Is the metal in here grounded?

[SBL]

In the relay/fuse/circuit breaker compartment, is the metal that supports these components grounded? Mine is not. I was looking for a convenient ground for a project in this compartment and thought surely it was. If it is not supposed to be grounded, would there be any harm in doing so? I want to put a nice ground post on it.

[Bitsyncmaster]

No that metal plate is not grounded. If you have your "light relay" removed and jumpered there is a ground pin in that socket. I have that group of black wires at the back of the relay compartment bare (pulled heat shrink off) and use that for my meter ground if probing around in the relay area.

[Jonathan]

In the relay/fuse/circuit breaker compartment, is the metal that supports these components grounded? Mine is not. I was looking for a convenient ground for a project in this compartment and thought surely it was. If it is not supposed to be grounded, would there be any harm in doing so? I want to put a nice ground post on it.

I can tell you in my relay compartment I wouldn't want to do this. I have at least a couple of the screws that keep those relay trays secured to the larger metal bracket with big enough heads that they can be touching the sides of the relays themselves. I don't know if that would ever create a short or not, but there's far too many wires in there to want to take the chance and find out. From underneath the relays and a connection pushing out the other side to something else entirely.

[CFI]

There’s no need for that metal tray to be grounded, it serves no electrical purpose. It’s simply a tray to hold stuff.

[Ron]

If your project doesn't use a lot of power, you could use the the black wire in the hot start relay socket (unused).

[SBL]

Thanks. I have already co-opted one of the grounds from the panel lighting socket as Dave mentioned. I just needed to know if the metal was supposed to be grounded.

[Patrick C]

Just run a new ground to the bolt in the rear firewall. Piece of cake and takes maybe 10 minutes start to finish, including removing and reinstalling the rear wall.