Great write up taken from iVTECDaily.com.
Much props to Bryan AKA StarMax for taking the time and doing a great step by step write up, Thanks Bryan!!http://www.ivtecdaily.com/rsx/mods/groundWires.html
Introduction
One of the most recent tuning trends to come out of Japan is the use of additional ground wires. These are add-on wires that are supposed to provide a cleaner ground for various engine components, and therefore allow them to work more efficiently. It seems like every time I read an article about a Japanese manufacture's car, there's always a pic of the engine bay, and one thing they all seem to have in common is additional ground wires.
Personally I couldn't believe that a couple of extra grounds could make any kind of performance difference, but then a couple months ago a very well respected member of the Clubrsx community installed a ground wire kit, and promptly posted a dyno chart to prove the results. There is was, a couple of hp staring me in the face, proving my assumption wrong. So now the only question was which kit to get.
Shopping
Several companies currently sell ground wiring kits for the RSX, all of which have slightly different styles and layouts. A very popular kit is the Hyper Ground System from XS-Engineering. This kit has three wires that attach to the battery, and an additional two wires that link up two more points to the other wires. It runs about $100 at most tuner shops.
Another kit is the Circle Earth System from HKS. This kit has 8 wires that all hook up to the batter terminal via a very cool circular distribution block. The design is to connect various points of the engine bay to one central location, the battery. The Circle Earth kit runs about $125.
Another kit is the Earth Code kit from Spoon Sports. The kit has three wires, and only two wires that connect to the battery and one additional wire that connects another point to one of the wires. It runs about $130.
I was basically sold on the HKS kit, when a couple guys started making their own kits from car stereo wire and getting similar results. For a fraction of the cost, and a couple extra hours of labor, I could make my own ground wires kit and design it any way I wanted..
I really liked the design of the HKS Circle Earth system, so my DIY ground wire kit is based on that design. I wanted most if not all of my wires to go back to the battery. But I wanted to have different grounding points in the engine bay. I ended up combining some of the Circle Earth connection points with some of the Hyper points along with some of the points some of the other DIY and no-name Japanese kits have. My connections are:
Battery to Cylinder Head
Battery to Intake Manifold
Battery to Alternator
Battery to Left Engine Mount
Battery to Front Frame
Battery to Stock Ground
Battery to Shift Linkage
Battery to Strut Brace
Left Engine Mount to Left Fender
To connect this slew of wires to the battery I needed to buy some sort of terminal. I looked at just about every battery terminal for high-end stereo equipment, but all of them would require me to disconnect the stock ground cable which I wanted to avoid. I then got the idea to solider 4 wires together into a single 2 gauge terminal, then stack two terminals back to back and bolt them onto the existing negative battery connector.
For wire, I decided to use 8 gauge wire since I had so many wires to connect, using anything bigger would be crazy. I figured the HKS kit uses 8 gauge, so it must be good enough. I shopped around for wire, and while for the most part wire is wire, the higher the strand count the more flexible and cleaner the wire generally is.
I found that Lightning Audio sells some good 8 gauge wire in various colors with a 735 strand count, which I found at Car Domain for $.50/ft. I also picked up the necessary terminals from Car Domain, since they were a good price there too.
Installation
Before ordering my wire I measured out approximate lengths for all the ground wires with some string. I figured I'd need about 22 feet, so I ordered 25 just in case. To install the ground wires I first strung the wire from the battery to the desired connection points and cut it to length. I then held them in place with some tie-wraps to make sure the wires were laid out properly and cut to the right length. I then removed the wires and installed their terminals with a combination of crimping and soldering. I then connected the terminals to the various points of the engine bay, connected the two big terminals to the negative battery post and tie-wrapped the wire in place so they wouldn't move around.
Here are the wires I connected and their lengths:
Ground Wire Connection Wire Length in Inches
Battery to Cylinder Head 29
Battery to Intake Manifold 30
Battery to Alternator 39
Battery to Left Engine Mount 39
Battery to Front Frame 21
Battery to Stock Ground 33
Battery to Shift Linkage 33
Battery to Strut Brace 40
Left Engine Mount to Left Fender 16
Total 280 (~24 feet)
Review
Total Price: $24 (including shipping)
Total Time: 2-3 hours
Level of Difficulty (1-10): 4
Purchase Location: Car Domain
Comments: This is a very cheap mod if you do-it-yourself, and the results were good but not dramatic. I didn't expect to actually feel the 2-3 hp (if they are actually there), I was able to feel the engine running more smoothly then previously. The installation was actually more work then I expected, but nothing complicated. It was a nice project for a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Much props to Bryan AKA StarMax for taking the time and doing a great step by step write up, Thanks Bryan!!http://www.ivtecdaily.com/rsx/mods/groundWires.html
Introduction
One of the most recent tuning trends to come out of Japan is the use of additional ground wires. These are add-on wires that are supposed to provide a cleaner ground for various engine components, and therefore allow them to work more efficiently. It seems like every time I read an article about a Japanese manufacture's car, there's always a pic of the engine bay, and one thing they all seem to have in common is additional ground wires.
Personally I couldn't believe that a couple of extra grounds could make any kind of performance difference, but then a couple months ago a very well respected member of the Clubrsx community installed a ground wire kit, and promptly posted a dyno chart to prove the results. There is was, a couple of hp staring me in the face, proving my assumption wrong. So now the only question was which kit to get.
Shopping
Several companies currently sell ground wiring kits for the RSX, all of which have slightly different styles and layouts. A very popular kit is the Hyper Ground System from XS-Engineering. This kit has three wires that attach to the battery, and an additional two wires that link up two more points to the other wires. It runs about $100 at most tuner shops.
Another kit is the Circle Earth System from HKS. This kit has 8 wires that all hook up to the batter terminal via a very cool circular distribution block. The design is to connect various points of the engine bay to one central location, the battery. The Circle Earth kit runs about $125.
Another kit is the Earth Code kit from Spoon Sports. The kit has three wires, and only two wires that connect to the battery and one additional wire that connects another point to one of the wires. It runs about $130.
I was basically sold on the HKS kit, when a couple guys started making their own kits from car stereo wire and getting similar results. For a fraction of the cost, and a couple extra hours of labor, I could make my own ground wires kit and design it any way I wanted..
I really liked the design of the HKS Circle Earth system, so my DIY ground wire kit is based on that design. I wanted most if not all of my wires to go back to the battery. But I wanted to have different grounding points in the engine bay. I ended up combining some of the Circle Earth connection points with some of the Hyper points along with some of the points some of the other DIY and no-name Japanese kits have. My connections are:
Battery to Cylinder Head
Battery to Intake Manifold
Battery to Alternator
Battery to Left Engine Mount
Battery to Front Frame
Battery to Stock Ground
Battery to Shift Linkage
Battery to Strut Brace
Left Engine Mount to Left Fender
To connect this slew of wires to the battery I needed to buy some sort of terminal. I looked at just about every battery terminal for high-end stereo equipment, but all of them would require me to disconnect the stock ground cable which I wanted to avoid. I then got the idea to solider 4 wires together into a single 2 gauge terminal, then stack two terminals back to back and bolt them onto the existing negative battery connector.
For wire, I decided to use 8 gauge wire since I had so many wires to connect, using anything bigger would be crazy. I figured the HKS kit uses 8 gauge, so it must be good enough. I shopped around for wire, and while for the most part wire is wire, the higher the strand count the more flexible and cleaner the wire generally is.
I found that Lightning Audio sells some good 8 gauge wire in various colors with a 735 strand count, which I found at Car Domain for $.50/ft. I also picked up the necessary terminals from Car Domain, since they were a good price there too.
Installation
Before ordering my wire I measured out approximate lengths for all the ground wires with some string. I figured I'd need about 22 feet, so I ordered 25 just in case. To install the ground wires I first strung the wire from the battery to the desired connection points and cut it to length. I then held them in place with some tie-wraps to make sure the wires were laid out properly and cut to the right length. I then removed the wires and installed their terminals with a combination of crimping and soldering. I then connected the terminals to the various points of the engine bay, connected the two big terminals to the negative battery post and tie-wrapped the wire in place so they wouldn't move around.
Here are the wires I connected and their lengths:
Ground Wire Connection Wire Length in Inches
Battery to Cylinder Head 29
Battery to Intake Manifold 30
Battery to Alternator 39
Battery to Left Engine Mount 39
Battery to Front Frame 21
Battery to Stock Ground 33
Battery to Shift Linkage 33
Battery to Strut Brace 40
Left Engine Mount to Left Fender 16
Total 280 (~24 feet)
Review
Total Price: $24 (including shipping)
Total Time: 2-3 hours
Level of Difficulty (1-10): 4
Purchase Location: Car Domain
Comments: This is a very cheap mod if you do-it-yourself, and the results were good but not dramatic. I didn't expect to actually feel the 2-3 hp (if they are actually there), I was able to feel the engine running more smoothly then previously. The installation was actually more work then I expected, but nothing complicated. It was a nice project for a sunny Saturday afternoon.
