How-To: Make and Install your own Hyper Ground-wire kit

[Gro Harlem]

I just finished installing and writing this How-to. Cost me $48 shipped for all the wire and terminals and about 1.5 hours to install. <p>Let me know what you think! <p>http://www.protegenetwork.org/pro/1stgen/articles/howto/groundwire/

[Len-Dogg]

That is an awesome how-to. So, tell us, now that you have finished this, do you see any of the benifits that they say you get? What is your opinion of this mod?
Thanks!

[Gro Harlem]

LOL, yeah i kinda didn't mention what I felt in that how-to. I wanted to keep it as un-biased as possible.<p>I don't want to sound like a stupid *** ricer, but I DO feel the car pull harder between 3000-5000 rpm (I don't rev past 5000 b/c of my cars mileage....so i dont know about anything above that). It seems to rev more freely too.<p>It definitely runs smoother at idle, and doesn't bog like crazy if the a/c compressor kicks on. <p>I haven't really been able to test the headlight brightness b/c it was raining last night and all the reflections from the asphalt made it impossible for me to see any kind of beam pattern.<p>I did test the stereo to see if it would dim my lights. I never really turn my radio up, but I did this to see if my headlights would dim. They did EVER so slightly, but MUCH less than before.<p>Another thing...the VAF meter seems to open its "vane" quicker than before, making throttle response feel MUCH better. I don't know if it has to do with teh ignition either, but I normally experience a lag time between when I tap the accelerator, and actually see the car rev.....that time seems to have halved. On a MAF sensor car, this probably won't help with that, but you guys don't have the lag time to begin with.<p>Overall, I'd say its a great mod to do...especially seeing how it is only 40-60 dollars and easy to do.

[JasonH]

Thanks! I've been looking for a "how-to" like this. It will probably be my next project after I get my stereo installed.<p>A couple of questions/observations:
Don't you think 4-gauge is overkill? I think kits are typically 8-gauge. I have some extra 10-gauge power wire whihc I might use and I think it will work fine.<p>For the $48 you spent you could have bought a pre-made kit. Granted, the battery terminal wouldn't have been as nice nor would all the ring terminals be gold, but I think the whole thing could be done cheaper.<p>Thanks again for the instructions.

[Gro Harlem]

I don't trust arospeed. Their end terminals are of crap quality and they are poorly crimped onto the wires. I'd rather do it right the first time . Plus that distribution block isn't as effecient as a daisy chain. If you feel like paying $50 plus (usually about 20) shipping for poorly constructed crap, thats your decision. You can get all the materials to make your own for at the MOST 50 dollars off of ebay. Cheapest amp kits are about 15 plus 10 shipping and the chepest terminals are about 3.50 for 4 of them. If you buy 2 sets, it'll come out to about 10 shipped for 8 terminals. The amp kit should come with 2-4 termimals, so you'll have enough to make 5-6 wires. Total cost: $35 (unless you buy a amp kit that has a BS 20 dollar shipping charge, you have to watch out).<p>I still have enough leftover wire to make 6 more cables of the same legnth. And I have 8 terminals left as well (4 of the stinger ones, and 4 that came with the wiring kit). I could have made a total of 10 wires if i wanted to which is enough for me to add a kit to my festiva, but I will probably just make a couple of ground cables for it intead and shove it on there to see if it makes any difference.<p>And i used 4-gauge because all of the kits these magazines dyno'ed use 4-gauge. The sun automotive one and arospeed one is 4 gauge. I wouldn't want to waste my time using 8 gauge, only to find that i'm getting half the benefits. Although it would be a helluva lot cheaper to use 8 gauge. I haven't seen any dyno's of the HKS kit, but it has 8, 8 gauge wires. Maybe if you strung 8-10 8 gauge wires all around your engine bay you'd see the same results as a 4-gauge kit

[Gro Harlem]

Here is the article from the Import Tuner:<p>http://www.protegemp3.com/vbb225/attachment.php?s=&postid=91183<p>http://www.protegemp3.com/vbb225/attachment.php?s=&postid=91184<p>http://www.protegemp3.com/vbb225/attachment.php?s=&postid=91185

[Gro Harlem]

figured i'd refresh this since a lot of the guys on probetalk have been talking about it. <p>
BTW: this would work the same on the 4 cylinder cars. Too bad my other link in the 4cyl section got deleted by someone

[Hy300]

I printed that page out a long time ago so that I could keep the how-to just incase the page went down. Very useful information

[Gro Harlem]

good thing you did because on july, 22, my server gets deleted I'm going to move it to my projectmazda.com domain though so it won't be lost, but the link will be dead after july 22.