor, synthetic oil, flexlite transmission cooler, afpr, !air pump&diverter valve, kicker sound system, soon to attempt engine swap...

 

By the book, you're supposed to use a wrist strap with a built in 1 meg ohm resistor connected to earth ground. At least that's how we do it at work (F-18 RADAR shop).

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85T/A 305/QJ work in progress.

 

I personaly would probably just touch the car. Static only exists on insulators (naturally if it were on a conductor it'd be moving!...well, capacitors are a little diff story....enough though) If you are really paranoid go to the local CompUSA a pick up a $5 or less wrist strap and I'd bring an extension cord out and plug into the ground terminal on that. I would never screw myself into the battery...


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Corry Lazarowitz
clazarow@voicenet.com
clazarowitz@hotmail.com
SLP 1 3/4" headers, 3" cat back (stock cat )MSD ignition. MSD Blaster SS coil. More soon when funds are avail...

 

Grounding yourself to the chasis will do no good, because the car is not grounded to the earth, (remember that your tires are rubber!) The static will dissipate to an earth ground. It's probably not a good theory to trust, but as long as you're all the way in the car, feet not touching the earth, you shouldn't have to worry.

Personally, I have never taken any precautions at the shop, or the dealer that I worked at, and never had a problem!



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Working on:
'84 Z28 LG4 305 with 200,000 original miles!
Added dual elec fans.
145 MPH IROC Speedo
Building 430 HP 350
using primarily GMPP parts.
Block is in shop!

ASE Certified Master Tech

Starting to look like the Kicker poster child!

 

Ive never bothered, and I have yet to fry anything. Maybe I'm lucky, but then again I never did scuff my shoes on the carpet until I was glowing blue from a static charge...
$5 at compusa sounds good if you are concerned.

 

Static's a funny thing. You just need to equalize the charge between you and something else. Chances are, if you've got enough charge to get a spark between your finger and the car, there's enough of a potential difference for the car to suck it out of you. Ha, that's not a great description, but it's 10 am and I'm not about to describe physics before my second cup of coffee! Let me try again...

The car's huge. You're not. The car's body/chassis is going to take your charge "in" to it. But to the car, that static charge "overall" (comparing size of you and the car) is small, and here's why: When you had the charge all to yourself (before touching anything metal), it was a "big charge in a little area". When you touch the car, the charge equalizes between you and the car. Now, the car holds a "big charge in a big area", which now becomes a small charge. The charge on the car is so small, that chances are very damn good that you'll always "give" the charge to the car. If the car "gave" the charge back to you, well, that'd be one hell of an explosion.

Say you're full of static, and you don't bother touching the car first. If you just reached out and touched the computer chip, you would've sent your "big charge in little area" to a "big charge in a tiny area"- and that would've fried the chip.

So, this means that if you touch the body of the car before you touch the computer, you'll be okay. The static charge will "dissipate" between the both of you, and the danger's gone. Personally, I would touch the body of the car, then touch the case of the ECM (at the same time). That will equalize everything- but don't touch the pins of the chip anyway! Radio Shack also sells the grounding strap. I've gone through many of them when I used to do electronics work, for $5 it's a great deal, and if this stuff is new to you, definately buy it.

[edit] Usually, "earth ground" is preferred, because it's the biggest damn object we'll ever touch. Also, in electronics shops, you're usually not near a car; you're usually working on a PC board on a bench- earth ground's more convenient than walking around and finding a big steel object or a water tap.

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

[This message has been edited by TomP (edited January 23, 2001).]

 

Get a wrist strap...any clean, unpainted surface of your car is a ground...clamp the aligator clamp to it and then strap it to your wrist. Trust me...if it's good enough for a radio then it's good enough for you. As for me...I wouldn't worry too much about it...and please get the idea out of your head about strapping yourself to the battery!

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Greg
'91 RS
'81 Z28 (in storage)