i think the DIY grounding is just as good, i'm just too lazy to get the wires and connectors at home depot =[ sue me...

 

it all really depends on what materials you use. If your DIY kit consists of 8ga solid core home depot wire then it wouldn't be as conductive as one made of 4ga monstercable, gold/brass connectors etc. You get the idea.

Overall a DIY kit can be just as good at half the cost.


eric

 

Here you are sir. You will also find cool looking distribution blocks to go with your rice, I mean wires.

http://www.sounddomain.com/shoptype/Power+Wires

 

All I have to say, as others have already said.....a ground is a ground is a ground is a ground is a ground is a ground is a ground.

All engines use electricity for several things....ignition systems and lighting systems, are some of the more important ones, and adding a better ground to any existing system will ONLY make that system more electrically efficient. Anything that is electrical, has to have a ground for it to work properly....and the better the ground, the better the electrical signal will be. "Cleaner" electricity (less resistance, less electrical interference), means better performance, (hotter spark = burning fuel more effectively = better fuel economy + more powerrrrr + brighter lights, and so on.)

not all "mods" are MEANT to improve HP alone....some are designed to improve areas of your vehicle that are often overlooked. ie. the electrical system. Which in turn, CAN slightly effect your HP in an indirect way. Just make sure you use a GOOD grounding point on the Chassis of the vehicle. You will get different results depending on WHERE you ground the cables, some places work much better than others, which can greatly affect how this "mod" works.

just my 2 ¢

-Ted

:banana:

EDIT: I used 4 AWG Monster Power cables for my DIY kit....works just like its supposed to, looks cool, and only cost me a total of $15.

 

If your diy kit is not as good as a grounding kit from a vendor, then you need a new fluke

 

I tried it as it is cheap:

Ground strap from Autozone from battery to left side of intake (where there are a number of grounds) to left strut (just added a washer and nut), right side of intake left and from there to right strut (like left).

Observed less noise in the audio system when off - I used to get some sort of rf bleed from my phone. Beyond that, too anecdotal to tell.

Worth doing? - For $10 - yes

 

New word for you."RESISTANCE" some ground systems have less of this than others.Also its where you ground as well.I recomend getting both heads and the alt housing at the minium.From there maybe the intake.

 

please reference these sites for more evidence that the grounding kits do infact add hp
http://www.importtuner.com/tech/0308it_pptalon/
http://www.caraudiomag.com/testreports/0401cae_hyper/
http://www.350zforum.com/tech/groundweb/groundweb.aspx
(the last one even has a detailed install procedure for a DIY although it is for a 350Z)
http://www.importtuner.com/tech/0405it_300zx/
(these are from the power pages reports and it indicates 4 hp increase on a 300zx)

notice these are not vendors who are trying to sell items

analogy- it's the same as if you add a high flow exhaust to the car... it frees up restrictions that the stock system had in place-unleashing extra hp... same with the grounding kits... by lower resistance it reduces the load placed on the engine by your electrical components and potentially bad circuit grounds (ie. high resistance groudning) which will allow it (the engine) to turn more freely allowing the engine to rev more freely without the extra restriction imposed by the alternator (due to high resistance in the electrical circuits) now that it doesn't have to work as hard.

It's the same thing as if you turn on the AC unit. It places more load on the engine. If you are running a large high current draw audio system(it will place more load on the alternator making it harder to turn if you don't believe this, then go back to high school), you'll be down on hp also. same thing. and if you don't believe that running a high current draw stereo system (high wattage) will actually rob your engine of hp... then don't bother posting anything about the grounding mod because you obviously know nothing of the laws of electricity.

also, a ground is not just a ground is not just a ground... wow... obviously if your grounds are corroded or the wires that are connecting your electrical components to ground are not suficcient to handle the current draw or just poor electrical connections (as the wrx seems to have, as indicated by the hesitation problems that are fixed with the grounding mod, the brighter headlights, and added hp of the groudning mod) some grounds are obviously better than others which is what the grounding mod is trying to fix on the wrx by making better electrical grounds in the places that need it, you will have more hp. period. look at the above links again. if you still don't believe it, then go back to college and take some basic physics courses on electricity and magnetism.

 

Alternators are not harder to turn when you have a bigger draw on the electrical system. Alternators are mechanical systems. They spin driven by a belt on the engine. They always make the same amount of current at a given speed. But if you don't use it all, it goes to charging your battery. If you are drawing too much, you wont have enough current and your end use (lights, head unit, spark plugs, etc) won't work right. But running all your lights and your stereo do not affect your engine at all, unless you're exeeding the current produced by your alternator. Secondly, the reason the AC slows down your engine is because it is a SEPERATE belt driven system that is only on sometimes (as opposed to the alt that's always running). When the AC is on, suddenly you have more drag on the system from belts so you get less power to the wheels. Please tell me what law of E+M says that an alternator that has a high draw on it spins less freely than one with low draw on it. When you can't find one, maybe you should go back to HS and stop insulting people about topics that you are clearly not very well educated on.

Also, the reason high electrical draws make engines run bad is because they steal current from the spark plugs. This is remedied by getting a bigger alt or a capp for peak draw needs...not by better grounding. You're right that a ground is not a ground is not a ground...but modern cars are grounded way more than suffeciently enough. Don't you think that if grounding worked, the engineers at Subaru would add it at the factory? It would be the cheapest way to get bigger HP numbers for ads in the history of the auto industry.


If you have a problem with your grounds, then a grounding kit can restore your car to how it should work electrically. But putting a grounding kit on a brand new car with no aftermarket electronics on it will not increase hp. Sorry.

 

BTW, some of your links don't work. And the first link says the reason they think the grounding kit helped was because it fixed a problem with the wiring that was there before, and had led to a fire. Grounding is important, but like I said the stock grounding is more than sufficient.



I hope you're not an engineer at UCSD...

 

Dyno runs can vary more than 4HP from one run to the next, so a claim of 4 HP increase from grounding wires alone doesn't hold much weight. Besides that, you'll never notice 4 HP one way or the other. Furthermore, the grounding system did not likely "create" more HP as much as it, "made available" HP that was already there and was being robbed by a poorly maintained electrical system. It's the same concept as intercooler sprayers. They don't add any HP, instead they free up HP that was being robbed by heatsoak.

That being said, a good, clean grounding system is a necessity for any car. If you properly maintain your stock system, it will do it's job just fine.

 

Exactly what I was trying to say, only you did it with less words and it makes more sense. Thanks.