How To: Ground Wire Replacement For Your Civic

Originally Posted by green

This is sort of an old thread, but I was wondering if there are any tips on grounding the alternator, and I guess the starter, I replaced the big three already, I acutually felt a little difference in accelerating and definitely smoother idle. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

When I was doing my push-button start, I noticed the starter has like 16ga connectors, and it would be awfully hard to convert to 4ga somehow..
as for the Alternator, i think it could be done, maybe from beneath? When I took a peek, everything looked too tight and I just didn't bother, I thought it would require too much effort.

[Enjoi]

if i were to use 8 guage wire instead of 4, would i get similar results? would a smaller wire really have much effect on it?

4 guage is too big and looks a little goofy

[gabebauman]

8 gauge will work just fine. 4 gauge is a bit overkill.

[Enjoi]

thanks gabe. your car gives me a hardon btw

[RiceburnerRyan]

sounds tight .... ill try it .. thanks buddy

[green]

Originally Posted by anekin007

also..i think your missing the intake manifold and alternator grounds.

Anekin any advice on how to do this? for the intake manifold, can I just pick somewhere to ground it or does it have to be a specific place? I'm pretty lazy about looking underneath at the alternator, but I have two more ground wires, and don't want to waste em!

[child_racer]

nice.....i changed a few extra grounds under my hood and i used 0 and 1 gauge wire. Well worth it and it didnt cost much at all.

[green]

Originally Posted by child_racer

nice.....i changed a few extra grounds under my hood and i used 0 and 1 gauge wire. Well worth it and it didnt cost much at all.

Did you ground the intake manifold???

[kamikaze_fish]

I was having A/C problems in my '86 Si, went to replace clutch and noticed it had crap for a ground from tranny to battery and chassis to valve cover and that's all I found. At Wal-Mart in lawn and garden I found some 4 gauge w/ ends already, various lenths and they were only $2.00 ea. Bought 3 of em, went from battery to starter, battery to distributor, valve cover to chassis and A/C problems are gone, and car accelerates smoother and starts quicker. Bought 2 more but haven't put them on out of laziness and thinking, how much better could it get?

[green]

Originally Posted by kamikaze_fish

I was having A/C problems in my '86 Si, went to replace clutch and noticed it had crap for a ground from tranny to battery and chassis to valve cover and that's all I found. At Wal-Mart in lawn and garden I found some 4 gauge w/ ends already, various lenths and they were only $2.00 ea. Bought 3 of em, went from battery to starter, battery to distributor, valve cover to chassis and A/C problems are gone, and car accelerates smoother and starts quicker. Bought 2 more but haven't put them on out of laziness and thinking, how much better could it get?

Did you just pick a bolt and stick the ground wire to it, or is there a specific place to do it?

[liquidfusion]

mr. lin, you were talking about frying yourself touching the positive terminal to chassis, its no biggie i've done it countless times (that battery tie down is a b**** not to contact trying to remove the positive terminal with a ratchet ) anyway don't worry about it the battery only carries a 12v current, not even enough to give you a decent shock It'll spark a little, but won't hurt you.

[child_racer]

Originally Posted by green

Did you ground the intake manifold???

i also changed my Amps and other Misc. things that were wired up......thanks for tryin' to be a smart-ass

[green]

Originally Posted by child_racer

i also changed my Amps and other Misc. things that were wired up......thanks for tryin' to be a smart-ass

sorry, I wasn't trying to be lame at all, I've been searching and posting everywhere, on where to ground the IM, so i was really anxiously asking the question...oops.

[child_racer]

i guess we had a bit of a misunderstanding. For the most part....the factory ground locations are quite sufficient, but by changing the wire gauge and wire material (ex. pure copper) can help. If you have easy access to a dyno, you can mix and match ground locations and find the most useful areas or make an honest effort to get all of your grounds to touch bare metal for the best current transfer

[green]

Originally Posted by child_racer

i guess we had a bit of a misunderstanding.

sorry man, I shouldn't have put three question marks, hahah. Anyway, first I just replaced the stock grounds direct to the frame, I didn't gain anything, except a slightly smoother idle. I changed the setup, linked everything to one location (neg battery ground) and sent all grounds there, and man, my car feels totally different, I really believe I gained some tq/hp, my vtec feels like it pulls harder. You guys can call bs but I drive my car an hour a day, and I couldn't believe the difference it made. I'm very happy!