funky battery cables

It looks like my battery cables are homemade. This didn't bother me until they became unreliable. One of the things I thought was wierd was the positive cable, (to the starter) is black, and the negative (to ground) is red. I worry that if I'm ever in a situation where someone else is putting a battery in my car, they might connect it backward. Don't know what would happen, but I'm sure I'd rather it didn't.
Moss doesn't seem to carry the proper battery cables, and VB carries some the right length, but are also colored what I consider backward, - red, + black.
Is this how it's supposed to be?
thanks
walter

The positive lead coming from the starter is one cable (about 6') and black. Because of the length you don't see them replaced very often. The one for the ground is just a short cable lead tied to the chassis. These get replaced with whatever's on hand at the time, as they only need to be a foot long or so. Get some red electrical tape and wrap the positive side of the battery lead so you don't get confused. Get a black battery cable (I like leftover weld lead) for the negitive side when you replace it.

walter Wrote:

You can get a cable long enough from your local Advanced Auto parts to reach from the battery to the starter in red

Hmm. Yeah, I measured my battery cable to know which one to get, it's 78 inches long, so I naturally fixated on the one that is also 78 inches long in the catalog. There's another there, #8-3026, that might be red. Except if it's an exact repro, and Brian is correct it would still be black. I know the 72 inch cable won't work, it would be too short.

More: http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?1,534419,page=1

If there is enough interest, I have daily dealings with a Company that makes up custom cables for my business. I would be glad to do the leg work to get a custom batch/s made up for whatever it costs.

FWIW, if you hook jumper cables up backwards say goodbye to your alt. been there done that.

As for me, I went to advanced auto and bought their battery cable and cut and fit it myself. The insulation is clear on mine.

FWIW, hooking up jumpers backwards also cooks the Pertronix electronic ignition. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt on the "National Lampoo Vaction to San Antonio, from HELL!"

RSS Wrote: