Cottonwoodz

I have been surfing the web lately, and every Japanese prelude site,always has earthing install how-to's.. My question is, whats the point of all of this? I know grounding your motor better will take out some electrical interferance. But does it work that great, Im just not getting all the craze of this..









[Modified by Cottonwoodz, 7:09 PM 2/9/2003]

munscher

i've seen a lot of how-tos on grounding your car as well, some making some pretty bold claims about gains....

stockludesi

well pick up the newest edition of import tuner, turn to page 68 and you notice that the hyper ground wires picked up 1.2hp and 10.9 ft lbs of torque on a wrx, and thats on top of intake and exhaust, it's all in the facts, and it makes sense if you think about it

AndyD

iTrader: (1)

Wow, I have never heard of this. Is the point of this to ground all the electrical components so that the electricity flow clean through ALL the components??

ophdehEEzY

i always get electricuted when i step out of my car and push my door closed.. why?

EH2DX

hahahahaha... because your ride is mad tiTe yO!
you wouldn't happen to have EBP paint now, would you???

stockludesi

the point is reduce static charge from the intake manifold, head, block, tranny, etc...

the reason you get shocked is because, when you step out of your car, you become grounded, when your in the car, the carpet produces static electricity, the friction between the seats and carpet produce this, and at no point are you grounded, so when you step out of the car, your feet touch the ground, thus grounding you and the static electricity is being sent out of your body/clothes with the shock

AndyD

iTrader: (1)

Ohhhh, I see. So what other components should be grounded better?? Alternator, AC compressor, starter, anything else??

Also, should these components be grounded to new points on the chassis??
I am going to dyno my car before doing this and after to see if there is a difference. I will post the results.

stockludesi

ground, any and all electrical components that have a tie with the motor, ie. starter alternator, you can use, regular 12mm bolts that go to the fender/bumper, just make sure you take out sand paper, and grind it down so there is no paint to where the ground wire is touching, other than that, don't get too trigger happy, you don't want tooo many wires hangin around, largeer objects such as the valve cover, can be grounded multiple times, and remember some grounds can go back to the negative post on the battery, use chassis and post grounds as much as possible and your set, have fun and see what happens

munscher

ideally do you want all your grounds to the negative post on the battery? or is the chassis just as good? why?

stoopid215

holy crap that happens to me almost everytime i get out my prelude.. but not any other car i sit in...

stockludesi

ideally you'd want to do both, that way there is an even negative charge between the chassis and the battery, but it's allways a good idea to do the battery more than chassis when it comes to manifold, block and head

rjr162

just dont' make too many ground paths for any component, as this can cause a ground loop with introduces interference and noise into the circuit. The thing with upgrading the grounds is it provides a way for more electrons to be pulled from the - terminal on their journey to the + terminal. Just like with an amp, you want to use a larger wire as it allows more instantanious flow. Most cars use a shitty cable from the battery to the chassis, which provides a small "hose" for the "juice" to flow through. Remember, your engine, radio, lights, ECU, etc are all fighting each other for some of the flow in the pipe (sorta like a highway w/o enough lanes). If you increase the size of your "pipe" you'll increase the max capacity it can handle, allowing a higher and more even path. Not to mention you'll reduce the resistance between the battery and component which always translates into more volts/amps, even if just ever so slightly (ohms law)

stockludesi

thats what i was tryin to say a few posts back, good wording

Shakes

damn straight rjr

munscher

so is there a certain gauge wire to go with? anybody got a range to go with? or just grab some 12 gauge wire and get connecting...

stockludesi

as said earlier the bigger wire the better(that doesn't mean go grab some 0 gauge and bolster it to the battery) most kits that are sold, don't use anything below 12 gauge, i'd say between12-8 gauge would be your best bet

Cottonwoodz

Nissan of Japan sells kits for the 350Z, they use 4 gauge copper wire with 24K gold plated terminals
Just a example


[Modified by Cottonwoodz, 4:44 PM 2/10/2003]

stockludesi

well there ya go, i don't quite remember all the gauge sizes, but i have seen a lot of them as 8gauge, i would think 8 would suffice, how thick is 4 gauge?

apexii

Check out the Tommy-Guns kit, here is a link to a review about it, you can also search for many posts regarding it in the ITR forum.

rjr162

4 guage monster cable is about an inch thick (or really close) counting the insulation. Most of that *IS* insulation though, which personally I think you can't really have too much.

Oh, don't forget it wouldn't hurt to upgrade your positive's too. Usually the positive runs are longer, which as I said before with a smaller guage wire adds up to more resistance... that's if you want to get really crazy! Oh, and just a suggestion, use some wire ties and split loom to make it look nice, unlike those pics posted at the top


[Modified by rjr162, 3:40 AM 2/11/2003]

stockludesi

i'm contemplating making a kit, for some of us honda techers, the kits they sell are around 100-150, but who wants to spend that much on wires? if i get enough interest i might produce them, i was just waiting for once you guys caught on to one of the oldest hod rodding tricks in the books , right now i've been experimenting between 12 and 8 gauge (put them on the car, and drive for a few months then switch) and testing the longevity , let me know if you guys are interested at all, i could do it for quite a bit less than all these companies

rjr162

To be honest, I did mine for less than like $30, that's with spiffy connector ends and such. I had some extra 8 guage monster cable from some amp installs I did and used that, Used two runs side by side to the more important sections. Takes a little time to get the wires the right size.. i can post a pic if wanted.

stockludesi

thats what i'm sayin, but some people don't like to make them, i've done a few on my friends civic, and on my girls accord, if i made them i wouldn't sell them for over 50, prolly not even over 40 if i can get a good deal on mass supply's of cables, i've got a few people that want them, but the more people that want em the more the prices goes , oh well, if you guys need help gimme a shout

Demonlude

Does anyone sell a Prelude specific kit? I've only seen specific kits for other cars. Not sure how good the "universal" ones are. I'm a bit stupid when it comes to these things, and need to know exactly what goes where!