How To: DIY Ground Wire Kit

[ddogg777]

Your engine needs electricity to run, the stock wires are not good and especially after a few months. Grounding wires improves the electrical conductance and improves EVERYTHING!! Like mileage, throttle response, etc.

 

[hawaiiannights]

Ok then why don't all cars come with thicker wires?

 

[twilightprotege]

cost (yeah $1), and because they couldnt give a sh!t

 

[ddogg777]

Multiply $1 by 1,000,000 cars a year sold and how much money did they just make by skimping corners?

 

[twilightprotege]

exactly. it all adds up.

 

[Poseur]

my local protege club had a ground wire install meet today. here are the instructions.
copied and pasted from a post by niv, one of our members on mpsport.net:

Ground wire Install:

Kit:
? 1 - 8mm x 20mm bolt
? 1 - 8mm washer
? 1 ? 8mm lock washer
? 12 feet of 4 gauge wire
? 10 - 4 gauge terminals (to a 10mm bolt hole)
? 2 ? 4 gauge terminals (to a 5/16 (8mm) bolt hole)
? 1 ? 4 gauge terminal (to whatever bolt fits a 17mm nut)*if you do the
optional right side of engine ground
? 1 battery terminal (11-3501-4 ? $3.42 w/tax @ Canadian Tire)
? 20? of heat shrink tube
? zap straps (to make it nice and neat)

Tools:
? Razor blade (box cutter)
? Wire Crimper
? Wire Snippers
? Ratchet set (well you only need the 10mm, 13mm, 17mm and an extension)
? Wrench
? Heat gun (sure you could use your g/f or wife?s hair dryer, but do you want to
suffer the wrath when you?ve wrecked it?) maybe the stove-top element
would work. I dunno.
? Scissors

How To:
1. Cut wire to needed lengths - you?ll need 6 lengths. (these add up to 11 ?,
so if you want to put that extra ? on one of them I?d do it on #4 or #5 wire.)
a. 1 = 22?
b. 2 = 7?
c. 3 = 23 ?
d. 4 = 33?
e. 5 = 35?
f. 6 = 20?
2. You can use the terminal to decide how much wire to strip off the end of
each length. (I did one and it was just a bit more than a inch)
3. Crimp your 10mm 4gauge terminals to one end of the lengths.
4. Lay out the wires like where they are going to live when you are done, and
attach the Point A?s - the this step is optional but it?ll make your life easier
when you have to put them in for real .
5. You?ll have to cut the factory wires from the terminal ring and put a new
10mm 4 gauge terminal on. (it?s the black wire with the yellow stripe that
disappears under the battery. Cut this as close as you can to the terminal
ring as you?ll need all the wire you can get)
6. Once your wire is lying the way you want, add the rest of the 10mm 4gauge
terminals to the remaining wires except for # 1,4, (5/16th) and 6 (17mm).
Make sure the terminal is lying the way you want as well, then crimp.
7. Put the 5/16th terminals on #1 and #4. and the big one on #6
8. Cut shrink wrap to 1 ? lengths and place over terminals and wire. Now is the
time to use that heat gun!
9. Put the new battery terminal on. (I don?t know if it matters which way you
orient it, but if the terminal attachment point side is toward the left strut
you?ll probably have an easier time attaching #2 wire.
10. Attach the rest of the B points now.
11. For #6 B point ? if you remove the bolt holding the power steering fluid
reservoir, you?ll be able to get at the bolt for #6B easier.
12. Zap strap the wires into place, all nice and pretty.

Note* I didn?t have an alarm on the car at the time of the install, and you are disconnecting the battery so you will reset your ecu and have to reset all your radio stations, as for the alarm I don?t know what you?ll have to do. Turn it off when it starts beeping I suppose.

sorry for the ultra-big picture but it'll help those who are lost.


result?:
idle rpms down and gas mileage up! butt dyno tells no tales.

EDIT: 5/16th bolts, washers, lock washers should be 8mm.

The original pic looks to have been trimmed down. I've been really interested in thsi since I first saw it, nad saved the initial pic, hopefully you guys don't mind, but I'll re-post it in it's full glory.

 

[FLSilverP5]

where did u buy the 4 gauge wire terminals to connect to the screws?

 

[Poseur]

Hardware store, my man... Actually this reminds me of something. Get terminals that are CLOSED ended. This way when you shrinkwrap over the seam, there will be NO wire exposed to the elements that will be succeptible to rust.

 

[FLSilverP5]

If i want to ground it to the right side as well do i need more then 12 feet of wire?

 

[Wingman21]

5. Youll have to cut the factory wires from the terminal ring and put a new
10mm 4 gauge terminal on. (its the black wire with the yellow stripe that
disappears under the battery. Cut this as close as you can to the terminal
ring as youll need all the wire you can get)

I dont understand this statement !? Why do we need to cut the factory wires; can we just pull them out !?

Thanks

 

[Poseur]

I dont understand this statement !? Why do we need to cut the factory wires; can we just pull them out !?

Thanks

That's the ground for some of your car's vital components. I suppose if you wanted to chase that wire down, you might be able to replace it, but it would very likely serve no purpose.

 

[Wingman21]

That's the ground for some of your car's vital components. I suppose if you wanted to chase that wire down, you might be able to replace it, but it would very likely serve no purpose.

OK so you just cut it and re-use it somewhere !?
Also, is this the only factory wire (under the battery) you have to cut 'cause there is an "s" at the end of "factory wireS" !??

Thanks

 

[eting_pro5]

link won't work.....for me

 

[chuyler1]

Planning my stereo install and I figure I'll do the grounding kit at the same time...but answer this...

Isn't it a 2-way street in electron-ville? I mean, what good is adding all these ground wires w/o beefing up the power wires to the alternator and other things? I haven't opened my hood yet to investigate but my guess is that one or two power wires could be upgraded to 4 or 1/0ga for an added benefit. Has anyone considered this?

Also, does anyone have any proof of better gas mileage or higher hp. I'm not expecting anything (I just want the battery to look nice for my install) but this thread has no documentation of benefits.

 

[ddogg777]

Before I did mine I was consistently in the 27mpg range, now I have never gone below 28mpg. Very slight..

 

[1Canuck2]

I noticed a smoother idle, but not much else. My idle dropped 200 rpms or so and was a lot more even. Other than that, it sure looks purdy, but probably isn't worth much else. No regrets though.

 

[mp5smuggler]

bump

 

[ddogg777]

Uhm, why are you bumping this thread?

 

[mp5smuggler]

so i dont have to search for it again and itll count as a post lol

 

[1Canuck2]

See the "Thread Tools" link at the top of the thread. Click it and one of the options is "Subscribe To This Thread". This is a much better option that posting meanless stuff to a thread thus causing everyone else who is subscribed to get a notification.

Plus upping your post count with posts of this nature is nothing to be proud of. Too much of that action and people will get PO'd. I don't have as many posts as you (but then, why does post count matter?) but I am pretty sure the majority of them have been either asking or answering something of value in a thread instead of falsely upping my post count.