When I had my 05 tC I found a DIY Ground Wire Kit someone wrote a How-To but, now I can't find the tC write-up, only the xA one. Anyone attempted this yet? Increased throttle response on my tC and added a nice accent to the bay. Someone throws together a nice how-to I am sure the community would appreciate it.

I am at work or else I would take a picture and post my idea's of good grounding points.

http://forums.evolutionm.net/archive.../t-207957.html
Evo Write-Up

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29261
xA Write-Up

 

What the heck are you talking about? Please explain to us simple folks

 

Basically a hardwire grounding harness through the whole car to ensure good electrical conduction to help signals and such...at least i think so..

 

yeah, you see this a lot on Scions. makes me wonder if their less-than-par bodywork has some shortcomings

 

^Basically. It's called the big 3. You run heavier gauge wire between the battery, starter, and alternator,,, hence "the big 3"

I don't know what, if any performance gains the cobalt will see from this. But for any of you guys getting heavy into Audio, this is a great mod.

 

I think its pretty common across the board. I know alot of j-body (cavalier) guys did this, and I've seen lots of generic kits on e-bay.

 

Ahh, now I get it. Thanks

 

It'd be a lot of wire at least for the SS. Do all the balts have the battery in the trunk?

 

^^Yeah we do. That's why I was unsure about how much it would do for us.

Someone will just hafta trace the cables from the bat-starter-alt, to see if they actually run all the way back to the battery. I imagine there is some sort of distribution inside the bay that could be utilized, leaving the cable going to the trunk as is. I dunno what gauge runs back there though. Maybe someone who's ripped apart the trunk/backseat are will tell us.

So I guess time will tell for the cobalts. This isn't on my to do list, so I won't be finding out, but I'm sure someone on here has, or will look into this seriously. I bet it will be an audio guy who first gets into it.

 

yes they do

 

There is a ~4 guage wire running through the folding seats, directly under the rear seats, and turns left into the trim panels which runs it up past the driver and thru the firewall

 

its not necessarily a performance gain. i wish i had my links here at work so i could link a post made on scionlife that some dude went hardcore into detail.

1 advantage to this is you no longer risk a simple shock when hopping out of your car

 

Not one shock yet. A perk of leather seats I suppose. My old civic used to shock you all the time. Worse in winter months. An by shock i mean a visible blue arc from fingers to metal.

 

Thanks HackAbuse, I knew it was decent sized,, I just never peeled the conduit off when I was in my trunk.

That's gotta be the one. And 4 ga should more than enough for all but the sickest of audio enthusiasts. And at that point they will likely be running add'l batteries anyways, making the scope of this whole discussion elementary in comparison.

 

Lol, I don't miss that about my old Cavi. The leather must be helping, because I haven't been shocked by the cobalt yet either.

But I think the results will vary greatly from one model of car to another, depending on that particular vehicles stock electrical situation. Some cars may be in dire need of this, while another may see little to no benefit at all.

 

Heh...A guy I know in Indiana, where I'm from, has single 0 for his power. Of course, he's pushing 8 12s...

 

You can get the same results by shortening the cable run.

I have dual e-rams that draw so much current when they engage that my headlights and dashlights dim. To correct this problem, I've been toying with the idea of replacing the stock battery with a Dyna-Batt and either mounting it on the floor behind the drivers seat or in the depression under (what used to be) my rear seat. This would shorten the cable run somewhat, plus add more cranking amps.

If anyone has any simpler suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

give this ground kit a shot and a capacitor

 

What ground kit? And are you talking about an audio system capacitor? How would I wire it in?

 

haha my mistake, scratch the capacitor thing.....

if you look at the links in post #1 you will see how you can ground certain points in your engine bay to produce better throttle response, and eliminate some of the light dimming

 

Thanks

 

If you have problems with headlights/ interior lights dimming from mass battery drain, this usually helps to fix it.

I had a problem in my old cavy when i was running my 2 10" Kicker L7's. Driving down the interstate at like 11:30pm, doing close to 70, loud bassy song came on the radio and killed the headlights. Too much drain and they turned off... was told to upgrade to 0 gauge and it fixed everything.

 

I have 0 gauge wire

Impedance sucks!

 

riiiiiight

 

how many watts r u pushing hack... Im currently pushing 1500 watts with a 3 farad cap. I dont really notice my lights dimming but at the same time i dont put it up past 1/2 way... Also how did u make that box all the way across your trunk... Just curious im getting ready to do a more basic type of box like that