Corky Scott wrote:

> I've had bad luck trying to make a good ground connection on the dead
> car away from the battery and getting a good enough connection to make
> things happen. There always seems to be too much resistance to get
> the engine spinning fast enough to run.

There are two keys to making it work:

1) GOOD jumper cables (not Pep Boys junk)

2) Connecting to the engine block (or cylinder head, or an accessory
that is rigidly bolted to the block such as an A/C compressor). NOT
trying to clamp to body sheet-metal.

It also helps to hook the cables up, start the "donor" car, and just
wait 5 minutes for the donor car's alternator to put at least a minimal
charge into the dead battery. The added benefit is that you can stand
back while that's going on in case the dead battery is frozen and you
hadn't realized it.