crashtke
09-12-2006, 04:14 PM
Well I finally did get this together. I bought the kit from Paranoid fabrications just to see what it was like. I was dissapointed in it. Pictured was gold plated terminals and such. What I got was el cheapo terminals that you could buy at Walmart. I really felt that it was a bait and switch type of tactic. I tried emailing him and he pointed out that in the type of the add it said standard terminals even though he had the gold plated ones pictured. I replaced and re-soldered the ring terminals with some I got from West Marine (resistant to even salt!!), changed the length of the wire a bit to clean up the install and made do. I also went to different mounting points than he suggested in his online "instructions" :eek:
I mounted it to the intake manifold in 3 places, 1 appeared to be factory ground location, 2 were an additional locations, grounded to the alternator case and to a second frame mount on the passenger side near the intake. There looked to be a factory ground there as well, but it was little tiny. I tried to get to one of the bolts on the throttle body, but was unable without taking off the IC due to clearances. Lazy I know, but no time for it today.
I tried cleaning up the factory grounds when I installed the red top a while back and it did not help out. I cleaned up everything though and car ran the same.
Now since installing the grounding kit...well the car starts instantly. Before it would crank over a couple times before coming to life. At first I thought this might be the battery since it is stock, but changing to the red top proved me wrong on that...it cranked faster, but would still turn over for a second or two before coming to life. NOW I barely turn the key and it roars to life.
Things seem smoother as well. It revs up a little smoother, does not seem as jerky as it was prevously. The acceleration seems smooth. I would not say this gained any horsepower or torque, but it did smooth it out. 1st gear seems a lot smoother too. Before it would buck a bit when I let off of it in 1st or second. It does not seem to be as tempermental now.
For the $15 you could get everything you need from just about any local stereo shop. Call it around 10 feet of 8 gauge wire, 12 or so ring terminals and a little time with a crimper, soldering iron and heat wrap (I used a lighter to shrink it down after re-doing the connections) All in all for the money this is a great little mod! Save yourself the time spent waiting on the Kit from Paranoid on ebay and make your own.
In case you are wondering, I did not do an ECU reset, kept the neg terminal on the battery, so no change in that either...resets really have not changed much for me in the past. This was a change though!
I mounted it to the intake manifold in 3 places, 1 appeared to be factory ground location, 2 were an additional locations, grounded to the alternator case and to a second frame mount on the passenger side near the intake. There looked to be a factory ground there as well, but it was little tiny. I tried to get to one of the bolts on the throttle body, but was unable without taking off the IC due to clearances. Lazy I know, but no time for it today.
I tried cleaning up the factory grounds when I installed the red top a while back and it did not help out. I cleaned up everything though and car ran the same.
Now since installing the grounding kit...well the car starts instantly. Before it would crank over a couple times before coming to life. At first I thought this might be the battery since it is stock, but changing to the red top proved me wrong on that...it cranked faster, but would still turn over for a second or two before coming to life. NOW I barely turn the key and it roars to life.
Things seem smoother as well. It revs up a little smoother, does not seem as jerky as it was prevously. The acceleration seems smooth. I would not say this gained any horsepower or torque, but it did smooth it out. 1st gear seems a lot smoother too. Before it would buck a bit when I let off of it in 1st or second. It does not seem to be as tempermental now.
For the $15 you could get everything you need from just about any local stereo shop. Call it around 10 feet of 8 gauge wire, 12 or so ring terminals and a little time with a crimper, soldering iron and heat wrap (I used a lighter to shrink it down after re-doing the connections) All in all for the money this is a great little mod! Save yourself the time spent waiting on the Kit from Paranoid on ebay and make your own.
In case you are wondering, I did not do an ECU reset, kept the neg terminal on the battery, so no change in that either...resets really have not changed much for me in the past. This was a change though!