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Well, I finally finished my DIY grounding kit and wanted to share my experience/knowledge with ya'll.

Anyway, I used the "network" system instead of the "daisy chain" setup. Not that I know for sure which one is better, but I thought I could get a cleaner install using this method. I used 2 distribution blocks that I found at www.installationproducts.com under their "distribution blocks" section. They were only $9.90 a piece and did what I needed them to do.



They are designed to be used with one 1/0 input to four 4 ga outputs I used it as a one 4 ga input to four 4 ga outputs....Yes, it probably would have been better to use the 1/0 as the input, but considering that I'm going pretty big with the wires anyway, I figured it would be okay.

4 Gauge Wire ($0.84 a foot. I ordered 40' of clear black, but only used 27')
4 Gauge Iced Battery Terminal ($3.25 a piece, I got 4 of them in ICE color, only used 3)
4 Gauge Iced Ring Terminal ($2.25 a piece, I got 3 packs, they come with 4 in a pack, I ended up using 10 total)

Some of the other parts/tools needed:

Lifetime supply of heat shrink tubing...I used my own heat tubing instead of the rubber that comes with the terminals. The 4-packs come with 2 black covers and 2 red covers. I just wanted to have all of them the same, so I used my own..besides, I got the stuff layin around, why not use it, right? Anyway, you can get this stuff cheap at Parts Express



Handy-Dandy Heat Gun (a hair dryer will do...or if you really want to get ghetto, you can use a lighter...LOL!)



My Burndy mulit gauge ratchet-crimper...(not cheap....it's one of the tools I use for my job and comes in a kit...probably costs about $300-$400). To do a ghetto crimp of 4 ga wire, you can use vise grips. Jus ask me how...LOL! (I'm all about improvising when you ain't got the right tool...as a matter of fact, I have about 3 tool ideas that I should submit to Craftsmen or somebody...everyone I show my ideas to, seem to think it should be a real tool...). Biggest thing, make sure you have a solid crimp...however you go about doin it...



And my most precious tool of tools....I love this one...comes in VERY handy with just about everything you can think of....a Dremel with a pencil adpater...



BTW, this is what my crimped ends looked like...



Okay, now the locations I grounded...

1. Throttle Body



2. Factory Chassis Point
3. Tranny



4. Thermostat
5. Thermostat to Radiator Support



6. Firewall



7. Driver Side Shock Tower
8. Alternator



9. Valve Cover




The battery terminals are from Streetwires and I had them layin around from another install from years back, so they are an older style, not sure if Streetwires offers them anymore. But you can use somehting like this like I found on www.sounddomain.com and you wouldn't even need those other large ring terminals...



Now, to actually explain a little more...what I did was, use some new terminals on the battery. I first replaced the factory positive terminal with one of my new ICED ones...spiffy, huh? That was just for looks and to make it similar to the negative terminal. That red wire going to it is connected to my amp. I then replaced the negative terminal and used the two 4 ga ring terminals to begin my "network". Each one goes to one distribution block on each side of the engine bay.



Passenger Side Distribution Block



Driver Side Distribution Block



As you can see, I didn't use the plastic cover that came with the AudioPipe distribution blocks. They were too tall to fit in the space I wanted it to go. I specifically picked those locations because I wanted my setup somewhat subdued but still easily accessable should I need to replace a wire. That is another reason why I went with a toned-down color, I don't want it too flashy under my hood, but that is entirely personal preference.

Another point I'd like to bring up is stripping the paint at each point. I made sure to sand down (with my dremel using the wire brush attachment) any finish that the terminal would contact. I've seen it brought up somewhere in some post asking why you should really do this and I just wanted to give my 2 cents on it. If you were to not sand it down, sure the terminal would still be making contact through the bolt head and down into the metal, but when you have it sanded down, you have essentially doubled the "contact patch" of the terminal. Now, instead of just going up through the head of the bolt, it is also going down directly to the chassis, and isn't this why we are doing this upgrade in the first place....to install a better ground? I made sure that the terminal itself was always in contact with either the block or chassis directly and not sandwiched in between any brackets/bolts.

The wire brush attachment on the dremel...



The firewall grounding point sanded down...



When I installed it onto the valve cover, you MUST sand the point down if you use the same place I did. The valve cover is coated with a finish of some sort and not directly metal. I choose this location because it made for a nice install that was out of the way, easy to run to my distribution block and didn't require too much modification to the spark-plug cover

Without cover (see above image for final install appearance)



Just had to cut about 1/4" off from between these two "arches", not even noticeable on the finished product



In order to connect to the alternator, yo'll have to remove the PS pump, but it is relatively easy...just remove the bolts that hold into it's brackets and set it to the side, you don't have to disconnect the pump or anything..

Okay, a few pics of the final install. My goal was to make it as invisible as possible. I think I accomplished that...






And now, things that happened when I turned the car on....

The RPMs initially jumped super high. As I sat in the driver seat, I mashed the gas to raise the RPMs. The needle would lower to 1400 RPMs, stall, then got to 1100 RPMs and idle there. I also smelled a rich gas mixture...actually, it was a very strong smell. I then decided to reset the FI ECU according to the AEM Cold Air Intake DIY

After which, the engine ran rather strong. As for exact improvements. I do FEEL that it runs a little stronger, but that could just be my brain playin tricks. I haven't driven at night yet, so I'm not sure how the headlights will respond. I really don't have a meter with me right now anyway to get any accurate readings. But I do have the peace of mind knowing that I have a better electrical system than what it came with...next step...grounding the knock sensor and main ECU....we'll see what that does....

 
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Nce DIY. I enjoyed reading it.

 
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Great Diy!

 
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very nice... i think i might do this instead of getting the bridge msport kit...

 
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keep for later

 
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where u get the battery terminals?

 
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well, I had the terminals from a previous car I used to have and I just had em layin around, but they are Streetwires Terminals. They have 2 Alan screws on top and one set screw input in the middle for up to an 8 Ga wire

 
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i just bought everything i needed to make the ground wire kit...

i got the 2 distribution blocks at 9.90 each and 2 terminals at 5.90 each from www.installationproducts.com, they have a $25 mininum purchase (the rockford fosgate ones from sound domain you found are too expensive at $12 each!)

here's a pic of the terminals i got


with shipping the total came out to $38.81

then i got 35 ft (cuz you said you used 27ft) of 4 ga wire and the ring terminals from gadgetpros.com

total with shipping came out to $43.95

so overall i paid $82.76 for a ground wire kit that is probably better than the bridge msport kit...

 
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how much did the whole thing weigh? i also need to route it to the trunk since i have my battery in the trunk. so how long of a cable length would i need? so the 4 gauge wire had enough room?

 
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civichx01...

Cool...I didn't even think to keep looking at the installation products page for some terminals...I already had mine laying around so I didn't have to order them...good find!

The whole thing doesn't weigh too much I imagine, the blocks are relatively small, but you will need probably another 15-20' to run it to the trunk. And the 4 ga was perfect...

 
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when i get all my stuff in, i'll weigh myself, then weigh myself holding all the parts in a plastic bag... then subtract...

then i'll post up how much everything i got weighs...

 
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oh, and is there another way to sand down the connecting points? because i don't have a dremel tool... maybe i can use regular old sandpaper? i'm not sure what grit though...

 
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sure, you can use sand paper...the dremel just make's it easier and quicker. I would use the roughest grit possible, seeing as how you want to get rid of the paint over the metal and not really concerned about the "finish" since it will be covered with a ring terminal...I'm jealous...I actually like your battery terminal setup better than mine! LOL! Oh well....works the same, though..

 
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i jus finished installing mine... sorry i didn't get to weigh but i'd guess its all around 10-15 lbs... as you can see i ordered the red instead of the smoked wire... and i also was able to put the covers on the distribution blocks... what i did was hook up the wires first then put the cover and then screwed the blocks down... and the battery terminals were made by audiopipe so they matched the distribution blocks...

the pics are on this thread
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh....php?p=2094237

 
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looks sweet! good goin on getting those covers on...

 
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I really do not understand why on earth anybody would want to replace the grounds on a relatively new car that is running fine. Don't you think the automotive engineers in their infinite wisdom would have spent some time in designing a critical part of the electrical system?

 
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In a strange and unheard-of attempt at turning a profit...Honda engineers decided that the Civic will be an "economy" car. IE, they will use parts/materials that will get the job done to keep price down for the consumer but not necessarily something top of the line. Probably just about EVERY system/part of the car COULD be upgraded with something that would be that much better. Hmmm. why are some folks upgrading suspensions setups if Honda has this "outstanding performance" setup going on? You can say what you said about any kind of mod we do to our cars.

What I'm tryin to say is...yes, the stock electrical system is great and "get's the job done"...but just like anything else on the car, it could be better...

 
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There is nothing to be gained by replacing the ground system on a relatively new car. It's just asinine. Somebody explain to me what measurable benefit is there from doing this? This is the electrical equivalent of putting stickers on the outside and saying the car runs better.

 
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Lol!

 
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like are6 said the parts are good but could be better. But upgrading the wires to larger 8 or someties 4 gauge, its a cheap way of getting more grounding than the honda grounding wires did. Also i do believe that there are only certain parts that honda grounded and grounding such things as the cylinder head may help in a small small way but still helps. Other things such as the reported gas milage will pay for the price of the grounding kit in the long run anyways. and nothing wrong with brighter headlights which everyone notices along with a crisper nicer sound from the stock audio system.

So its a relatively (compared to i/h/e or turbo if you want to go that far) cheap mod that has alot of positive results and no negative ones to report off so far. And it looks good too depending on how neat you set it up.

EDIT: Oh and about a new car. Well the stock wires are going to be the same size even when the car is about 10 years old sure they might have a SMALL loss of effectiveness especially if their dirty but going from 8 or even 10 g to a 4 g (overdoing it, but making my point ) will increase the grounding effectiveness. Plus like i said before by doign it yourself, youll be able to ground some stuff that the stock grounds don't go to directly that may result in small improvements.


The overall improvements are small by doing this but they are arguably worthwhile to people.

 
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yeah...it's not like you're sinking a fortune into this mod. At the very least, you lose absolutely nothing....and that's a good mod in my book...

 
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Somebody show me show me a controlled test of where this actually improves fuel economy and horsepower. So far the only sites I have seen which claim any benefit are those who are trying to sell you a kit of some sort. Grounding loss is negligible. Try to measure it with an ohmmeter or scope. I bet you can't measure it on a digital multimeter because you won't be able to distinguish it from the multimeter's specified error for the meter.

 
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I used a digital voltmeter and it did show that voltage did stabilized a bit better and in some cases, it increased. I don't think it increases HP but it does help get to the 127 hp smoother and easier than it did before the HVS and ground wires. The auto trans. does shift much smoother than before.

Stabilizing the electrical system makes everything run smoother because just about everything runs of the electrical system. At one point I did not realize that the AC was running for a few minutes after the HVS was installed it was running so smooth.

The Civic is a nice car not a fast car. Just make it look good, sound good, and have fun. And if you can add a little here and their to make things better, go for it!!!

 
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How on does grounding make the auto transmission shift better? Same with the AC. That's purely a placebo effect. The transmission control logic tells it when to shift by flipping solonoids. It's an all or nothing affair. Same goes for the a/c. It flips an electric relay to engage the a/c clutch. Its all or nothing. There is no way a grounding kit can make the a/c feel different. Unless you are telling me you can feel the little click of the electric relay being smoother??? These "effects" you speak of are in your head. Try to explain your theory to a mechanic.

 
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CivicHX01. Looks a lot like my engine bay only I don't have the ground kit just yet. Hope it helps on the low end some cause my HX(CVT) doesn't take off too well. Denver 60 ft times are about 2.9 seconds. 1/4 mile 18.224 at 80.1 mph

 
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sigh....I think you're missin out on what I said earlier...AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU LOSE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I am making no claims as to increased HP or anything else for that matter. But it's common knowledge, at least I thought so. Electrons will follow the path of least resistance and all we're doin with this mod is giving them more venues to complete the circuit. Why are we arguing over something so stupid? For the $50 bucks or so that I paid for this mod, I'm not really too worried about nor did expect huge gains. I'm not really sure what you do for a living, and I don't really care. I don't doubt that you are probably somewhat knowledgeable on this subject, hell, you might even be an electrical engineer, so I'm not gonna take that away from you. All that I KNOW is that I've been installing/maintaining/operating large scale generators and all their related switchgear for years and I feel that I MIGHT have at least LITTLE insight on the particulars of an automotive electrical system. We deal mostly with 24V systems, but the concept is the same. Why would I use a 10ga wire to ground the battery to the frame of a generator when I know that is insufficient? Have you ever touched a wire that was carrying more amperage than it was designed to? It gets pretty hot. Sure, that 10ga wire will, for all intents and purposes, work and get me by, but not only have I not given the very sensative electronics the opportunity to opearte at their full potential I've also introduced an electrical hazard. Now, I'm not saying any of this is the case with the Honda, all I'm saying is, with the more direct grounding system, you are opening up that path and eleviating (sp) any inconsistancies in the electrical system. Now, the gains in this instance may be negliegable maybe even unmeaserable, but the bottom line is, you lost nothing with this mod. So who really cares? It looks good, costs cheap and was easy (and actually somewhat fun) to install. Like I said earlier, that's an A+ mod in my book. In fact, there was a member on here who did take comparative tests when doing this mod and did find that that the voltage increased somewhat. I can't find the link, so I am unable to verify this. Unfortunately, I didn't have my meter on me when I installed it, so I was unable to get a "before" reading. And no, it's not like plastering the car with stickers to gain HP. You're not "advertising" loud, obnoxious riceyness (I think I just made up a word), everything is nice and tucked away under the hood where only I, the driver, knows it's there and, if nothing else, gives me peace-of-mind. What really kinda erks me about this whole conversation really, though, is how you, an uproven rookie, just come up here, bangin down the door, knockin everybody down and turnin your nose up to what we are doin here. I'm not sayin I'm some veteran or any kinda expert, but I know when I'm new, I know how to act...If you have a problem with a particular apsect/mod/member/etc of this website, there are others ways to go about doin it. If you don't like the mod, don't do it, I could care less or if you have some actual evidence that we are in fact making things worse with this mod, post up that info. That would be helpful, instead of your holier-than-thou attitude making, from my angle, unfounded claims. If there is some secret you are privy to, let us in on it. If not, take your argumentative comments to some other website. Anyway, this whole conversation is getting way outta hand and it's becoming stupid, we are gettin nowhere. Either do the mod, don't do the mod or post some helpful information about whether or not this mod is a serious problem for the few bucks that I spent. I'm not gonna respond to this thread anymore unless it's constructive...so...moderators...feel free to shut it down if ya like...

 
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At the very least you lose nothing? Why isn't that a pragmatic answer. I don't think so. You lost $50 to marketing and hype. You've bought $50 of copper wire. You've paid for something that they want you to buy and reiterating their obviously outrageous marketing claims. You are saying that just because there are no tangible nor documented claims aside from some blurry graph on some ground kit's website, that's good enough for you. As for what I do? Well, I got a B. Sc. from SFU and I design power amplifiers for detection of nerve impulses.

 
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And you drive a Honda Civic?

 
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I personally think that this is a waste of money and time!!

upgrade the battery!!!!!!!!!!!!! that little stock battery is so small
use a larger guage ground wire on battery
upsize the 8 gauge to a 4 guage on the thermostat. Anything else is a waste!

 
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Oh yea, Throttle body ground...........anyone notice that is sitting on top of plastic(intake manifold). How is it grounded if its bolted to plastic?