Installed the grounding kit *pics, write-up and evidence of child labor added*

[Hugo]

I will post pics later, mainly to see if I did everything right, since the instructions were not *that* clear.

Other than that, I can attest that the kit is well made, and installation is just time consuming, but not tough at all.

Can't say if I did it correctly though, because I didn't make a before and after test to see how bad lowering the windows had an effect on the dome light. It seems better, but then again...

[Gary-TulZa]

Did you remember to put the stickers back on the windows? Adds 20 rwhp you know?

[Hugo]

Did you remember to put the stickers back on the windows? Adds 20 rwhp you know?

There ain't no «Bill's grounding kit» sticker, n00b!

[clintjg]

I always thought that Hugo needed to be a little more 'grounded'.
Glad to hear!

[Hugo]

[JoeZ]

Whoa Hugo.....seems that you're doing a lot of work to the Z lately! How much more time do you have it on the road before it goes back under the covers for the Canadian winter?

[Hugo]

Whoa Hugo.....seems that you're doing a lot of work to the Z lately! How much more time do you have it on the road before it goes back under the covers for the Canadian winter?

A few weeks at best.

[JoeZ]

A few weeks at best.

Seriously?!?!! When does it go away? Nov 1? I'm probably going to be driving mine as late as possible this year......

[Hugo]

Ok, for the write-up now...

Here is the kit. One of the big wires doesn't go in the block, but is made to ground the battery. I didn't use it yet.




First wire to connect goes on the TB, right on that bolt next to the «dot» marking on the hose. That bolt is a PITA to get to because as you can see, a socket won't fit, and a 10mm open end wrench can only manage 1/16 of a turn at best.





So I reverted to my favorite way of solving problems involving small bolts : child labor!





She put forth quite an effort to reach that damn bolt!




Next up, the alternator :




The engine block via that bolt on the engine mount (there's already a ground that you leave there)




You then ground one of the bolts holding the coil packs in place. The rearmost one already has a ground cable there. Yes, she is torquing that one down at 8 lbs!

[Hugo]

Then, you ground the tranny using that bolt. I wasn’t so sure, because the instructions said you could either ground the tranny or the Vanos unit. I may do both. That bolt is actually on the engine, but reaches into to block to, I presume, the transmission bell housing.




The big, 4-gauge cable is used on the shock tower because I couldn,t find a better place on the firewall or frame rails.



This is what the finished product looks like after being mounted with my ghetto brace. I plan on routing the tranny cable in some other way, but it’ll do for now.




Aaahhh... the joys of DIY'ing...

[tasmisr]

Thanks man for the write-up, keep it up !! and man, that girl is gonna be hot

[QuestMCoupe]

Nice writeup Hugo, where did you get the kit from?

[Hugo]

StouffvilleZ3 sold it to me. His buddy Chris is the one (I think) making it, but Bill can put it together anyway. You can chose 4 or 5 colors of wires, and there's a slight price difference depending on the connectors you chose (gold plated or not). IIRC, the price is 125$ or 150$, but I don,t know if this is US or CAN.

[WEB150]

Go to the electrical department of Home Depot and buy the parts for ~$40. I made a similar kit for a stereo install I did in my old car. It only took me 10 minutes to put the octopus together. Looks like you had fun on the install Hugo.

[Hugo]

The only thing is finding the 4 gauge wire can be tough. I don,t know how much it really costs to put this together, and I'm not claiming this is the only way to go. My guess is that the machining, drilling and tapping of the appropriate aluminum block, along with the appropriate R&D time justified, IMO, paying a little extra. I guess that my write-up puts the makers of this one out of business, huh... How ironic...

[WEB150]

I'm not talking about machining, drilling and tapping an aluminum block here. They sell grounding blocks similar to the one in the pic at Home Depot. You can choose from several configurations. You can even pick up the wire from places like Circuit City and Best Buy for about $1/ft. Just thought people might want to know how they can save ~$100.

[Hugo]

Oh, I almost forgot...

When I turned th car on after the install, the idle was very rough, much like when I had my vac leaks and timing issues this summer. I went like «oh no, I didn't torque the TB bolt hard enough». But I drove for like 1/3 of a mile and things went back to normal.

Could it be that the kit is so efficient that the ingition is indeed much stronger, creating timing issues before the computer adjusted?

[WEB150]

That is quite strange. I don't know why it would do that.

[clintjg]

BMW electrical systems are pretty sensitive. It could just be the ECU adjusting.

[StouffvilleZ3]

I've never had an issue with the car stttering after an install, it could be the ECU adjusting or it could be grounding to a coil pack. The others I have done were grounded to the bolts that hold down the cam cover, around the edge.
Also try gounding the vanos, it may help too.

If you were to shorten up the bracket a little and turn the block so that the wires faced downward it would look a lot cleaner.

Guy's,
You can buy this stuff at various car stereo stores (wires and connectors) With silver wire it cost about $40 in our funny money. The aluminium isn't too bad it you know where to buy it but there is a fair bit of time involved in the machining and threading of the block. Surely Chris and I don't lose money when we sell one of these but we don't make a whole lot either. If you were to price our labour at a cheap 10 bucks an hour and assume the design of the block has no value to it we "might" clear 15 bucks each.

Considering other major co's are selling these kits for $200 to $350 (CDN) without the same quality wire, connectors and no where near the quality of the ground block we feel like our package is a bargain. I'm in no way saying the other packages are a good value, they're not. Do searches for Hyper ground or Sun Auto and you'll find them.

They claim gain of 7 rwhp on cars like the new 350Z, after installing these kits on different kinds of cars I don't quite believe that claim. Gains are 3 to 5 hp at most, much like a fan delete kit. In all honesty I notice the largest differences on older cars. Newer cars don't have the same in-efficiencies in their electrical systems.
I noticed a difference in my car, but I will never lie and say it's night and day. It's a small difference but that's generally what a $125 mod gets you.

[Hugo]

I've never had an issue with the car stttering after an install, it could be the ECU adjusting or it could be grounding to a coil pack. The others I have done were grounded to the bolts that hold down the cam cover, around the edge.

I have no idea what you're talking aboot.

There are bolts above the coil packs, but they have a rubber sleeve and are female screws.

[StouffvilleZ3]

I almost forgot- Nice child labour!!!!! Especially when she's right in the engine bay.

[clintjg]

Did Hugo close the hood w/ her under it to gain 3-5hp and one little girl power?

[Hugo]

You guys are terrible...













I like it!

[StouffvilleZ3]

Yay girl power!!!!!

The female type bolts wok just fine Hugo. The studs those bolt on to go straight to the cylinder head castings, exactly what you want the ground to do.