Ok so I looked at the factory ground wire and it is kinda nasty, in need of a replacement. I have seen several grounding kits out there that make all kind of claims as to better power, quicker starts, etc. Has anyone installed one of these and seen any results? My car is a little slow to start up, idles a little rough with the occasional dip. My first thought was check the ground wire and sure enough, it is nasty looking. So are these kits worth the effort or is it just better to clean and replace the stock wire and mounting location? Mike
Well I did the cheap way out and went to Home Depot for the wiring..I had a problem with my engine shaking the whole car. This smoothed that out off the bat. I read on nasioc/clubwrx a while back about someone dyno'ing before and after and noticed about a 10hp gain from this alone. Personally, I wouldnt spend a huge amount of money on the expensive grounding kits. I think I spent $18 at the Depot
Well I figure a distribution block and some spare 8 gauge amp wire would work wonders. I have some of this stuff just laying around and all I would need is some gold connectors from the local audio shop and I should be good. Anyone see any issues with this type of set up?
kinda curious about this too...because I want to redo my set-up but couldn't find big enough connectors....(Home Depot, Lowes didn't have them) What's a good audio shop to get just some connectors?
nope that should work fine. heres the points i grounded. alt, tb, tranny, intake manafold, firewall right behind tmic, and the pillar where the strut connects. kris is right if you have a bad idle it will do wounders for it. help a lil with throttle responce also.
I would try just replacing the spark plugs first. The way the Subarus are setup, they have a coilpack attached to the plug, the wire doesn't really do that much. http://www.fastwrx.com/canibuyplugw.htmlj. Save your money and buy some NGK Ir or Pt's. Believe me, it will make your car more responsive like when you first bought it and starts will take a lot less time.
can you re-link cause yours isnt working. good artical. http://www.sportcompactonly.com/tech-article.aspx?a=Grounding+Wire+Kits
http://www.fastwrx.com/canibuyplugw.html I must have typed a j by accident afterwards. Its not really an article. It just says that there are no need for plugwires or anything. I only mentioned the spark plugs and not the grounding kit because it sounded like the original problem was just the ignition system. I am sure it wouldn't hurt to replace some wires since it is detoriorating.
I think that before installing a grounding kit, the real problem needs to be addressed. If at some point the car ran fine and now it doesn't, it's not because of a lack of grounding kits. Find the cause and correct it. Grounding kits can help overall, but I do not think they should be used to mask what could be a more serious problem.
not to threadjack or anything, but what would be a good audio spot to get the connectors at...preferably in the Gwinnett area..?
From what the guy described, his factory ground wire seems to be having issues. Running wires all over and connecting to various points might mask the immediately apparent problems but not fix the root cause. Sounds like he needs to clean/replace the existing wire if that seems to be the trouble; if that doesn't fix it troubleshoot appropriately (plugs, engine-to-body ground(s) etc). Then add a grounding kit. Just my $.02 Check Audio Pro.. they moved from 78 and I think they're up in/near Lawrenceville now.
no way it can get 10 hp maybbe if it was limping before the ground wire because of poor grounding but for a stock setup with no issues i dont think you can get any more than a couple (at most)
Plugs are cheap and if you are running an 02 WRX (20-30 depending), I am sure you are past the recommended 60k mile replacement of that part. There are a couple of DIY writes about how to change it. http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511 http://www.wrxatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2643&highlight=spark+plugs
i totaly agree. it just sounded to me like you ment something worse than a bad termanl or wire. :eek3: dont they make some sort of goo that keeps it from getting caroded like that? i agree i had one that was like the hks hyperground kit. all 7 cables came back to the batt ground.
Yep, I read that too. It was later found that the power gains were from the ECU reset, not the actual grounding. The only thing the grounding would do would be to smooth out the power band according to the tuner shop I got my grounding kit from. Yeah, I know I should have doen it myself, but the kit was only $60 something, and very well done so why not.
Ok well, it was a northern car, and the factory wire was kinda corroded. The plugs were just replaced by the previous owner with iridium (sp?) plugs. The only reason I though of the grounding kit was the factory ground looks to be a mess. I also plan on replacing that at the same time. As for the grounding kit, I plan on taking some 4 or 2 gauge wire, running it from the battery to the distribution block. From there I plan on taking 3 8 gauge wires and going to various points. I also plan on replacing the battery with an optima battery at the same time. Basically I am going to give the electrical system a good tune up. I am trying to get as much stuff done to get the vehicle running properly (and with the add ons I want) before taking it to get it professionally tuned. At this time I am also debating on going with a new IC and hoses. Still the stock turbo, but I figure it can't hurt to let it breath a bit better and cool down a bit. Does anyone have any experience with any of the "ebay" IC's? Mike
Yeah? They are mostly over half cost!! The only thing I am worried about is noty having even close to stock fitment. I don't want to have to bother with going out and having a bracket designed to work. I am all about just bolting it up and not having to rid things!! What kit did you use? Who was the seller?
Here is where I got mine. I can take pics of it installed if you want. I got Red. https://www.staticxmotorsports.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=24&idproduct=2
The eBay intercooler I've seen the most positive about is from Dynasty Auto. It should be < $200 shipped.
Im interested in that as well but what are the advantages compared to stock (non STi, or STi). Im not looking for top end power but looking for quick spool up or torque availability as quick as possible
I got my ground kit at the same place StarquestAndy did, Static-X. Robert is the owner and a very nice guy. $60 https://www.staticxmotorsports.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=199&idproduct=2
Well, you're likely not going to see faster spool considering you have a larger volume to compress with a bigger IC. I posted a thread a few days ago that linked to a NASIOC thread where they had measured pressure drop, intake temps etc comparing the Dynasty Auto one to the STI one.
thanks ^^^^ I guess with that i will be sticking to my stocker. unless larger turbo. Also read abou the AC line and Y pipe extension mod needed for that.
Agreed, you will loose power with a FMIC and a stock turbo. That's why mine is gone. If I had a larger turbo, then it would make sense to have one.
Yeah the dynasty auto one kinda scared me in that I really don't want to have to play around with making new AC lines and such. The grounding kit I will make myself. Not too concerned about that, but fabricating AC lines is a bit beyond me. As for the TMIC being larger, it also flows better than stock and has less pressure drop....would that not keep the spool up around the same? I mean in comparison you would see smaller volume+more restriction+less flow Vs. Larger volume+less restriction+higher flow Given I am new to all this, but you would think that it would be about the same for spool and still get a better intake temp drop, which we all know equates to power and efficiency.
^^^ dont forget pressure (oops moose slipped in between) larger vollume takes time to build pressure I dont think needs ac lines but definately needs to be moved because of the height of the TMIC
Moving the lines is easy. Also, with the Sti TMIC and VF39, I lost HP and TQ going to a FMIC....so I went back to OEM. It felt so much better with tip in.
Ok back to the grounding question, those that have it, where does it hook in? Do you bring them all back to the neg terminal on the battery or are you jut going from frame mount to the engine etc? My plan was to take on 2 or 4 guage from the neg terminal to the distribution block then 3 lines from there to a frame mount such as the strut mount, one to the engine, and one to a third location...but all connected back to the neg terminal. Does this sound about right?
Some types have a large distribution block at the battery and run single runs to each mounting point. Others make one long circuit. Starting at the battery and running each wire in series from each mounting point to the next mounting point and then on to the other side of the car and mounting it to the chassis. Mine is the second one and if I didn't point it out, you wouldn't even notice it.
What really matters is the cumulative current you expect going through the system. Whether it's 'daisy chained' or not doesn't really matter as long as the cable is capable of handling said current.
Gotcha, well with all the parts in now, that is my project for tomorrow. Hopefully it comes out ok and helps a bit with the idle...I figure the tune I plan on getting from SS will solve most of the rest!!
Ok so getting this together now and after doing some reading on several threads on NASIOA and other sites I found that just using 8 gauge wire and running it from the battery to both heads, the intake, the alternator and the throttle body should help things out quite a bit. They state that there is no gain in other frame mounts as long as your frame mount it good. From what they say the struts are not a good location at all. So I plan on redoing my factory ground then running the new one to those points. The benifit they say is making less resistance for the head (spark plugs), the intake (various sensors), alternator and the throttle. I will let you know what I think after this is done. I will see if it smooths out my idle any or does anything else noticeable.