Taken from tech article in tec section Recently, more attention has been paid to the benefit of providing multiple ground points to an engine. There have been plenty of articles in enthusiasts' magazines that show small but significant increases in horsepower by simply adding additional ground or "earthing" wires. "Import Tuner" magazine showed a three horsepower gain on a 300ZX NA using an A'PEXi ground kit. Their kit cost over $200 and used a voltage stabilizer. The materials for the kit shown here cost me less than ten dollars. Proponents also point to easier starting, smoother idle, brighter headlights, and improvements in just about anything electrical in the car. Whether or not you're a "believer," this mod is safe and inexpensive, which is more than you can say about a lot of other mods we do to our Z's. This explanation is mostly conjecture on my part. Conventional thinking used to be that grounding was an "all or nothing" phenomenon. Either your car battery was grounded, or it wasn't. The amount of electrical current running through the negative battery terminal is equal to that running through the positive end. The battery represents part of a giant, complete circuit for everything electrical in the car, no matter how far away that component is from the battery, or more precisely, the battery ground. The stock, negative battery cable on my '92 TT had TWO grounding points. The first was right next to the battery where the cable was stripped bare and attached to the firewall. I modified this ground point when I put in my Optima battery with the black DC power line shown, but this is a stock ground location. The cable then continues down and attaches to the transmission bell housing. Interestingly, a Nissan parts technician whom I respect told me that replacing the negative cable without reusing both stock grounds was a known issue for the Z not running right. So even the stock set up is apparently designed for two, and not just one battery ground. Logically, if two grounds were better than one, then more than two grounds might be better still. The distance and thickness of the metal between the battery grounds and the various electrical components of the car vary considerably. This creates differences in resistance, which in turn creates small, undesirable variations in voltage at different points around the engine and car where electrical components are in use. This includes everything from the fuel injectors to the dash lights. The extra grounding wires improve the current flow back to the battery by lowering the resistance with multiple paths, allowing for more reliable and consistent voltage. The way in which extra grounding points could improve horsepower is probably through cleaner data transfer to the ECU (Electronic Control Unit, or the car's central computer). The ECU controls multiple engine functions. IMHO, the single most important of these functions that could benefit from improved grounding is the timing and duration of voltage pulses to the fuel injectors. There are probably additional benefits for all the engine functions controlled by the ECU that result in more accurate performance, smoother idle and better acceleration. That's my story for now and I'm sticking to it. Feel free to contact me through this web site if you have any constructive criticisms. Earthing or grounding kits are hot selling aftermarket items that didn't even exist a few years ago. Nismo, the racing division of Nissan, makes one for the new 350Z. Prices of these kits can run upwards of $100 to $200. I am currently putting a kit togethor for me and Caz1 and thought there may be some interest accross the forum, kits can be black or red, and will cost $40, anyone interested, will post pics of my kit once togethor to show what is included, the kit is a basic kit but has the ability to be expanded if needed or wanted, post interest here so i can know how much to purchase, cheers Has been posted in for sale by business as i will make a small profit for time of putting it togethor Cheers, Byron
I'm definately interested! How many grounding points will it have? My mate has one on his TT and it has about 8. What sort of Red can we get, is it solid red or that really cool half-seethrough glittery red? :zlove: Either way I'm in!
Solid red, will count the additional points up when i make my kit, can be modified very easily to include additional points due to some of the connectors used, only thing that will not be included is what is nessacary to attach the wires to the battery a lug will be included but as every battery and terminal is different it is very hard to have a standard connection there, also as some have additional wires for sound systems this will need to be sourced by the buyer, as i have said a lug will be provided to connect it but ths may not suit your battery terminal so may need modification. Instructions will be provided with pics Cheers
Bigbaz what size cable will you be using?? Can you put me down for one in black please mate I was thinking of chopping up my 3 gauge power cable sitting here but now that this has come up seems like a good idea Hope to see some pictures soon
Pics will be here soon, just need the rain to go away so i can get under the hood and get measurements, cables used are a combination of 4 and 8 guage
yes and all cables will be cut to length for those positions, and specific details on where, after installing this kit there will be 6 ground points, 2 of which are stock, supposedly 10 is the point where it starts to get useless, would people be more interested in this, this would obviously put the price of this kit up. Cheers
On second thought Red is a kinda bad color for grounding could get confusing for some people, how about blue? I would like a color other than black, just not the universal color for +12V...
Yep I would be interested in the 10 points.but if only 8 I am still interested, put me down for 2 black kits
kits would be 8 grounds plus 2 stock, will have a 4+2 and an 8+2 kit, will have to do some research into where the additional grounding points should go or would be best to go, cheers, baz
Good point. I'm interested in a black set. (Hopes the rain briefly stops so that you can pop the hood and take some pics ) Cheers, Joseph
Will try to source some other colours, will start with basic kit and then will make an additional kit that will bolt into the existing kit
if you can get BLUE i am in for that BLUE!! i suppose while we are at it, mite as well do it properly, id be up for the 10 point grounding
I was thinking of installing an off the shelf grounding kit but I'll go for this one as it would be made especially for the Zeds. Is the installeation something that is easy to DIY?
this is what I did... If you're after grounding point locations, this is where I put mine. The green lines basically show where the ground cables are going. I used 4 gauge wire left over from my stereo install. You can use 8 gauge wire, but I would recommend 4. Even bigger if you have a big thumping stereo. From the negative battery terminal, I ran 2 cables. One cable I earthed directly onto the engine bay metal (furthest green line on the right). You need to expose bare metal, so you need to scrape away some paint. I then used some touch up paint to make it look new again... The other cable I ran to a bolt on the plenum (see next pic). From here I stared a daisy chain of cables eventually ending back onto engine bay metal. The plenum is good because it has quite a few accessible bolt points, and is connected to the block which makes a good ground... This pic shows the bolt I used where I connected the first cable coming off the battery. It then continues on to the next ground location... The daisy chain sequence then connects to two stock grounding locations on the rear of the plenum. Have a look and you will see what I mean... essentially you'll find an area where all these little black cables connect and provide grounding for a whole heap of engine related devices.... There are 2 on either side of the plenum and I connected the cables to both of these.... I also connected the daisy chain to a long bolt at the middle rear of plenum where the egr would normally be ( i dont have egr anymore). This pic shows the whole sequence, with the daisy chain ending on bare metal near my power steering reservoir... on manuals, this location has what I believe is a bleed screw for the clutch but since my car is an auto to manual convert, this does not exist on my car (I've always wondered how they manage to bleed my clutch)... Its a good location has it has a thread, is flat and I have a few ground cables running to that location for different devices (engine preluber etc etc)... Anyway, these are my suggestions for grounding locations. Others may be more inventive. I got these grounding points after doing some research on twinturbo.net. I havent noticed any big whiz bang effects of having the grounding kit installed, other than my stereo is quite stable and the lights dont dim when the sub woofer is thumping. It certainly hasnt done any harm. Cheers
Cheers for that Jedi, will use that info when making my kits, perhaps your earth grounding kit is why you are top of the NA dyno list, lol, better watch out, people are coming to get you now
