Ground wires

FLSilverP5 · Mar 26, 2004

I have heard that ground wires help the rpm's stablize and better throttle response, etc. But where the hell are the ground wires? How would u change them?
And i am not talking about grounding for my system (I think).
And wat brands are the best for ground wires and spark plug wires?

ChuEy826 · Mar 26, 2004

One of the members on this board make an excellent ground kit. He's "1st MP3 in NH" and I think his kit is $83 shipped.. something like that. Anyways, the grounds go from point to point in your engine bay.. like the alternator to ground.. or something like that. If you PM 1stMP3, he'll give you some good information. Plus you can't go wrong with his kit. Theres other grounding kits, but it would be safest and probably the best to go with his.

toucci · Mar 26, 2004

I made them myself in 30 min with a vise to crimp the connectors on

really easy. I just got some 4 gauge www.knukonceptz.com wires and terminals, and a $2 battery post from an auto store

remember to get a few extra connectors just to make sure you dont run out if one of them pops off from not being tight enough and you have to re-do it

GNO · Mar 26, 2004

They're all over eBay $14-16 plus a whopping $16-19 shipping. They average out to be around $32. The ones on eBay are mainly "circle earth". Basically a big round disc that you attach to the negative terminal. The attach the ground wires from various components to the disc. They also have the same thing but with "Mazdaspeed" or various other names printed on the disc. Those go for about $40 plus the same outrageous shipping.

zmepro · Mar 26, 2004

save your money, numerous people have told me that ground wires do nothing. your car doesn't even run off the battery when its running. (these people are people at my autoshop and the teachers and everyone there) because i had ground wires on my car and everyone came in a made fun of me for it. i took them off, and didn't notice a difference.

toucci · Mar 26, 2004

zmepro said:
save your money, numerous people have told me that ground wires do nothing. your car doesn't even run off the battery when its running. (these people are people at my autoshop and the teachers and everyone there) because i had ground wires on my car and everyone came in a made fun of me for it. i took them off, and didn't notice a difference.

performance gains have been dyno tested over and over. horsepower gains can be obtained in most cars

Subghetto · Mar 27, 2004

toucci said:
performance gains have been dyno tested over and over. horsepower gains can be obtained in most cars

Yeah it all depends on the grounding points you have to play around with them and see where the most power is made. Peferably it would be better if you dyno tuned while you were installing the grounding kit.

FLSilverP5 · Mar 28, 2004

Should i still change my spark plug wires if i change the ground wires. Will it give me even more response and power?

And i highly doubt most of us can dyno test our cars, none the less while installing something as small as ground wires.

zmepro · Mar 28, 2004

toucci said:
performance gains have been dyno tested over and over. horsepower gains can be obtained in most cars

how exactly does it free up horsepower? your car doesn't even run off the battery when its running. the spark is in a totally seperate circuit from the generator/battery. it doesn't make any sense at all (hand)

Rider69 · Mar 28, 2004

your car does not "run" off the battery...or more specifically, the engine does not run off the battery. Back in the day...before all the electronics took over the engine management, grounding the engine to the frame would not have made as much sense as it does now. DO you think you could disconnect your battery while the car is running and it will continue to run for an extended period? Try it. Most of the electronics are powered by the battery while the car is running. By grounding the engine better than it already is from the factory, will only provide a better path for all of the signals for the engine to flow to and from the electronics. This better flow can be seen with (some instances) higher mpg, more HP, smoother acceleration, quicker starts, etc. Every car is goign to react differently and the grounding points are also very important to provide the path with the least resistance.

How does that sound?

FLSilverP5 · Mar 28, 2004

how thick should the ground wires be (for good results)?
Some of these on ebay dont say?
How thick should the spark wires be?

YP5 Toronto · Mar 28, 2004

it all about increased efficiency...anything you can do to make the devices in the car run better...the less strain you have on the engine....also..... you can aid in the overall "spark energy" through better grounding...which in turn relates to a better "burn"....and so on and so forth.....

so in essence.... you truelly are unleashing power that is being "held back"

zmepro · Mar 28, 2004

YP5 Toronto said:
it all about increased efficiency...anything you can do to make the devices in the car run better...the less strain you have on the engine....also..... you can aid in the overall "spark energy" through better grounding...which in turn relates to a better "burn"....and so on and so forth.....

so in essence.... you truelly are unleashing power that is being "held back"

well... i don't know about that. it is my understanding that the spark power is not from the primary circuit.

as for all the acc running more effiecntly, i don't think there is such a thing as a "better" ground, as long as it is grounded, it doesn't matter if there are 15 ground points, all you need is on on the frame, which connects to everything.

anyways, i don't understand blowing nearly $100 on them, you can get much better things for your money.

an entire professional autoshop can't be wrong about thinking they are stupid...

Bijou-MP5 · Mar 29, 2004

having one is better than nothing

akhilleus · Mar 29, 2004

I think there are some critical points that must be grounded... particularly the spark plugs, engine, and battery... maybe intake manifold and alternator. I think circle kits are pointless... its better that each component has their own ground to a seperate point.

Mr. Win · Mar 29, 2004

Rider69 said:
your car does not "run" off the battery...or more specifically, the engine does not run off the battery. Back in the day...before all the electronics took over the engine management, grounding the engine to the frame would not have made as much sense as it does now. DO you think you could disconnect your battery while the car is running and it will continue to run for an extended period? Try it. Most of the electronics are powered by the battery while the car is running. By grounding the engine better than it already is from the factory, will only provide a better path for all of the signals for the engine to flow to and from the electronics. This better flow can be seen with (some instances) higher mpg, more HP, smoother acceleration, quicker starts, etc. Every car is goign to react differently and the grounding points are also very important to provide the path with the least resistance.

How does that sound?

welll putt.

YP5 Toronto · Mar 29, 2004

zmepro said:
well... i don't know about that. it is my understanding that the spark power is not from the primary circuit.

as for all the acc running more effiecntly, i don't think there is such a thing as a "better" ground, as long as it is grounded, it doesn't matter if there are 15 ground points, all you need is on on the frame, which connects to everything.

anyways, i don't understand blowing nearly $100 on them, you can get much better things for your money.

an entire professional autoshop can't be wrong about thinking they are stupid...

incorrect.... there is always a better ground.... take a look at the efforts made in car audio (some are a bit extreme/overkill), but manifacturers put in "just enough" components and parts. It is not about the number of grounding points...its about creating the LEAST AMOUNT OF RESISTANCE.

and for way under $100 it is one of the BETTER MODIFICATIONS that should be done.

I never said anyone was stupid....merely trying to get rid of some of the mis-information. This is actually a very simple concept and I am not sure why this is even being debated.

EMTCharlie · Mar 29, 2004

Installed my ground kit last night. Throttle is more responsive and idle is more stable. Trying things that work as well as things that may or may not work is kinda the idea of tuning isn't it? So in the spirit of tuning I'd say it's worth $50 I spent putting together my own kit. Besides, it was an hour well spent among friends (drinks)

FLSilverP5 · Mar 29, 2004

Actually a whole shop class can be wrong.
So u dont think i should buy a grounding kit but instead ground each thing seperatly?

zmepro · Mar 29, 2004

FLSilverP5 said:
Actually a whole shop class can be wrong.
So u dont think i should buy a grounding kit but instead ground each thing seperatly?

well, thats what a grounding kit is

i donno, i may be wrong (confused) but i took mine off and felt no difference

Ground wires

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