If so, from where on the engine to where on the frame?

I thought the engine would ground through the engine mounts but apparently this is not good enough.

What does a engine with no dedicated ground do?

the ground goes from the manifold to the firewall. I think the thing about the motor mounts is the fact that they are rubber in the middle and you cant run a current through them. If you don't put the ground from the motor to somewhere i imagine you will have some major electical issues

Without a good ground path your ignition system won't work well. The starter could also have some problems.

what they said +100 infact put a few more grounds on the motor

When I accidentally left off the ground strap, the electrical current found the transmission shifter cable to use as a ground strap. Ended up melting the inner jacket on three different cables before someone on this site poked at it and got me to thinking about grounds.

The engine is always grounded by the negative battery cable. However, the rest of the stuff on your car may not be. Had an 80 Camaro with dim lights and a bunch of other little electrical things that never seemed to work right. Somebody had replaced the negative cable on the battery but never hooked up the secondary ground wire that runs to fender. Nor was there a ground strap on the back of the motor like there should have been. Replaced both and never had any problems after that. Most GM cars use both of those methods in case on or the other fails. In my case, both had been removed.

IMHO - Ground, ground, ground, and then put another ground wire on it for good luck. Seriously, I've got ground wires hidden all over my 79.

You can never have enough grounds.. Plane and simple.

Run - battery cable from batt to block

Then a wire from - batt post to fender

strap or wire from firewall to intake

a wire from block to engine crossmember or subframe

to ground my trunk mounted battery i ran all 4 gauge battery cable from the (-) post on the battery . i ran two #4 gauge cables with one going to the trunk bulkhead and the other to the r/rear subframe . next i grounded the firewall to the bellhousing with #6 gauge wire then off of the alternator bracket i ran a #4 gauge wire to the r/front subframe .from the subframe i then ran another piece of #4 gauge to the core support then off of that a 8 gauge wire to the factory ground wire location on the pass side fender

to make sure my ignition system is grounded correctly i ran both my msd ground and my mallory unilite grounds to the alternator bracket were it picks up the #4 gauge ground to the subframe .

i can now use a digital multi-tester and get continuity from anywhere on the body,chassis and engine

10/4. I'm going to put a ground on the grounded ground strap. Thanks for the heads up.

This could lead to weak or nonexistant spark?

Just curious....

A lot of folks run aluminum heads and intakes....so is that a good ground location or should we stick to the block of our "ol pig iron" blocks ????

My battery is in the back and grounded to the rear subframe. No SFC's yet......and no problems crankin that sucker for 3 -5 minutes (not straight) to fill the fuel bowls....

Aluminum is a good conductor Wayne, but the heads and intake have gaskets that could hinder the current path to the block/starter therefor I would recomend the trani bellhousing bolt or water pump/alt bracket.

On second thought the head bolts will provide a good path for the current.

Never mind me I am over thinking it just a lil.:)

Don't ground to a head bolt. They will provide a good ground but you might not get an accurate torque reading on them as you tighten them down (to provide proper gasket clamping). And certainly very few electrical connectors are designed to take the force of a 7/16" bolt torqued down to 65 ft/lbs. Ground it to the intake (my usual choice), back of the heads or the tranny bellhousing bolts. Any will work fine.

I didnt mean to ground to a head bolt, just that the head bolt would provide a current path between the head and block.

looked at meney a car in the junk yards with milted shilf cables

I have a ground strap from the frame rail to the bellhousing.
Without it, my car cranks slow, and barely a couple turns before 'dying' as if the battery was dead.
This is in a rear-battery car. I have the battery grounded to the inside of the trunk. It would be best off to keep it body to engine, but the current (pun) way works great.