Old Leafsprung Land Rovers

Hello Everyone Decided to replace the cables on battery negative to earth and starter motor to earth. As was hoping that better earth may improve the starting of Misty. Battery cable was connected to under the battery holder and a right pain to get too so cut through the old cable as close as i could Thought that i would be able to connect the negative to the wing to earth it. However all that achieved was sparking and a glowing bolt under the accelerator pedal and a burning smell. Misty wont start now i have power to headlights and thats all. Now the lovely english weather hampers things Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance  Forgot to say have changed fuses and have ignition light on Thanks Andy

The best thing you can do in my opinion is duplicate the earth. As Drew says the wing is not a good place to use. I would run an earth to the chassis, back where it should be (the pain in the arse place under the battery tray) and an additional earth from the battery to a distributor securing bolt (or diesel injection pump if you have an oil burner). Then replace the earth from the starter motor to the chassis. This effectively gives two routes for the current to travel and you may find improves other electrical earthing issues to boot. This has improved the cranking speed of several series motors I've owned.

Thanks for the info. Will have a go at that and take it from there. Had already put an extra earth on the starter. Will keep you posted

Hello Folks Connected the battery negative to a bolt that bolts the distributor to the engine block. After that i made sure there were no loose wires anywhere. Put the key in and after a few attempts Misty kicked to life. Just had to touch the accelerator a little to get her going. Starter motor didnt really spin more of just a couple of sharp turns. Had her running about ten minutes then left her half hour tried again and she kicked in ok. Thanks for the advice so far Andy