Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Are these things worth the trouble, and if so, how much trouble would it be to install one.

I can see the possible uses, but will you physicaly see an improvement.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

I dont know good they do. But if you dont have one, i might have one i could sell ya. I have to find it first.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

I bought one and don't really care for it, no instructions for installation, however not real hard to install.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

It's not going to give you any significant HP gains, but improving your grounds is never abad idea

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

I think that's the first auction I've seen for grounding wires where the seller doesn't claim it will increase hp. But yeah, like forty said improving your grounds is never a bad idea.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

im running a grounding kit and it realy smoothed out the idle and crispened up the power curve. the whole engine just felt better, not saying it increased any horsepower but the engine definitly liked it being able to ground better than those twig grounding wires that come factory.

its a couple bucks go for it i like mine

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

as stated above no power gains........and as stated above i noticed a smoother idle and reduced background noise through my stereo. however i dont think its worth the money when you can buy the parts yourself and do it cheaper if your looking at those ebay mugen crap that is.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

someone wanna fill me in on what exactly a grounding kit is supposed to do? i just figured it was like a better ground for the battery or somethin

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

thats really all it is is a better ground source......a better ground gives you a better electrical connections allowing all sensors to work at there best in most cases.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

ok just checking thanks john

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

i believe grounding kits stabilize your electrical signals around the engine bay area. So that there will be no static interference affecting all the electric components. as a result stable current, idling, less static noise.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

just buy some 4g copper cable from a local car audio shop and also buy some wide base crimp on ends. not verry expensive. and then just replace all the current ground wires...i also added one directly on my distributer and altranator. if you would like i can take some photos of my car and put them up so you can see them

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

i think 4g is rather over kill......i personally use 8g. one to the alt, starter, distributor, frame............and 8g is easier to hide if your like me and are into wire tucks.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

only reason that i went 4g is cause i had leftover 4g cable from installing all the wiring for my amp and car-computer. so i decided i would just buy a few extra crimp ends and redo my grounds.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

car computer, wtf?

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

i dont think you need a hole kit, just get some4 or 6 gauge wire and re-do all your grounds (especially from the battery itself)> My car had a hard time starting and my lights dimmed when my bass hit and all i did was replace the ground on the battery and it made a world of different.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Yeah, im not fully done with my setup im going to do a DIY with photos when i get done with it. you take a regular computer build a custom case and put it in your trunk at a DC/DC powersupply with a startup/shutdown controller to turn it on and off with your car, install a LCD touchscreen upfront and there you go audio is being run through the aux input on my headunit i will be able to run GPS, movies, music and even internet from my car when im done. i will also be able to connect it to my ECU and view diagnostics, change settings and there are a few programs outthere that will allow you to do an athome dyno, it would not be dead on and should not be used in tuning but it is enough do give you good enough numbers to see if a part you just added put some HP on your car go to http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/ for more info its a gold mine for info on these even has its own section for connecting it to your ECU

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

So I am just learning about this wire tuck thing..... can you upgrade your ground wires AND wire tuck? Where exactly DO the wires go? ANyone have a picture of a functional civic with a wire tuck?

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Yeah, I am all about seeing some pics.

I am looking at the grounds under my hood as we speak and its ugly. I can't believe some of these grounds even work very well. I have pulled some of them off and found paint under them, how is that effective, lol.

I sand most of my connections down from time to time, just like the battery leads, it makes for stronger connections.

I think I will just take some aftermarket 8-6 gauge wire and swap some of them out myself, that way I can get colored wiring, and do some engine compartment mods while I am at it.

I know you will all hate me, but I am slowly adding some black/ yellow under the hood, it's going to look nice when I get it all done, and the leftover factory black hoses and brackets will fit in, and not look so out of place. I got my yellow emblems on the other day, I am going to put some pics in my photo book thing as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks for all the feedback!

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

ill get some photos up of my upgraded grounds, the alternator and distributor do not have grounds id recommend adding some.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

So how many feet of wire will I need? Is the grounding wire thing a difficult thing to do? I would really appreciate pics on where the wires go on a 7th gen.... how much will the wires and whatever else I need cost?

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

i forget how much cable, 5' or so ill measure when i take the photos tomorrow i used 4g tsunami cable which costs like $1.25-$1.50 per foot i forget which (copper is expensive right now) and the connectors cost like 0.50 per connector i think don't buy the copper ones from walmart, auto-zone, oreillys or any of those places the contact area is really small and they also tent to crack when you crimp them i got mine at a local car audio shop ill take a photo of a spare connector so you can see the size of it..it has a large base for more connection surface

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Okay I am definetly going to need a DIY on this... I dont know where to hook anything up and what exactly I am going to unhook and rewire! If I screw up will my car not start?

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

i only know how to do the grounding wires, and it is almost impossible to screw up you will see when i gte the photos tommorrow

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

To be honest, I would think that the factory grounds on the 2002+ cars are probably pretty solid. It might not even be worth it to upgrade. Back in the 90's, the grounds and stuff they used sucked, they have improved quite a bit, so has the general wire and cables that are used in cars.

Either way, a few grounds here and there might not be a bad idea to upgrade.

If you look around your engine bay, you can probably locate most of the grounds that can be seen. There will be one going to the block, one to the alternator, etc.. Just look for bolts in the frame that have a wire tightened down, trace it to its source, most likely its a ground :-)

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Okay that's good to know... mainly I would do it because i could choose different color of wires, couldnt i? It would be just a little nice visual upgrade to my intake and strut bar.... I'm excited to see those pictures!

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Lets see those pictures!:D

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

ok, photos are taken and are on there way, i gotta compress them

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

ok here are the photos, #1 is the ground near the front of car on the right side (facing the hood). #2 is from transmission to frame. #3 is a new ground that i added, it goes directly from the battery to the distributor (it runs from one of the dizzi bolts, under the intake then into the battery terminal). #4 is the upgraded battery ground to frame #5 is another that i added, it goes from the frame to the alternator and #6 is a shop of the entire bay.



[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/A2DED0420C384C25A856AC6B2515F28E.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/82CDCDDD63FF45BCA67097709D06753A.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

#3 and #4

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/88D063ADDE994A7EBA04B826B07A195A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/DCF1546824F847F081F35B8644766254.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

#5 and #6

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/90881CBEEE004D0297A70505799D02A0.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/18806E08616B4D30A045668BF5CA3709.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Oh man that looks so cool... so do you have a sound system at all? I just dont understand what your battery wires are connected to... on one side you have two blue wires coming out of that clamp and on the other side you have a clamp but two black wires... and then a blue wire wrapped around the battery... what are all those wires doing? and what are the two blue ones connecting to?

I read your explaination but I dont know what dizzi is... and distributors... I dont think my car has distributors...

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

And where did you get those clamps?

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

OK i did a little MS pain editing to explain, a distributor or dizzi for short is your ignition distributor for your spark-plugs I'm sure you know that and just didn't know what i was referring to...it is circled in yellow. the cable marked in green is the battery grounding wire (negative post on battery) the cable with the red mark is the grounding cable i added for the dizzi, since it was so close the the battery i went ahead and grounded it directly instead of the the frame. the cabled marked in purple are the cars power cables ( positive post on battery). if you didn't notice that small box hooked to the side of my battery is a fuse/power splitter for 4g cable. the cable marked in light blue are 2 4g cables running out of the fuse/splitter box one 'will' go to my amp which i don't have yet (will buy soon) and the other goes to the DC/DC power-supply/shutdown controller for my car-computer which is also not quite done. the cable marked in red is the power cable that will run from the fuse/splitter box to the battery. but since i don't have an amp or my car-computer running yet i don't want bare cables in my trunk with power so i don't have that cable hooked up to my battery right not and just have it laying across the top. i hope that cleared things up...if there's anything you didn't quite get let me know and ill try and explain it better.

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/B1CED937F6764EC6ADF35A5680305A3C.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

if u can afford something, do it.

if u only have a bit of money.. do more worthwile things first.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

the connectors i got from a local car audio shop called BigDaddys. here is a photo of them beside a quarter for size reference, the cheap ones that you can buy everywhere are not made well and the surface area that touches the car is not very big...these are a lot wider. you will probably only be able to buy ones like this at car audio shops. the black thing is a rubber boot to cover the crimped part to make is look nice and clean.

[IMG]local://upfiles/7503/73F5583B96C24C4B81AD0BAFE6BA9B4B.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

the cost of the cable and crimp connectors probly cost me $20 at the most but probly more in the $15 range. i used leftover 4g cable from my amp and car-computer power wires job. you could do grounds with 8g cable just fine and it be even cheaper

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Thanks for the help... I really didnt know what any of those words meant and I dont know where they are located on my 7th gen... hehehe I think I can afford 20 bucks;) I am really interested in doing car stuff by myself but I end up chickening out and paying a shop to do it.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Moogly, I don't think that your car uses a dizzy.

RE: Engine Grounding kits ? Worth the trouble
 

Okay here is my engine bay... could someone illustrate where these wires are going to go?



[IMG]local://upfiles/9733/68040BC0E5854395A4892A4E8B95EED5.jpg[/IMG]