Ground wire sets on ebay, whatch think

[TCMdocs944]

Check this out...


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33574&item=2457993789[/URL]


Sound like the hyperground system minus $80.....

.....Opinions[URL]

[SoCal Driver]

Stabilizes electrical revolutions and gives you at least 5 to 8 more hp!

Yah! Sure thing!


Text of sales:
"This ground wire grounding system provides a much better ground electric current passage (lower electrical resistance) from battery negative to body frame, chassis, and engine components to stablize electrical revolutions

Lower electric resistance allows more torque, gain instant horsepower ~5-8hp; smoothens and stablizes the engine at high RPM

It improves starting adeptness, response; reduce fuel consumption

This ground wire kit includes all 6 grounding wires, aluminum plate connector, aluminum battery head, all necessary screws and mounting plates"

[BlueQuestTSi]

Wow, shipping and handling is more than the product

Also notice the extremes that people go through to rip other companies off? http://www.hksusa.com/images/?id=1507 The packaging is almost identical.

That's where the HP and Torque claim came from at least... I bet they even rate their apparel.

[TCMdocs944]

Geeez, didn't notice the shipping and handling...that is just wrong.

I ...as most of you know...am not really looking for more horses. I just want it to operate at its finest...

that said

I HAVE seen many different mags dyno sets of "hyperground wire" sets and they consistently come up with more horses. One or two mags wouldn't convince me, half a dozen or more....I'm intrigued.

I guess I really wanted to know if the QUALITY of the wires really matters that much on one of these upgrades.

[SoCal Driver]

It does take HP to run the alternator. Cleaning your grounds and replacing the two or three "straps" with new does help.

Getting 5 to 8 more is out of the question. That is unless the electrical was crap to begain with.

[TCMdocs944]

Isn't the 944's electrical kind of crap to begin with?

Engine function wise it seems good enough but accessory etc it seems it could use a bit of updating. IMHO..(don't tell Bruno at the factory)

I love the technology in the car but I do like updating where it is due.

[SoCal Driver]

There is nothing wrong with the electrical system in the 944s.

There is a concern with the tined copper ground strap where it/they attach to the blocks. Cleaning these, taking them off and using an abrasive to remove the corrosion, and the battery terminals is often necessary. About as often as cleaning any other cars battery terminals.

The only way you will see some serious HP drop with an alternator is to ground it's output.

These grounding kits are just sucker bait.

[BlueQuestTSi]

I'm sure back in '83 or whatever years you want to include, the wiring wasn't crap. But over the years oxidation and corrosion sets in, and that'll make any car's electrical system crap.

Of course, most people won't take into consideration that some of these cars are 21+ years old, and that time will take it's toll on electrical components, so the only real answer has to be that the electrical system sucks

My Conquest suffers the same fate.. Crappy wiring

Back on the original subject. I'd doubt that a $20 grounding kit is going to have the highest quality of wire. The thing that really counts with DC is multi-strand wiring. Some of the best you can find at a reasonable price would be for the car audio world. Stinger, Streetwires, Monster, Rockford, etc... Don't settle on the stuff at radio shack, as it's strand count is at least half that of the others. Some places sell it by the foot, for various prices. Then you just need terminals to go on it. I usually use some of the gold plated ring terminals, solder them on and heat shrink them to prevent water and corrosion from getting inside. If you shop around, you might be able to find everything you need for $50-75 or so.

[Zero10]

I used a bunch of welding cable to do some stereo installs and wiring upgrades. As far as I can tell, it works wonderfully. But since this thread is going, is there anything wrong with using welding wire?

[BlueQuestTSi]

Originally posted by Zero10
I used a bunch of welding cable to do some stereo installs and wiring upgrades. As far as I can tell, it works wonderfully. But since this thread is going, is there anything wrong with using welding wire?

As long as it's got a high strand count, it's fine. Most of the welding wire I've seen has fairly high strand count. What you want is a wire with strands in it that almost seem as thin as hair. It's the wire that you can easily count how many strands are in it, that you don't want to use.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

5-8 HP from improved grounding - I'd have to call B.S. on that one. You might get a minimal gain due to less alternator action and a negligable gain in spark strength in the cylinders at firing time, but anybody claiming it can gain you 5-8 h.p. is blowing smoke up your you-know-where.

Better grounds always help, don't get me wrong, but it will NOT gain you 5-8 horses.

[shocker1322]

Actually the type of wire you want to use in a car solid. The resistance of a wire is rho * (length/area) where rho is resistivity. In a DC case (as in a car) the more area you have the less resistance. More strands will help in the case of an AC circuit because current flow there is higher with surface area, not cross-sectional area. There is no AC circuits in you car, so you do not need to use stranded. But it is much easier to work with, I can tell you that.

[vital-transform]

if you don't replace your ground wires...hit em with the wire brush as Socal recommended ( I was so impressed with the increased performance when I did mine that I then did every connection on the car I could find!)
and OEM replacements are cheap from VERTEX in Miami...also Nology makes a nice ground wire and strap if you still want to upgrade
www.nology.com
www.**********.com

[IceShark]

Do NOT use solid core wire on a car or anything else that moves and vibrates and it doesn't matter if you are talking AC or DC for this rule. The solid is far more likely to fracture from vibration, more likely to wear through the insulation if it is laying against metal, and is acutally harder to work with especially in the large gauges you would be using for ground wires - you would almost need a pipe bender to bend it.

Shocker is off base on the AC skin effect vs. no skin effect on DC for our discussion here. Wires are rated by American Wire Gauge or mm squared. A #1 AWG in solid or stranded is going to have the same cross section so the resistance is the same. A stranded wire will have a slightly larger diameter because you can't pack round objects with no voids but it isn't a big deal at the end of the day.

Welding cable is fine to use. Tinned welding cable would be even better but that is about impossible to find unless you have the factory do a special run for you.

[TCMdocs944]

I was wondering when IceShark would show up on this one ;-)

Ice---you pretty deep in projects right now? Loved those fabric. pics on your last post!

[IceShark]

Oh, I have a few project going on but most of them outside of automotive.