Diy Grounding Kit?

[mystikz2002]

can someone tell me the grounding points for a 99 civic ex? the motor is a d16y8 and i want to know where the grounding points are. i've seen kits out there where you just ground some points on your engine and your engine will run better or something. this will be a good DIY since it is very low priced and adds some performance. i would like to see a DIY on this.

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[Bogatyr]

mystikz2002,
Uh, adds performance? I don't think so. If your ground connections are dirty or unstable your engine won't run properly, but having them clean and tight will get the thing running the way it's supposed to.
I think there are two grounding points, one on the starter of course and the other on the valve cover. Both go to a nearby section of the frame.
Make sure you clean down to bare metal where you are bolting the ground wires to and a dab of di-electric grease certainly won't hurt anything. I'll usually use the Dremel to clean off the paint and get a good ground.
Bogatyr

[xivera]

Hyper Ground/ Earthing kit ground points
1) battery to chassis ground (opposite the battery... Also, covers 1 of the big 3)
2) battery to intake manifold
3) intake manifold to opposite side of the engine head (in the front)
4) from the engine head to the tranny
5) from the engine head back to the battery

It's one big daisy chain. 6/8 AWG power wire should suffice...

While you're at it... You might as well address the Big 3 just in case you have dimming lights whenever your bass hits HARD.
1) #1 from above
2) engine to chassis ground
3) alternator to battery cable run

[mystikz2002]

and would this be connected to a master switch or something? or all these separate wires connected to the battery? also, which side of the battery?

[mystikz2002]

and if possible, pics please? i still dont really understand. i searched but can't find anything.

[si92hb]

Hi I was just wondering if any problems would arise if I were todo the following earthing setup:

1. Attach a negative-battery-terminal distribution block with 4 - 8 gauge wire distribution holes.

2. Then attach 4 cut-to-length 8 gauge wires to the distribution block

3. And from there, after properly routing them, just attach each of the other ends of the wires to stock grounding spots and perhaps other chosen spots.

Would anything bad happen if you were to just not use the frame of the car as a conductor is mainly what I am asking...

[jung4g]

OK, to help you guys understand what the grounds are for...

Your car has a battery with + and - terminals. The - (negative) terminal is connect to the chassis for a reason. That way only positive power cables need to be run to all the parts of the car. ie. all your lights are grounded to the chassis, there's a little ground box all your black wires from the lights go to, without the chassis grounded, NOTHING WILL WORK!

To try and gain performance through grounding you need to follow this:

1) make sure you have a good battery! (have it tested if you are not sure)
2) Check the actual connections at the battery, not just to the posts, but the wires at the battery connectors, these can corrode!
3) Check the battery ground. This should be 4gauge. It is overkill, but this wire will hold a lot of current, so there is no reason to skimp. Make sure the cable is attached at a clean, ie. no paint, or scraped surface on the chassis. The more surface area the better. Adding a second ground will not hurt, if you are unsure of the first, add one.
4) undo every engine ground you can find, one at a time and re-scrape the grounding point to make sure it has a good connection, then reconnect it.
5) if the wires on your grounds are dark, ie. not shiny like copper should be, either cut the wire back to a fresh portion, or REPLACE the cables.
6) Replace any sketchy cables with 8gauge cable, for the short runs these cables have, it is more than enough, trust me, for less than 2 ft, 8gauge is plenty. Arospeeds kit is way overkill and is just made to look nice. You can make your grounds look nice with cool looking cable and descent routing methods.
7) Add a ground or two. Just run 8gauge cable from the chassis to an extra spot or two on the engine or tranny. Using either an intake manifold bolt, or valve cover bolt, run a ground to the chassis, ie. the stut tower (don't forget to scrape the paint)
8) if your lights dim at idle, check the tension on the alternator belt, it will make sure the alternator is getting driven.

MAKE SURE YOUR CAR IS WELL GROUNDED

Jung

[crxb16er]

very well put JUNG4G, ur car chassis is the ground for all ur electrical components so no u cannot remove that chassis out of the circuit loop, to do so would require alot more wires, which would defeat the purpose entirely, just clean up the connections that are sketchy, and if u want get a battery with slightyly more cca's (cold cranking amps) to make sure u get power thru whatever old wires u do have. to gain power you would need a completely seperate ignition system to get a larger spark into ur engine, grounding ur car is just for basic maintanance, oh and avoid butt connectors, they cause alot of resistance, buy the right connectors, and dont hack the wires u do have.

[mystikz2002]

alright thanks a lot jung and crx. both of your replies are the best yet! thanks a lot. ill be trying soon. thanks

[LX4CYL]

How about using 2-guage wires? I've seen it done here:
http://www.cardomain.com/id/linnfreak

Anyways, how about:
1. Upgrading all "wimpy" ground wires to 2-guage, including the "big 3"
2. Add additional ground wires that run to the negative terminal of the battery (possibly using a distribution block)
3. Run a ground wire from the alternator's metal body to either the chassis, or the negative terminal post.
4. smearing all ground points with dielectric grease to prevent corrosion.

All wires would use good quality connectors and heat-shrink.

sound good?

[crxb16er]

Originally posted by LX4CYL
How about using 2-guage wires? I've seen it done here:
http://www.cardomain.com/id/linnfreak

Anyways, how about:
1. Upgrading all "wimpy" ground wires to 2-guage, including the "big 3"
2. Add additional ground wires that run to the negative terminal of the battery (possibly using a distribution block)
3. Run a ground wire from the alternator's metal body to either the chassis, or the negative terminal post.
4. smearing all ground points with dielectric grease to prevent corrosion.

All wires would use good quality connectors and heat-shrink.

sound good?

well that would definitely work but its more than a bit overkill, most people dont use a 2-guage wire unless they have a few amps for their sound systems because they want a bigger "hit", and u do require quite a bit of extra power to do a serious sound system, or they want it because its showey. but hey its ur car do with it what u like, and i hope it turns out that way. personally i say 6 guage wires are more than adequate. coming off ur battery to the starter, and use ur factory wires from that point on, unless you have some other problem that needs addressed

[LX4CYL]

I'm going with 4 guage, but I've got a few questions:

http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/sh...threadid=73638

[CivicDXR]

hey everyone...

since my factory grounds looked very outta shape, i sorta made my own kit using some 4 gauge stereo wire, and some crimp rings i got from work... I soldered, then crimped, then taped up the ends real good... it may all be in my mind, but the car seems to run a bit smoother...

the pics below will show you what I did (don't mind the beater motor, the tape on the intake is to cover the holes made from the previous nitrous nozzle and air temp sensor, its not staying like that for long )... I started with the valve cover, on to the front frame/upper support, then went around the back of the head to the distributor, to the tranny, to the battery, and then for good measure, another spot on the body by the passenger shock...

here are the pics...





now the two questions I had are: 1)what else should I be grounding? and 2) is there an advantage/disadvantage to using this daisy chain setup over the distribution block setup???

Thanks in advance, any comments are appreciated...

[crxb16er]

u should ground whatever needs it where the wires are sketchy, u did a good job of doing the negative battery cable, u can do the positive battery cable to the starter which is pretty much the biggest connection point where u need the most power but, if should already have at least a 6 guage wire there, example, i rigged up my own stereo and when i did i just wrapped the ground wire around one of the bolts that another ground wire was on, without using any type of connector or nething, like that would benefit by doing it right, as for most connections on the car honda does a good job of setting up the electronics, thicker ground and power wires are typically for show or bigger amps in the back of ur car that need alot of power. in older cars it is suggested that you use a slightly higher cca (cold cranking amp) battery to get all the amps to whatever might need it since some wiring may be old and a little worn out. nice car CivicDXR even with the stock engine it looks very nice.

[jung4g]

Originally posted by LX4CYL
How about using 2-guage wires? I've seen it done here:

2 gauge is extreme overkill. Have you seen that wire, huge!!

4 gauge is plenty.

As to the Daisy Chain VS Distribution Block, it won't matter as long as everything is connected well. These ground runs are so short (ie. <5 ft.) so it shouldn't matter at all.

Jung

P.S. I spent a lot of time perfecting my battery setup, with good grounds, great cable, blah blah, and then my Optima Battery went bad... ugh...

[LX4CYL]

Originally posted by jung4g
2 gauge is extreme overkill. Have you seen that wire, huge!!

4 gauge is plenty.

As to the Daisy Chain VS Distribution Block, it won't matter as long as everything is connected well. These ground runs are so short (ie. <5 ft.) so it shouldn't matter at all.

Jung

P.S. I spent a lot of time perfecting my battery setup, with good grounds, great cable, blah blah, and then my Optima Battery went bad... ugh...

I went with 4 guage. 2 guage was impossible for me to find and it is unnecessary.

[NightRider79]

Great Job guys! I'm looking to do the samething to my 5th Gen. How much 4 gauge wire do I need to do both (+) and (-)?

[HaZiE]

I regrounded my system recently. 4 gauge. anything more IS over kill...

I only really found 3 or 4 grounds... (I'll take pictures tomorrow) just some scrap 4 gauge from work I replaced the ring terminals with premium terminals as well as the battery with an Optima yellowtop. I wrapped all the new grounds with wire loom (since I'll be adding an alarm soon I'm informed that it's a good idea to keep all the wires looking the same thus to camoflauge any important wires...)

most of the cables are red if you must know, (clear will yellow up on you) I wanted to go with blue but we didn't have any scraps long enough for that.

anyhow I plan on putting in a pretty sick Kicker system very soon. however my co-workers have recomended replacing the alternator with a high output alternator. however I cannot find any one/place that sells alternators for japanese cars. (GM I can find no problem) and I'm wondering if any of you know where I can get my hands on a better alternator.

the point being to keep my system going, and when the bass hits I don't want my lights or ANYTHING for that matter to dim. (probably going to be running a KX 650.4 and kx 1200.1) running an L7 10" I'd like to run the 12" but I think I would need the next amp up which takes a $300 price jump (little too much) plus, I'm not sure I can fit the 12" box for it in my trunk.

anyhow I'll put some pictures up of my grounding job to help others... and for critique (I need to make sure I didn't miss anything ... I have this feeling that I did.

[VtecRacer]

Just one question, kinda dumb but do I need to disconnect the negative battery before removing and replacing the ground wires?

[asian relic]

Does anyone know the lenghts of the groudning kit wires for a D17 02 Civic Ex? I wanna do this custom, I don't want to pay like over a $100 for a grounding kit.

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by asian relic

Does anyone know the lenghts of the groudning kit wires for a D17 02 Civic Ex? I wanna do this custom, I don't want to pay like over a $100 for a grounding kit.

Just buy like 10 feet of it. It will be cheaper than a premade kit even if you bought too much.

[VtecRacer]

10 feet should be enough

[si_zc_civic]

this is where i got my high out put alternator for my 90 hatch. they make them for almost anything you can think of.if you cant find it on their website just call them.
http://www.4alterstart.com/door/

[PahLok]

I did this for my ITR, what's your opinion?

2m of Norauto 10mm section battery cable and 6 Norauto gold plated terminals for 10mm section cables (17 euros in total).


I replaced the two engine ground cables and connected directly the battery ground cable to one of the engine ground cables.


For me this is the best solution instead of connecting a spaghetti mess of cables everywhere in the engine bay or buying a more expensive ground stabilizer.

[jesseunvoas]

Originally Posted by jung4g

2 gauge is extreme overkill. Have you seen that wire, huge!!

4 gauge is plenty.

As to the Daisy Chain VS Distribution Block, it won't matter as long as everything is connected well. These ground runs are so short (ie. <5 ft.) so it shouldn't matter at all.

Jung

P.S. I spent a lot of time perfecting my battery setup, with good grounds, great cable, blah blah, and then my Optima Battery went bad... ugh...

dude that sucks didn't your batery still have waranty?

[SP00NFed]

this is all interesting...makes me want to do it

[PoloBoy]

Ok so I have been doing this what you guys on here call "spaghetti wiring" for the last two years on my 94' prelude which has tons of mods, especially electrical. I can't stress how much of a difference you will feel if you take my advice on this. This is all you have to do:

1). Buy Wire as much as you want but all you people who are getting 2,4, even 6 gauge wires leave the big wires for the big amplifiers and them only (P.S. and they only have 1 ground wire so chill!!!) I recommend no bigger than 8 but really dont go any smaller than a 12
a). Silver Wire- Is best for flow of current but not strong in heat
b). Copper Wire- Best wire for any wire near the engine, exhaust, any place that gets quite hot. It can withstand the heat more-so than the silver type wires.

What I Used: BOTH!!! For such wires like battery to chasis or chasis to injector resistor box I used the SILVER TYPE WIRING. For valve cover, throttle body, alternator, distributor, cam shaft hold down's, head, block, tranny, ignitor, etc-hot... I only ran COPPER WIRES to and from those points. TRUST ME WIRING KITS WON'T GIVE YOU THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS JUST LOOKS.

CONNECTORS:
Try to use the same method as you did in the wiring portion after all once the wires are crimped, soldered, whatever... to the connectors; the wires are now inturn whatever the connector to the bot, stud, nut, etc... are!!!

For Best Connection use soldering iron, then tape, than heat shrink the tape but as long as that connector is on that wire to with all your force it isn't coming off than trust me it, well...isn't coming off! (I just pre-do every wire after measuring exactly then split the rubber covering off the wire enough to where the cover sits just inside the connector; then I take a hammer and carefully but powerfully hammer that connector with the wire inside where i want it, right on the ground and trust me you can pull that connector off without taking the wire with it).

RESULTS AND WHAT YOU WANT IN YOUR GROUNDING/"SPAGHETTI" SYSTEM:

1). Chasis- By hooking a wire to the chasis you are simply making sound better, smoother, quieter, (EXAMPLE: for electronics like speakers, subs, tv's, equalizers, navigation systems, they will sound crisper, stronger, louder, much better and for the tv's, nav systems a little to a lot clearer. Depending on how well you do this wire will determine how well a lot of your sensors perform and how fast they react, it will brighten not just headlights but all lights on vehicl when used.) VERY IMPORTANT WIRE(s)

2). Throttle Body- By hooking a wire to this part of your car you can increase your idle so that it is more steady. You can cause better air travel which in turn means what?? MORE HP!!! Now for all you KNOW IT ALL's out there im going to explain how in turn this can happen.
Now by just hooking a wire up to this part of the car WILL NOT gain you power throughout your engine, but by making a chain of wires "SPAGHETTI" that are short and in the right sequence will make you power and that is a promise; especially at low end for all you top end guys out there who want a little pep in the beginning and can't figure out how to get it without being a low end power car this is one of a few helpful little things that are crucial in keeping your top end power and yet getting off the line like a vette.
What happens is when you hook this wire up to the throttle body, in-turn the sensors that are missing the emff! they desire or didn't have to begin with; to really be a factor, are now getting that overall electric flow they desire so they will pick up what their job is and do it quicker which in turn say you run that wire from the throttle body to the distributor, injector resistor box, and then to the chasis; you are in-turn doing what completing most of the combustion process of the engine just with wires. HERES THE TRICKY PART; if you use too much wire or do a full triangle right there, well consider yourself done cuz that "SPAGHETTI" circuit won't stretch as far as some people are telling you all. In all reality Im reading where people say are engines aren't that big and we shouldn't worry about too many connections! WRONG!!! you will have some problems you didn't know you had or even lose power and voltage by having to many connections, to big of wire, or too long of wire. So when your doing this keep that in mind and I Will explain roughly what you can do to limit all those things.

3).Engine Head- Good for center point of stability for all other connections Have you ever noticed that your car had a ground wire running from the valve cover to the chasis when you first got the car??? Go ahead and make a new one of those wires so that its the same size wire but try to make it shorter and clean/sand the spots of connectivity. EVER WONDER WHY HONDA decided to choose that spot for grounding...? Well basically think about it in two ways
Its the end to the "SPAGHETTI CIRCUIT" battery-chasis, then, battery to block/tranny, then no wire from the block to that valve cover ground WELL DUH!!! maybe its because the Tranny bolts to the block, and the block bolts to the head and then right after that the valve cover bolts on to the... you guessed it HEAD. Right after that the ground wire from the valve cover goes directly but closely to the chasis. Which inturn completes the circuit of grounds and Connects all VERY IMPORTANT PARTS just not directly which is the only reason the aftermarket kits came out. so even Honda uses the SPAGHETTI CIRCUIT which is actually a complete grounding circuit so now i can finally stop using that crappy term and tell all the people who are calling it that there wrong, as long as whoever did it, did it correctly.

4).Engine Block/Tranny- Don't make another ground cable and put it on the engine block you will kill your power this way also could kill battery. The cable that came stock; as long as you check and make sure its well connected, and metal on metal this cable is a very large cable and doesn't need anymore help especially if you plan to connect other grounds to other places, that huge wire can handle the bottom end of the car aswell as most the power handling in it self. DO NOT MAKE A LARGER GAUGE WIRE FOR THE BATTERY-ENGINE BLOCK CONNECTION THAN CAME STOCK.

5). Injector Resistor/Distributor/Cam Hold Down Bolts/Spark Plugs/- If your honda is ticking a lot in the valves but aren't bent or if you advanced your timing or maybe your injectors are just loud like most hondas are. I would reccomend running this connection to the second chasis point which I will explain later. Also if you want the ground connection you made for your throttle body, distributor, ignition coil, camshafts, spark plugs, whatever moves at the rate of the engines timing that you connected you better figure out how to connect all of them in a small wire usage circular circuit with only two chasis grounds one on each side of the engine.

6). Alternator - TORQUE Tighten one to this point and expect a torquier engine but expect your volts too hold very well as well. Basic Rule of thumb make sure the feeder is well fed and the feeder will keep everyone else fat!!! WHAT AM I SAYING YOU ASK?? Give the Alternator the power it desires from the ground and trust me it will replenish with power both mechanically (evan more if your circuit is really good and includes the majority of what is listed) and electronically because it feeds the heart of your car(engine) the power it needs to complete each and every one of its cycles of combustion. VERY IMPORTANT FOR RESULTS

INSTALLATION GUIDE AND HINTS:
What I Dit "Chasis To Battery(silver wire 8G)" "Battery To Block(copper wire 2G)" Battery To Distributor Cam Hold Down Inner Bolt(copper wire 8G)" "Distributor Cam Hold Down Inner Bolt To Ignitor Unit Cam Hold Down Inner Bolt(copper wire 8G)" "Ignitor Unit Cam Hold Down Inner Bolt To Middle Bolt On Top Piece Of Intake Manifold Pleneum(copper wire 8G)" Middle Bolt On Top Piece Of Intake Manifold Pleneum To Stock Valve Cover Ground Bolt(copper wire 8G)" "Stock Valve Cover Ground Bolt To Alternator(copper wire 8G)" "Stock Valve Cover Ground Bolt/Alternator Ground Bolt/Throttle Body Ground Bolt Then Went To The Chasis(silver wire 8G)" Then I Ran the Injector Resistor Ground Wire To That Chasis Ground Bolt(silver wire 8G). For All Wires Running To Chasis, as well as the wire running from the Alternator I ran 16 gauge wire of the same length as the 8 gauge wire to the chasis bolts in silver wiring type(reason is because the thin wire is good for high amperage, where as thicker wiring is good for voltage, and since the chasis's main reasoning is for running the electronics smoother and crisper amperage is the way those units are ran not voltage; end result a complete circuit that has everything directly connected for with the least amount of wiring used but still enough wiring used to where if I would have used a thicker gauge wire the current wouldnt be able to travel through the entire circuit in time because of all the "Negative Resistance" being placed on the Positive Terminal which is why you can lose power.

So There You Have it!!! Grounding Systems 101, but don't worry you won't get it perfect the first try but keep trying because it will make a difference in all the things you want it to. If anyone tries to tell you different well you can take it from a guy who has re-wired his entire car when Honda said they couldn't do it and on the first crank it instantaneously started or you can believe that other guy who probably couldnt change his own oil. HOPE THIS HELPS YA'LL I'm going to bed now, later

[Liquidz]

I just got a kit myself with a voltage stabilzer for my 5th Gen Prelude. I ended up having 7 cables, not sure if I need that much for it. Can someone show me how to connect it with the Voltage Stabilzer as well?

[kevyt]

PoloBoy,

The postings states that you used 8 guage wire on every connection except the Battery To Block where you used 2 gauge. Then it states, "No bigger than 8 but really dont go any smaller than a 12" but 2 is bigger than 8

Then it states, " For All Wires Running To Chasis, as well as the wire running from the Alternator I ran 16 gauge wire" but it also states that you did not go smaller than 12.

I am confused.

Kevin

[kevyt]

There are a lot of explanations at this link.

Search for "Grounding Mod"

http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/search.php?do=process