Grounding Your Car

jackal · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:07 pm Post subject: Grounding Your Car

This is how I started to do my B14

Wire, 4.0, used about 9 yards, ah feel I did an over kill on some of the points

The lugs for the ends of the wire

My home made distrubution blocks made out of copper

The distrubtion block installed

This is how it looks inside the engine bay

another view

yet another view

I did get some improvements, especially wrt response time. I also notice less power loss when AC is on.

Materials used

9 yard of 4.0 wire
16 connector ends
3 yards solder wire
1 home made distrubution block

Yeo · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:35 pm Post subject:

Nicely done Jackal!

nismodriver · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 2:53 pm Post subject:

Good work, and cool pics to follow. Nice way to help anyone who wants to try it on their own.

jnqaz · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:07 pm Post subject:

jackal wat exactly did you ground off? Embarassed

i'm still kinda new to this...

TriniGT · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:16 pm Post subject:

What type of cost was it for everything?

cheese pie · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:25 pm Post subject:

nice pics, good clean work , love the copper distribution block

A-1 Superior Tech · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:45 pm Post subject:

exactly whAT I NEED, i need my current loss to be removed as much so when a/c on my fans have power to cool, when a/c on the ting does slow down and raise temp.

jackal · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:47 pm Post subject:

jnqaz · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:10 pm Post subject:

wat the point of all that grounding?
if u dont mind me asking..
cuz THATS ALOT OF GROUNDING!
neva heard of people doin it to that extent unless they into the music and stuff

jackal · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:51 pm Post subject:

EFI cars use a lot of electrical signal that goes back and forth to the ECU. These signal are usually clouded by interference (known as noise). This noise can delay and distort the true signal causing time delay and inaccurate readings being fed and transmitted to and from the ECU.

If you have a simple radio in your car, you may notice wining noises being emitted at the speaker, to fix this you would either move the ground or use some device to prevent this.

By upgrading the grounding system in the EFI cars, you would prevent/minimize this noise, thus giving an improvement in the overall performance/efficiency of the car. It is not much, but it is noticable after it is done.

art n motion · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:30 pm Post subject:

very well done Jackal Mr. Green

Cheese Pie and I did one for my car about 6 weeks back...only 4 grounds though Laughing

InDeForest · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:58 pm Post subject:

Ive done a similar setup, using a block of aluminum, drilled and tapped so you can screw the bolts down right into the block, not using a nut on the back. In fact, if i could get a scrap slab from a machine shop of aluminum/brass/copper in 1/2-3/4" i would do a whole bunch for anyone who wants

jackal · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:34 pm Post subject:

the strips that i got had holes in them, and i did not have a tap and die set to thread the holes, that is the better job, than what i did.

nick009 · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:08 pm Post subject:

would ur own perform better than the 4 point ground?????
it should right?

jackal · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:24 pm Post subject:

Rx · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 10:27 pm Post subject:

hmmmmmmmmmmm ....improved performance u say?
Where can i get my B14 grounded? electrician? Question

jnqaz · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 10:52 pm Post subject:

i was thinkin i cud try it myself... but since i still new to this... a electrician sounds good Laughing

Sully · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject:

^^ It's way to simple to pay an electrician to do.

InDeForest · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:39 pm Post subject:

Its not one of these guaranteed performance mods, dont listen to anyone tell you " boy it go add x amount of hp", its just improving the integrity of the electrical system, cleaning up dc and ground continuity as stated above. It has been shown to add hp in dyno runs in magazine articles, and some ppl say it improves various electrical related issues, like, idling, or AC or whatever, some cars have factory faults related to poor grounding, etc. Its a 'hey, why not' mod.

dry · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:05 am Post subject:

excellent write up. good archive material.

Hook · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:42 am Post subject:

good stuff Cool

but thas REAL overkill...there are 4 main points to ground really, namely;
alternator housing---> battery
block ---> chassis
head ---> chassis
chassis ---> battery

it also helps to upgrade the charge wire on ur alternator as well...

NOTE: If u have a choice of the same gauge wire, choose the one with the MOST conductors per cross sectional area (same gauge but, more strands = better wire) this increases conductivity (the guys selling it should know, just ask).
Also, u may want to keep insulation closer to and along the walls of the engine bay instead of resting on any parts of the engine itself...burnt/melted insulation doesn't to much for the aesthetics of ur engine bay.

Dave · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:24 am Post subject:

looks good, nice job there Jackal

Spyrogyra · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:56 am Post subject:

Yup it's a neat job and really impressive, the 00 is a bit thick but say what, some systems employ as small as 8 AWG wire with no problems.

it's a great upgrade to increase electrical performance, throttle response and sensor signal integrity

tinytim · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:07 am Post subject:

I have a question though, for jackal and others that have done this upgrade, the answer might be an obvious YES, but I just want to make sure. Does the insulation on the 4 guage wire stand up to the heat in the engine bay, or is it recommended to tie it up with some split loom as well?

~˜VëgÅ²˜~ · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:08 am Post subject:

very well done jackal, all yuh need to do is run some loom on the wiring..........inspiration to do mine Mr. Green

A-1 Superior Tech · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:29 am Post subject:

i tired of loom yes, lol, 3 loom covered lines by the turbo side rel messy now the loom melt lol......i have braided hoses.....but yaw grounding on EFI is serious ting, especially for me lol, i have only 2 grounds, and 1 in the back cuz the batter there and my deck does give trouble, my fans does slow down, my lights does bright up when i mash pedal and so so.....so that thing what jackal do rel is a best work!!

Spyrogyra · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:56 am Post subject:

the jacket holds up pretty well in N/A engines, the turbo engines may need something a little more heat resistant

art n motion · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:34 pm Post subject:

actually my insulation is holding up quite well.......maybe it's because it's awre from the turbo and manifold Mr. Green

MadCrix · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:17 pm Post subject:

ok so who can do a distribution block for me? i willing to pay allyuh if necessary. i think i will do this on unday since we have nothing to do in the evening. mini lewee organise nah, we go dyno and see if it made a power increase as a side benifit.

Greypatch · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 4:26 pm Post subject:

have you noticed any improvements Jackal...

BTW very impressive work