Ground Wire Installation (OZ?)

[AcingTeam]

Hey guys,

Oz, I think you have 'em installed on your car. Could you post some pictures or tell me what components I need to connect the wires to? Or both? That'd be great.
Anyone's help is appreciated.

Thanks

[BosnianLanos]

I believe there is a post somwhere, but I'm too damn lazy to look.

Here goes nothing:

Materials:
A few feet of 4, 6, or 8 gauge wire (gauge is really... unimportant) I went with 4 but it's too damn big and hard to twist around. I also got lucky and mine turned out to be gasoline and oil resistant.

6 (ish) ring terminals for your gauge of wire.

Another "terminal clamp" for the negative side of the battery that can hold thicker wire. I might get pics later.

Procedure:
Measure and cut the wires and crimp the ring terminals to the ends. Some mention sauldering, but I found this step unnecessary. I used a vise and anger.

All you really need is negative to body, body to engine. However, I came out with so much wire that I did, body to exhaust manifold, and body to shock tower, and body to transmission. BUT ALL THAT YOU NEED IS NEGATIVE TO BODY, BODY TO ENGINE.

After finishing off and making sure there were no shorts, I turned the car on....and damn, those cheap bastards work. Engine seems calmer and my lights don't dim when I hit the stereo. Sweet.

Good Luck, and if you guys want pics you'll have to tell my newb ass how to upload them. Then I will have step by steps for this and for a cold air intake I will be building *myself* in the next few weeks. :P

[AcingTeam]

I forgot to tell you that I already bought a Ground Wiring kit. It came with so many wires, that I will have to make use of them all. So... the pictures will be very helpfull.

Go to, www.greatestjournal.com and upload up to 1,000 pics up to 350k in size. That site is awesome.

Waiting for pics

[TheGreatAndPowerfulOz]

I'm sorry to tell you, but there are only 3 things that need to be grounded.
The rest are a complete waste and are of no use at all. They do nothing electrically at all.

These are the pics I took today:

3 main ground wires


A close up of the body ground point:



If you want your battery to charge faster and more stable voltage levels, you can also upgrade the cable between the alternator positive output terminal bold and the battery positive post:

Battery positive:


Alternator output terminal bolt:



BosnianLanos: you said the 4ga cable is very hard to work with. It is not if you get the correct cable. I used 4ga welding cable which is VERY flexable; a LOT more than car stereo power cable.
Find a local welding shop and find out if they have 'Flexaprene' 4ga welding cable.
The Flexaprene has 1200 strand count and a very soft, plyable Neoprene/rubber coating that makes the cable so flexable, it is almost like a hot limp piece of Twizzler. LOL

You also said some people solder the ring terminals to the cable.
I HIGHLY recomend soldering. Unsoldered cables, at first, will be fine, but being exposed to outside elements while under the hood of the car can allow the connection to oxidize. Green powdery copper oxide is not a good conductor. I went so far as to coat the soldered connections with brush-on liquid electrical tape to ensure the connection does not oxidize.

Remember, when you are attaching the new cables to the body & engine block, use a wire brush or small grinding stone on the end of an electric drill to clean away any paint from the metal surface where the ring terminals will make contact for the most effective ground possible, next to soldering the wires directly to the bodywork itself. (Hey! Now THERE is an idea!! LOL)

Cliff

[TheGreatAndPowerfulOz]

Ok ... I found old posts with pics and made a compilation from other posts I have made about this subject. I will paste them here:

---------------------------

Grounding & power wire upgrades are a very good idea.
These upgrades provide less resistance for the electrical system.
The alternator does not have to work as hard to charge and maintain the battery's voltage levels.

The results of this upgrade are:
-Brighter headlights.
-Less headlight dimming with large stereo systems.
-Easier starting
-Stronger spark
-Better gas milage
-Possible increased HP output because the engine is running more efficiently.

The *ONLY* wires that are necessary for this upgrade are:

1) Battery negative to body
2) Body to engine block

There are no other grounds that are necessary for better performance or better lighting or a stereo system.

The positive connection that is necessary is:

1) Battery positive to alternator positive output

In the car audio world, that is referred to as the "Magic 3" or "Big 3".


Items used:
Six 4ga ring terminals with plastic sleeves. The should be less than $1.50 each.

Some people prefer these:

but they are more expensive and not as easy to install in some of the tight places where the wires are being attached.

10 ft of 4ga wire. I used welding cable from a local welding shop because it was only 60 cents per foot. You will have extra, but too much is better than too little.

This wire is VERY flexable, more so than power cable from car stereo shops. Be sure to get the kind called 'Flexaprene' which has a neoprene based cover.
If you want different colours, such as silver, blue, red, etc. you can use 4ga car stereo power cable available at car stereo shops.

Use a flat screwdriver & a hammer to start the crimp of the ring terminal, and then finish crimping it in a bench vice.

Solder the crimped ring terminal with flux core solder and heat the terminal and wire end with a propane torch because a soldering iron/gun will not get hot enough.

Remember, measure all your wire runs before you cut any of the cable to make sure you have the right length for each piece.

Also ... make sure you clean all the paint away from the grounding points on the body until they are shiney, bare metal and make sure the engine block ground point has been cleaned so it is shiney.

I used a dremel with a stone grinding bit to grind the paint away.

To locate a welding shop near you (in the US) go to www.superpages.com
In the 'Category' type in 'welding supply', then choose your city & state.
This will locate welding supply shops near you. Call them and ask if they carry 4ga flexable welding cable. If they do, then go buy some from them.
I had to call 3 shops before I found one that had the cable.

Any more questions.... just ask.

Remember: Do *NOT* connect the battery positive to the frame/body/case of the alternator, that is a ground and will short out the battery. ONLY connect it to the bolt on the back of the alternator that is the positive output. I will post new photos from under the hood of my car.


Cliff

[TheGreatAndPowerfulOz]

I forgot to tell you that I already bought a Ground Wiring kit. It came with so many wires, that I will have to make use of them all. So... the pictures will be very helpfull.

Go to, www.greatestjournal.com and upload up to 1,000 pics up to 350k in size. That site is awesome.

Waiting for pics

That site if great for everyone but me. The firewall where I work blocks anything and everything from that site because it is under the 'personal' catagory of filter.
This means any content hosted on that site, along with Yahoo groups, AOL communities, geocities, angelfire and most other personal hosting sites are blocked.


Cliff

[AcingTeam]

Thanks a lot OZ, you're the master :P

[daewooluvr]

Thanks a lot OZ, you're the master :P

...BATER LOL jk

[Mike]

That site if great for everyone but me. The firewall where I work blocks anything and everything from that site because it is under the 'personal' catagory of filter.
This means any content hosted on that site, along with Yahoo groups, AOL communities, geocities, angelfire and most other personal hosting sites are blocked.


Cliff

There ARE ways of getting around that you know. PM me if you are interested. I work in IT.

[Wolf-Spirit]

yust wondering what would this do exactly? i cleaned all my original cables but what will better ones do? Will it stop lights from dimming while playing music loud? will you get better power (dont c how but a well)

so plz do tell

[AcingTeam]

I finished installation of ground wires, as a result I've noticed that my electric windows are now flying up and down instead of waiting for like an hour.

I have a question though:

I connected a few wires......

1. Negative battery to Body
2. Body to the green location on the picture (hope that's good enough??? Cause I couldn't find the one you used OZ)
3. Negative battery to Headers

Is my set up good enough to work? Here's the picture where I connected the body to engine wire:



Also I used another spot on the Body (not the stock one)... so now I have 2 Negative to Body wires.

[asam]

can you use 1 cable to ground from engine to battery and another from battery to body and get the same results? also I found (using a voltage meter) that grounding to the metal of the radiator behind the grill gave more voltage!

[asam]

also another quick question. If the wire running from my battery to my alternator is 4ga stock. how much better is a new one. Will running two wires have any advantage. when the car is off there is no power loss in the wire from the battery to the alternator. I checked with a voltage meter.

[TheGreatAndPowerfulOz]

yust wondering what would this do exactly? i cleaned all my original cables but what will better ones do? Will it stop lights from dimming while playing music loud? will you get better power (dont c how but a well)

so plz do tell

Yes, your headlights will not dim as much when you upgrade these ground cables.

With a loud stereo system, headlight dimming is caused by the amplifiers trying draw more current than the electrical wiring can pass.

Upgraded alternator-to-battery and ground wires help the whole electrical system have less resistance and the battery can charge more easily.
Also remember to have correct size power cable running from the battery to your amplifiers.

If the main power cable to the amplifiers is too thin, the cable can get hot, which increases resistance, and the amplifiers do not perform at their optimal output.

I installed 0ga cable for the main power line between my battery and the amplifiers so the amps cant draw more amperage than the wire can handle.

Low resistance = good.

Cliff

[TheGreatAndPowerfulOz]

also another quick question. If the wire running from my battery to my alternator is 4ga stock. how much better is a new one. Will running two wires have any advantage. when the car is off there is no power loss in the wire from the battery to the alternator. I checked with a voltage meter.

There should be no need to upgrade or change the 4ga wire for your starter. A new one will make no differance.

When the car is off, the battery only drains from the running electronic components in the car, like the clock, radio memory and anything in the ECU that ramains on, which all of those combined draw almost nothing, so the battery won't drain from just that for many months.