Ground to firewall

For those of you that have done this before, maybe you can help me answer this question. According to others, the ground goes to this spot on the firewall (Blue Circle) from the battery:



Then you are supposed to go the engine, I get that. But on the back side of the firewall, that's a nutplate and you go from that spot to the ground for the panel. How do you affix the grounding wire to the backside of that bolt? Probably a stupid question, but I have never done this before. I'm sure Van's will tell us in the FWF kit, but I am trying to get some work done while waiting. Thanks.

Wiring

I am not an RV Builder but here is how I do it- ground wire from forward side of firewall, thru hole in firewall for other wires, alternator, etc, to panel ground. The engine ground wire works best if grounded to starter.

Van will tell you on the fwf kit.

Here is how I did it on my 6.... Brass threaded lug (use brass or copper nuts) passed through a hole in the firewall and brace. Nut on each side. Field of grounds on cold side. Motor side you connect battery and strap to engine case on back side. And another ground strap from engine MOUNT to sump bolt.

All connections coated with DE-OX.

Ground

gasman said:

Van will tell you on the fwf kit.

Here is how I did it on my 6.... Brass threaded lug (use brass or copper nuts) passed through a hole in the firewall and brace. Nut on each side. Field of grounds on cold side.

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Sounds like I don't have this correct. The ground on the aft side of the firewall does not specifically need to attach to that bolt. Always learning new stuff, thanks.

jswareiv said:

Sounds like I don't have this correct. The ground on the aft side of the firewall does not specifically need to attach to that bolt. Always learning new stuff, thanks.

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The grounds on the aft (cold) side do connect to the brass lug. The lug is the most direct path to the battery that will cause the least amount of ground fault errors. This path applies to each side of the firewall and the brass lug.

Forget Van's grounding hole. Put in your own forest of tabs for your avionics inside the plane and these come with a stud that passes through the firewall. You can connect that to your battery directly, and ground the FWF side to your engine and engine mount as well. Then you have a single point ground.
http://www.bandc.aero/grounding-supplies-battery-cables.aspx

gasman said:

Van will tell you on the fwf kit.

Here is how I did it on my 6.... Brass threaded lug (use brass or copper nuts) passed through a hole in the firewall and brace. Nut on each side. Field of grounds on cold side. Motor side you connect battery and strap to engine case on back side. And another ground strap from engine MOUNT to sump bolt.
.

Click to expand...

Yep.... Just like he said.

Lust make sure to leave off the "forrest of tabs" ghetto **** and use a proper terminal strip for the avionics and systems.

Grounding Block

TimO said:

Forget Van's grounding hole. Put in your own forest of tabs for your avionics inside the plane and these come with a stud that passes through the firewall. You can connect that to your battery directly, and ground the FWF side to your engine and engine mount as well. Then you have a single point ground.
http://www.bandc.aero/grounding-supplies-battery-cables.aspx

Click to expand...

I used the B&C single point grounding system that Tim references on my RV-8A and it has worked very well, so I plan to do the same on my -14A. Maybe this is jumping to conclusions too early since it's not clear to me how Vans intends to support the single point grounding concept for all the avionics if they are running the engine/battery ground to a hole with a nutplate on the other side. I'm sure they can put the grounding block somewhere else behind the panel and depend on the airframe to make the connection, but why not just connect everything directly together? It's easy to do, offers the best possible grounding scheme, and would be one less thing in the kit that I'll have to change...

Mike H said:

Lust make sure to leave off the "forrest of tabs" ghetto **** and use a proper terminal strip for the avionics and systems.

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Mike, what's not to like about the forest of tabs design? I've used quality PIDG Fast-On tabs for the grounding scheme as well as most of the toggle switches in my -8A and consider them a big improvement over having to use screws and terminal strips. Easier to install and remove, and have never given me any problem. If you're using connectors from the local automotive dept you might have different results...

Clarity

gasman said:

The grounds on the aft (cold) side do connect to the brass lug. The lug is the most direct path to the battery that will cause the least amount of ground fault errors. This path applies to each side of the firewall and the brass lug.

Click to expand...

I guess my question wasn't that clear. I have the ground for all the wires handled. It's a #8 wire that goes into that spot where the tag says ground. All my ground wires come into that. My question was, if you are going to use Van's spot for the ground on the firewall, what do you do about grounding to it from the aft side (panel side, from my location). It didn't seem like it would work too well with that angle and nutplate. Some had suggested using a long bolt and add a couple of nuts to it, which I guess that would work. I was just wondering if anyone knew what Van's was thinking there.