Ok a couple of you have asked for a How-To on a Generic Grounding Wire Install. This install refers to the basic grounding kit you can get on ebay or in alot of automotive stores.
Things youll need for this install:
10mm, 12mm, 14mm sockets (depending on where you place your grounds)
Wire Ties
10mm Wrench
The Grounding Kit I started with looks like this, and comes with about 8 different wires of different legnths.
If you look at the center block where all the grounds should meet and connect to the battery youll see a small problem. If you attach that block to the negative terminal of your battery you are going to have to modify the existing negative cable, which is quite thick and would be a bit of a project. The easier answer is to simply discard the block and use the wires and the hardware for your grounding project.
For my project I selected 5 grounding points, using a combination of existing hardware and the nuts and bolts that come with the kit.
Here is an Overall View of the engine bay so you can see where the wires are run and how.
1) The first point is the easiest. The valve cover has an open port that doesnt have anything in it and is the same thread as the bolts that come with the grounding kit, simply take a bolt and attach it to the valve cover and run the line over to the neg terminal (dont worry about attaching it yet, youll do that later)
2) The second point is on the Intake Manifold. Here you can use the bolt thats already attached to a bracket, simply remove, attach your wire and bolt it down again.
3) The throttle body is your third point. Here youll use the bolt that holds the throttle body in place. Its long and take a bit of turning to get out but it comes out and goes back in with no problem. Attach your third wire here.
4) The Alternator is definatly a spot youll want to ground. Luckily there is an open hole in the bracket that holds the alternator. If you take a nut and bolt from your grounding kit it attaches quite easily. I found with my kit that there was not a wire supplied that was long enough to go from the alternator to the negative terminal on the battery. All you have to do is take two wires from the kit and use a nut and bolt to splice them together. Simply eye-ball the legnths youll need.
5) The last gound goes to the engine bay itself. If you look around youll see 2 or 3 grounding points you can use. I used the one just below the fuse box with a short cable.
Now youll need to attach everything to the negative terminal. If you look at the way the cable attaches to the terminal youll see that its very easy to remove the bolt, put the eyes from the grounding wires in the middle and re-insert the bolt. You can only place 3 cables in the middle of the connection, the other 2 you must put on the outside closest to the nut or it will not close down enough to hold tight to the terminal.
Well now you have it. The idle should be a bit smoother and youll notice less dimming in the headlights. I put a volt meter on my car and noticed a .1-.2 volt increase in the system and less voltage fluctuation. So heres your end result once again
Hope it helps.
