Anyone Remember/Know how to do the 50 Cent Ground/HP upgrade?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Dec. 23, 2011 11:26 p.m. Idriveslow None

Hey All, I'm a Noob here. I just picked up a used/good shape Nissan.

I remember that GRM had an article or something on how to do a basic 50 cent or cheap way of doing the same thing that Mass Market companies charge $100+ for.

Anyone can lead me to the article or post, or simply put up the directions for everyone? Seems like a cheap/easy HP upgrade and also making the car safer overall/more reliable. The Nissan is supposed to have a pretty good grounding strap, but it IS a mid-90's car.......

Any directions/help AND expected HP gains or Torque gains would be appreciated. Just killing some of the extra RF frequency noise for the planned audiophile grade setup I have half of already sitting in my closet would be great. Always had a buzz/vibration in my last ridiculously loud setup. I just want my subwoofer system to work better.

TIA

IDS
Dec. 23, 2011 11:54 p.m. Taiden Dork

Nissan? Reground that MAF!

Also, check out my write up for a Subaru.

Fun fact, many Subaru parts have Nissan stamps on them.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f72/t133111-my-proof-diy-grounding-kits-work.html
Dec. 24, 2011 12:17 p.m. Brett_Murphy Dork

I was just thinking about this.

Not only does GRM have the ability to answer almost any question, sometimes they answer questions you have not even asked yet.

Thanks, Taiden.
Dec. 24, 2011 12:26 p.m. dean1484 SuperDork

Taiden wrote:

Nissan? Reground that MAF!

Also, check out my write up for a Subaru.

Fun fact, many Subaru parts have Nissan stamps on them.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f72/t133111-my-proof-diy-grounding-kits-work.html

I have done a similar mod to my FC and it really helped. The car stopped eating alternators and starters.

To add a little more info / tech. I found that coating the freshly cleaned areas and the ends of the new ground cables with dielectric grease keeps things from oxidizing keeping the contact points in good shape.

I really need to do this in my 924s. Porsche got many things rite but the ground connections is not one of them.
Dec. 25, 2011 5:04 p.m. iceracer SuperDork

One thing the instructors always said when I attended classes that involved electrons. " First check the grounds"
Dec. 25, 2011 5:23 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

dean1484 wrote:

Taiden wrote:

Nissan? Reground that MAF!

Also, check out my write up for a Subaru.

Fun fact, many Subaru parts have Nissan stamps on them.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f72/t133111-my-proof-diy-grounding-kits-work.html

I have done a similar mod to my FC and it really helped. The car stopped eating alternators and starters.

To add a little more info / tech. I found that coating the freshly cleaned areas and the ends of the new ground cables with dielectric grease keeps things from oxidizing keeling the contact points in good shape.

I really need to do this in my 924s. Porsche got many things rite but the ground connections is not one of them.

A direct ground from the block to the battery or was it the alternator to the body of the car... one of them will make the temp gage read lower (more correct)
Dec. 25, 2011 5:55 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

If you have read any one of my 2.4bn posts you will know that every vehicle should have a battery to body, battery to engine, body to "frame", frame to engine, and dashboard to body ground points. All of them should interact as well. (The grounds should all be at the same joint point as well, as in all of the body grounds meet at the same point) I also suggest running the braided ground straps as well.
Dec. 26, 2011 1:51 a.m. curtis73 Dork

I always thought grounds were sufficient on my cars... heck, if the factory thought they were good, they must be adequate, right?

I did an unrelated test on my F150 a few years ago. I'm a CB user and all the CB guys say that you can dramatically improve performance by improving how all the panels of your vehicle ground to the battery. I thought they were full of crap. I figured I would spend two days and $20 worth of wire and connectors just to improve my CB performance by 10% and I didn't care that much to do it.

Well, I did it. I had consistently talked from my mobile in my driveway to my friend with a base unit 8 miles away. I consistently reached him on his meter at 2-4 dB depending on conditions. After grounding every panel of the truck to the frame I consistently reached him at 7-10 dB. I was able to basically turn the whole truck into a ground plane for the antenna.

The same is true for all the PWM items on your car. Some cars are already adequate, some are pathetic. Adding grounds to everything is like turning up the volume for the PCM. Getting cleaner information lets things work properly.
Dec. 26, 2011 6:47 a.m. dean1484 SuperDork

My take on this is that many car's ground systems are adequate when new. However as the age it is compromised. I suspect this is is caused by two things.

The first is that the exposed metal surfaces will oxidise due to being exposed.

The second is that due to the typical ground lead is made from copper and ti is attached t steel you are going to get a galvanic reaction between the ferrous and non Ferris metals.

Both these problems are accelerated by the electricity (or electrons) flowing through these connections.

So as a car ages the connections in the ground system age and they will require servicing (cleaning) and or the system will need to have supplemental / upgraded grounding leads installed to restore it to like new condition.

It is just another maintenance item on older cars.
Dec. 26, 2011 7:36 a.m. Taiden Dork

curtis: So that's why my e30 has a grounding strap to the hood

dean: I thought so too until I cleaned all oem grounds, but still found a significant change post grounding kit install
Dec. 26, 2011 8:52 a.m. wbjones SuperDork

clean the grounds ... words to live by....

my CRX was showing some weird symptoms lately .. the rt front turn signal wouldn't work as the weather got colder ( this happened last yr too) come summer everything was good ... since the car had been sitting for about 4 wks without starting/running I thought it's about time to at least drive it around the block ( show it love )

the battery was almost dead... coasted it off drove around for a while ( blinker still not working ) got home pulled the bat. charged it, made sure it was actually good... while I was at it I decided to remove the ground strap from the valve cover to the radiator support and clean it and the contacts ... viola ... the blinker works just fine now ...

still didn't fix the tach though