Here are some pics for anyone interested.
http://vteg.mine.nu/gallery/vi...bum18
I ran 4 gauge from the alt to battery, and engine to ground. I did not do the tranny, since I dont feel it is necesary. The negative battery ground is cheap $5 ground from autozone.

When I drove the car I immediately noticed my slight bog at low rpm takeoffs is gone I have an 8# flywheel so driving can be tricky when I am tired. It revs more smoothly. My stock engine to chassis ground was falling apart though

Yesterday I drove to my friends house listening to music loudly, during the day. When I got to my friends house my voltage was 14.1 at the batt while running. After testing it the morning with louder music I was at 14.4 when I got home

I have not tested for dimming yet. With 1400 watts rms total I am sure I still have some. Tonight I will see if it is noticeably less. Before at times my sub would get muddy at high volumes. This morning I could not get it to distort when I was on the freeway at full volume with max sub level. The volume was loud enough for me to smell my sub Now I need an ear doctor.

 

Nice results. I think I need to do that to my car too. I also have the problem with the rpm dipping before taking off. Hopefully my lights won't dim as much either after install.

 

The night test shows alot of improvement. At idle I get dimming at about the same volume. While moving it takes a lot more, minimum of 3 notches on the alpine which should be about 6 db. Now it dims outside of my "comfort zone" so I am happy. An HO alternator is still in the plans though.

 

Nice :D Thanks for posting pics!

 

Thanks for the info and pics

 

Vteg

Nice job although I would tend to disagree with not upgrading the chassis to tranny wire. You have upgraded the engine to chassis wire, I just think the chassis to tranny would be a better choice for a couple of resons. It is closer to the main ground location and has a better contact area.

 

I am not against upgrading it. I was not in the mood for jacking up the car to do it I have the parts. Maybe I will do it on Saturday to see if it makes a difference or not.

The engine chassis ground is closer to the alternator. I feel it is always closer to the alternator for a reason. Thinking of it, either should work. The engine can carry a lot of current with a pretty low resistance, so it should not matter.

 

You do know there is a rubber gasket between the valve cover and head correct? And the bolts that hold the valve cover on also go through rubber grommets. IMHO the chassis to tranny offers a more secure ground with a larger contact potential. Although what you have done is more than likely fine.

I didn't have to jack my car up to do that I can't remember why. I had a SC on as well but I don't think the stock intake gets in the way either.

 

Yeah. I thought about that when doing it. The only contact on the engine to chassis ground is that chrome cap.

You just reminded me. I have to pull my CAI to get to that also. I guess I have not cleaned my filter in a while anyway.

 

vteg gets

just got mine upgraded earlier today installed by him.
maybe it's me but the car seems to run smoother.
i used to get ALOT of dimming at night w/ my headlights on.
at full blast i got no dimming. then again i'm only pushing 500 to
my sub..which is like 1/3 vteg's load.
all the wires and stuff also look way cool lol.

funny thing is, i have to turn the bass up to 4 or 5 on my head unit as
opposed to 0 before the upgrade (to get the same bass i did before)
maybe it's partially because after sitting in vteg's car with his brutal
sound system, my bass seems wussy now lol
but the system as a whole is louder than before
(i can turn it up higher with no distortion)
and it all also sounds cleaner.
oh yah just like vteg's car mine doesn't bog during the 1st gear take off
like it used to...unless you're reallllly trying hard to bog lol

setup in my '00 integra is an apline 7894, jl 500/1, jl 10W7..rest is stock.
and of course the 3 ground upgrades.

 

My computer finally works again

I did the tranny ground yesterday. It made no difference, but it looks cool I don't think the tranny ground is needed after the engine to chassis ground upgrade. I even disconnected the tranny ground and started the car, ran headlights and stereo. There was no change. It is good to have if my crimp fails I guess.

 

shawn, u get a "" times 10 for ur knowledge and kindness to always help people out.

 

vteg, those are some nice crimps. What did you use?

 

Ghetto Ideal crimper http://www.idealindustries.com...ument

Anyone want to donate a real crimper to the needy

<U>http://www.idealindustries.com/ht/CrimpTools.nsf</U>

 

While on the subject of crimpers, has anyone tried this one http://www.partsexpress.com/pe...0-646 or this http://www.partsexpress.com/pe...DID=7

 

No.

Your ghetto crimps are the bomb.
I use the same thing but the channel lock version.
- one extra thing you could have done on the connections you made, was to solder the ends of the wire into the crimp connectors (after they were crimped), for a nice, super sealed finish.




I wouldnt waste anymore $$$ on those others...

 

Thanks. They are only supposed to crimp up to 10 gauge. Crimping 4 awg requires creativity I have a ratcheting ideal crimper that I use for things smaller than 10 gauge.

I want to give that Phoenix Gold Impact crimper a try though.


Modified by vteg at 2:39 PM 6/2/2003

 

i did 4 gauge
engine to chassis
batt to chassis
distributer to chassis
tranny to chassis
intake manifoild to chassis
alt to batt
starter to batt
fuse box to batt

the next thing im gonna do is put a ground wire from the alt. bracket, to the head, heard it increases spark!

i loove grounding wires

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JOMO &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i did 4 gauge
engine to chassis
batt to chassis
distributer to chassis
tranny to chassis
intake manifoild to chassis
alt to batt
starter to batt
fuse box to batt

the next thing im gonna do is put a ground wire from the alt. bracket, to the head, heard it increases spark!

i loove grounding wires </TD></TR></TABLE>



I was wondering where Jomo was at.

 

lol, back from the dead. nice avatar J.


4 ga.
I just use lineman (?) cutters for squishing those up before soldering.
They use those autogun things at work, and theyre pretty slow. (there're using them on 18+ ga, though)

 

Around how many feet of wire did it take to do everything?

 

About 6 feet total.

 

I need to do this! Thanks for all the info on grounding points and the pics!

 

does the alternator to battery wire run directly to the battery or does it go into the fuse box first?

 

the hammer style crimpers work killer for 0ga. i always use my snap-on crimpers to crimp up to 4ga. i kinda finished my system and wow... i am using a 165 amp alternator, stinger 800cca drycell under the hood and a capacitor in back (along with ground upgrades) and NO light dimming here!