Dirtbikindud Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 So i have just got a 97 grand prix as a hand-me-down car( ).i was putting in a thicker guage wiring kit and discovered that the original ground wire is longer than the new one (about a 4 ft wire). Does anyone know of a good place to ground to in the trunk that would be close enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 use a self tapping screw and put the ground wherever you want... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 lol yea i guess i shouldve thought of that (what can i say its late). thanks for the help anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Try to make your ground as short as possible. I, personally, would keep from using a seat bolt, as they are generally rusted, and are usually zinc coated(not a good ground). I personally would ground it to the floor, as they usually have a lot more spot welds holding it to the frame of the vehicle, than say the rear deck(basically, less resistance, not that you may notice it, but your amp may run a bit better). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Try to make your ground as short as possible. I, personally, would keep from using a seat bolt, as they are generally rusted, and are usually zinc coated(not a good ground). The shit you learn here.. I always figured that would be a good place to ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 It will work, don't get me wrong, but not as efficiently as grounding it to the body or frame where it is NOT rusted or has any sort of coating on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 well i just spent an hour looking for a good place to ground and gave up...i found some good spots but only having 3 ft of wire limits your area to put it in. also im tryin to keep it as clean as possible so i was planning on finding a good little lip on the floor but once again having only 3 ft sucks so imma go find some more 8ga wire somewhere. thanks for the tips much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 well i just spent an hour looking for a good place to ground and gave up...i found some good spots but only having 3 ft of wire limits your area to put it in. also im tryin to keep it as clean as possible so i was planning on finding a good little lip on the floor but once again having only 3 ft sucks so imma go find some more 8ga wire somewhere. thanks for the tips much appreciated. the shorter the ground the better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 yea i know but the lip i want to use is about 4 ft away so yea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Maybe I missed this, but where are your amps located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSI_MuNkY Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Mine goes to the rear seat belt mount. There was no rust there, I scraped off the paint and squished the wire between the belt mount and the floor. I have yet to have any problems with it. What about just drilling and tapping a hole into one of the strut towers? Or for that matter use one of the bolts on top of the strut towers. Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 That'll work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 i was planning on having my amp on the rear of the box in about the middle behind the seat. ill look into some of those spots today i have nothing better to do lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 I found a good spot to ground under my seat and put some white spray paint over the spot i sanded to prevent rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 So.. your saying once you sanded the spot, then grounded it, you painted over it, or you sanded it, painted it, then grounded it? Either way, something I wouldn't really recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtbikindud Posted January 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well seeing as painting it before would make no sense in sanding it, yes i did paint it after but just because the ground that was used before had a fair bit of rust around it and the area i had sanded was a little larger than i had expected to make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSI_MuNkY Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Painting it may not be a great idea... Paint can get between the wires and the metal via capillary action and ruin your connection. If your worried about rust I woudl recommend trying some dielectric grease and spreading it on the area. Or you could get a peice of vapour barrier (that plastic they put on house walls between the insulation and the drywall), get a square of that stuff and put a bead of silicone around the area and seal the area in with the plastic. If you don't get what I'm saying I will doodle something up in MSPaint. Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 For grounds, you sand down the metal to the bare metal, put the ground wire on, along with a shit load of dielectric compound. You will not have a problem with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 I am going to have to agree with everything gtp munky said on this thread. strut tower bolt, no paint. only to add, you should use kopr shield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl3196 Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 I just drill a hole into the trunk. Can't get easier then that ha. Or course sand it a bit first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 cant get better than that. drill right into the frame rail next to the strut tower through the floor. if you look under the car its just to the left of the base of the right strut tower. I have to use two 2 gauge wires. one thats like 10 inches long going from the tower stud to the battery. the other into the floor and goes to the 3 farad cap so hopefully pulls most of the instant power from the alt ground rather than the batt ground. just trying to make it as easy as possible for the power to go where it wants to. I have killed so many batteries in the past and got a new lifeline Im gonna put to the test. It has to back-up 2100 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolt_Crank Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Caps are a bandaid, lol, get a higher capacity alternator... and make sure it's got a nice, tasty big guage wire to feed the battery with, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 they call it a superbee 165. Its painted black custom built with bigger stator and other beefed up internals. cost me $300 at PM alternater. not even stock on a 1990 tgp. I just got another cs130D out of a 95 GP in the junkyard down the street. for the other car. I got new style starters and alternaters for both cars now. I want a "bandaid "on the battery. thats why I have it. that way theres a little buffer between there and its not so harsh on it. were talking about a $180 battery here. although the goal is to destroy it within the 1 year warranty and I guarantee it wont last 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolt_Crank Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Isn't 165 the amperage the stock alt puts out? or is that 105? Or are they 130amp? I can never remember, lol. If I get any bigger of a stereo, I'll probably upgrade to a 200 or so amp alternator... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Isn't 165 the amperage the stock alt puts out? or is that 105? Or are they 130amp? I can never remember, lol. If I get any bigger of a stereo, I'll probably upgrade to a 200 or so amp alternator... Stock alt is 100amp. They may have increased it to 105 for the newer cars however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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