so it has come to my attention that most (if not all) of my grounds look really corroded. i need some help, and to keep it simple:
needed: locations of every major ground and the guage/lenght of the wire
car: 1992 VX 3 door
additionally: should i sand down the paint where the wire meets the body?

do i need a certain quality/number of strands?

i already know of 3 locations but still need the guage:
-from the valve cover to the rad support
-from the block to the pass. side fender
-from the negative terminal on the battery to near the passenger strut tower.

thanks,
TL

 

bump cause i'd like to know too.
And yeh get to metal to get a good ground.

 

well two people want to know....if i do this, a write-up will follow...

 

Do a search under "archived" ground wire locations. As far as the gauge going large wont do much maybe step down a guage and the quality of the wire, well quality = reliability

 

id just replace the existing grounds... make sure you clean everything very well... use same size ground wire as existing ones... that should do it...

if you want to add more... just add them going from any component to the frame of the car...

 

Personally i would go with a 8awg wire. Try to make the length of all the grounds as short as possible. Quality is important too; more strands the better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EBPimpSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Personally i would go with a 8awg wire. Try to make the length of all the grounds as short as possible. Quality is important too; more strands the better. </TD></TR></TABLE>

more strands doesnt mean its better... you could have one solid copper wire or a multistrand wire... both will have the same guage size and both will flow the same amount of current (since the current flows on the OUTSIDE of the wire)

the size determines amount of current to be carried without overheating

as for wire length...

increase length = increased resistance = decreased current flow

the main difference between single strand and multistrand is flexability... multistrand is more flexible

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by inane &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

more strands doesnt mean its better... you could have one solid copper wire or a multistrand wire... both will have the same guage size and both will flow the same amount of current (since the current flows on the OUTSIDE of the wire)

the size determines amount of current to be carried without overheating

as for wire length...

increase length = increased resistance = decreased current flow

the main difference between single strand and multistrand is flexability... multistrand is more flexible

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just like to also state that multi strand reduce what is called the "skin effect".
The skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current to distribute itself within a conductor so that the current density near the surface of the conductor is greater than that at its core. That is, the electric current tends to flow at the "skin" of the conductor.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect
This skin effect can slight distortion, but thats mostly seen in audio systems. But using a sloid wire might also cause more RFI than a multi strand wire would.
I'm not trying to say that adding grounding wires will add noise or anything, jsut wanted to add on to inane's post.

I personally run 8awg DIY grounding wires. All expect the valve cover wire are connected to the negative side of the battery. One thing I have notice since adding the ground wires is that when I'm really blasting my system there's barely any dimming of the lights at idle.

 

good info

but, i would have ran the grounds to the frame... the frame has more surface area for the electrons to flow...

 

oh they do, i think i have like 3 or 4 frame locations too lol, it's kind of crazy

 

What side-effects would a car have to corroded/shitty ground wires?

My tranny ground wire is still intact but half of the wires have ripped at the very end where the wires meet the little connector thingy.

 

It wouldn't work as efficently and there's probably alot more resistance. I'd atleast replace that wire if not all the ground wires.

 

bad grounds can cause a lot of awkward things...

lights may dim a lot more frequently... things may not operate as efficiently as before...

id replace them, you 'will' notice a difference...

 

I'm personally going to setup a solid copper lug terminal for all of my grounding. All wire will be ran to the distribution lug. #4 AWG STR. from all grounding locations. Hydraulic crimped-on sleeves to a couple of the grounding locations and the lugs have a hex bolt to pin the wire down.

You won't have to worry about resistance and voltage drop on such a big wire, that occurs on traveling past 100ft. Everything in the engine bay is going to be within 5ft.

 

funk that, i'd replace those .99 cent terminal clamps on your battery before i'd go replacing any wires, just my two cents