Grounding Kits

[Darth Focus]

There is no need to buy those over priced 'stereo wire' ground kits. Make it yourself, and find good ground points.

I got a few feet of 4 guage, and 8 gauge and the appropriate ring terminals (actually went through the junk box and got my wiring for free - check your local stereo shops). I grounded the negative terminal of the battery with 4ga. from the post to the bolt just behind the dr. headlight (holds the braket behind the batt.). Then the big torx holding the ign. coil pack to a ground point at the bolt (2 of them to choose from, I picked the one with the ring going back to the batt.) I used 4 ga. for that as well since its a farther travel. Last, I ground on the pass/ rr. of the engine on the hook. Theres a ground there already, I just beefed it up with 8ga.

Havent driven the car, but on revving the motor it was much smoother, also no idle dip when coming from 5k to idle.

I was reading on the Mazda3 forum that they are grounding their throttle bodies. 1) they have drive by wire (or, no throttle cable, yet its electronicly controlled), 2) what I dont understand is the manifold is plastic, as is the TB...dont see what grounding does for them. Must be a placebo mod...but, maybe It works, I dunno. I didnt get enough 8ga ring terminals. Worth a shot anyhoo.

Im also going to run a fat ground for the ECU...but thats later...we're about to get pounded by rain. I'll throw some batteries in the digicam and take pics of my grounding points.

If you've done this mod, or did it slightly different, please let us know. Also, anyone have any dyno runs with grounding vs. no ground upgrades?

[Sponsor]

[revamp]

Okay, being new to car modding (but not to electrical/electronics), I'm kinda lost as to what you are talking about, but still very interested. What are you grounding out to make the car run smoother? What's the reasoning behind it?

[Darth Focus]

Ok, the theory is this....every thing that is positive power is fed via a large battery cable (in our case, 2 of them) but everything has 16 gauge grounds. Our negative terminal cable is puny. By beefing up the ground, it just makes a circuit stronger. You wouldnt have a high power amp running a 4 guage power wire with a 10 gauge ground wire. #1 it'd overheat a lot, and #2 it just wouldnt make good power because the circuit can be completed well. Same thing goes here.

[revamp]

okay....so where do you run the new ground from/to? Thanks for the info!

[Darth Focus]

From my post above:

I grounded the negative terminal of the battery with 4ga. from the post to the bolt just behind the dr. headlight (holds the braket behind the batt.). Then the big torx holding the ign. coil pack to a ground point at the bolt (2 of them to choose from, I picked the one with the ring going back to the batt.) I used 4 ga. for that as well since its a farther travel. Last, I ground on the pass/ rr. of the engine on the hook. Theres a ground there already, I just beefed it up with 8ga.

I'll have pics soon...

[hogy72]

yo lojack. you think this is a worthy mod for the time and money it takes? i was lookin at the ones on ebay but was goign to buy the wiring from radio shack, let me know your input and maybe PM me some instructions? thanks man

[SLIP STREAM SVT]

i actually done this along time ago and it actually helps the car out alot because alot of us have this light flickering or dash flickering issue this will fix it of not make it better and LoJackSVT is right, it will definitly smooth out the idle! also i used 4 wires, one from the Neg Bat terminal to the chassis, Coil Pack to the Neg Bat Terminal, Alternator to Chassis, and one is somewhere else that i forgot, but there was already a factory ground there but i used all 4 gauge wire because it looks better and is definitly better!

[hogy72]

hey slipstream, can you get me some Info or maybe some pictures, i woudlnt mind doing this mod this weekend

[S2]

It's basically the same reason why you use a thick gauge wire to power amps for your stereo in the car. It flows the current better.....

[SVTDavan]

I actually spent the money and bought a Hypergrounds grounding kit.

Did 4 or 5 dyno runs. Installed the cables, and redyno'd.

Taking my best stock dyno, vs my best grounding dyno, I gained 3.4 fwhp.