VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1927 1928 battery to starter switch cable

I have just been looking through my 1933 United Motors Service manual, looking for Battery cables. As it lists 1926 Sup V, 1927 to 1933 as the same part number , it means I can use one for a 4 cylinder o0n my 1931 model. The problem is the sample I have has an armoured cable , which I would say is to prevent the manifold heat tube on 4 cylinder chevs, burning through the insulation . Did both battery positive cables on 27's and 28's have the armour? and did they simply continue through to the thirties as the part number suggest?
The sample cable I have is 26 inches long.
Thanks.

I have posted some pictures .
armoured battery cable in members pictures

My 28 has its original armoured cable. The armoured part is 21" long. Add on the connectors and it comes to 26". Hope this helps.

Thank you Terry for confirming the armour cable was used and length originally used on your 1928.
It looks like most of the armoured cables have long gone , and replaced with boring plastic.

I had problems with my 28 Coupe starter and took it in for rebuild to an outfit that knows everything about starters, generators, etc. i took the original cable with me. It was a 4 gauge plastic coated cable. The cable was good but the guy told me to put a 2 gauge cable on a 6V starter.

0 amd 2 gauge are WELDING cables and do not have cheap plastic coating. It is a special heavy cable coating. Don't know if it is armored or not, but i can tell you this.They are almost impossible to make sharp bends. I had to take the starter switch out of the floor, run the cable through the floor, hook it up and snake it back through and remount the starter switch. Not easy as the tranny housing gets in the way so you are going to have to work at it. Took me close to 4 hours to get it all done right, and a few tries.

Don't buy 0 gauge cables. Impossible to bend.l l The 2 gauge is about 1/2 inch solid copper strand cable. When you pick one up you will understand. I got mine at a Farm Store.

The 2 gauge provides more power than you can imagine. My starter spins over like an airplane propeller and the car starts almost immediately, unlike the old cable that took several spins and sometimes more than one try. It also puts less drain on the battery in case you need to try restarts due to weather or problems. I eventually put an Optima 6V in this year because it stands up longer without chargers or battery minders over the winter.

The standard 4 gauge used in a modern car won't put out the voltage needed by an old 6V starter according to the guy I deal with (a real expert on starters and generators). Haven't had a problem since and car starts every time.

Hope this helps.

I have a 2/0 welding cable and it is very flexible

I have been looking into this some more , and there is some sellers on ebay that sell the welding cable by the foot. There is also some very good quality marine grade battery cables available by the foot. Some will fit the marine terminals and lugs to a length you need.
The other thing I found was a chart with reference to battery cable sizes for my 1939's ( sorry all the Chev 4 guys) put out by an Auto electrician group. It states that the cables for 1939 ( and I would also say 1937 and 1938) were 1 gauge cables. The 37 to 39 models had a larger 17 plate battery with a higher rated 100 amps quoted.

1928Coachcoupe.
The armoured cable I have , has a spiral steel outer casing, and that is over the top of the standard rubber and woven cloth insulation.

The marine gauge 1 and 2 cables look very flexible, and come with tinned wire for extra corrosion protection. I believe that a lot of early battery cables failed due to corrosion of the wires under the insulation and resulting higher resistance.