Posted December 2, 200321 yr Admin Popular Post The Big 3 Are:1. negative battery wire to ground - just replace the negative batt. terminal and wire and ground it to the factory location2. engine block to ground - replace the ground wire from the engine block to the chasie with a bigger wire (maybe 4 guage)3. alternator to batt - add a fused wire from the postive post on you alternator (the one comming from the battery) to the postive terminal on your battery. DO NOT exchange wires just add a extra one. make sure it fused the same size as your factory fuse.hope thats helpsNote on #2- Some cars have a batt-engine block connection stead of chassis to engine block...
February 12, 200421 yr EVERYONE should do this, it works! if you think you need a cap, do this. If you have dimming problems, do this. If your about to get a HO alt, do this first. If you feel like doing somthing, do this. This will solve a good 80% of problems people have with dimming and issues like that. its not that hard to do and well worth it. Use 4g to do it. -aaron
February 12, 200421 yr EVERYONE should do this, it works! if you think you need a cap, do this. If you have dimming problems, do this. If your about to get a HO alt, do this first. If you feel like doing somthing, do this. This will solve a good 80% of problems people have with dimming and issues like that. its not that hard to do and well worth it. Use 4g to do it. -aaron ive tryed telling ppl this for years.... ppl think they need caps but all they have to do is the big 3....jamie
February 13, 200421 yr Author Admin its a good reference, people get these massive Alts and dont wire them up right
March 1, 200421 yr . DO NOT exchange wires just add a extra one. make sure it fused the same size as your factory fuse. Why not exchange the wire with something bigger? Just curious.
March 1, 200421 yr Author Admin . DO NOT exchange wires just add a extra one. make sure it fused the same size as your factory fuse.Why not exchange the wire with something bigger? Just curious. I was always told not to, but honestly I dont see why not and Qckrun yeah get some pics up so people can see
March 1, 200421 yr Making sure that you have the correct size wire for you power and ground is very important. You don't want to starve the amp of power that it is asking for. From what I've seen ppl use too small of a wire for there amps. There is nothing wrong with adding a cap or two. Sometimes there is an extra deep bass hit that requires a little more power.
March 1, 200421 yr . DO NOT exchange wires just add a extra one. make sure it fused the same size as your factory fuse.Why not exchange the wire with something bigger? Just curious. I was always told not to, but honestly I dont see why not and Qckrun yeah get some pics up so people can see im not sure about this, but from what i know (which is not much) i would think that it would spark like a mother fudger. since even when your car is off, the alt is still in a active power flow with the batt and someone that keeps all the ciurcuts from being grounded. if you were to just have a - ground wire from the alt to batt then that flow would not be complete and everything on the car would turn on basicly...there more to it....but i dunno...
March 2, 200421 yr This is one of the grounds off of the alternator. Im sorry its not a great pic. I need to retake some of these pics and get better ones up but this is will have to do.
March 2, 200421 yr Those are all the pictures i have of the Big Three so far. I plan on taking more pictures when it stops raining out side.
April 20, 200421 yr How important is the engine block ground? Mine runs through all kinds of stuff (camaro) and is pretty tricky looking. I did the other 2 and now my battery runs at around 14 volts as opposed to 12.5-12.8
April 20, 200421 yr Author Admin well its worth it but if your running at a good voltage for you uses then I guess your ok then
May 3, 200421 yr Concerning the 3rd wire and not increasing its size. If you are not increasing it solely because you don't want to unhook it, just add the big wire, and remove the old stuff...constant connection.www.weldersupply.com I think .... for really cheap wire.Might be www.weldingsupply.com
June 24, 200421 yr How important is the engine block ground? Mine runs through all kinds of stuff (camaro) and is pretty tricky looking. I did the other 2 and now my battery runs at around 14 volts as opposed to 12.5-12.8 Your alternator is grounded through the block (on most cars) so it's rather pointless to upgrade alt to batt if you're not going to upgrade the altenator's ground (chassis to block)
September 6, 200421 yr I have always wanted to redo the big 3 on my Satur, but knowing where my Alt is I don't want to try it. Maybe I can pay a shop to do it. Na, maybe when I get the alternator switched I will do it. How come Saturn can't mount an alternator in a san eplace :soap:
September 6, 200421 yr ok..i need a little help here...1) the positive from my alternator to the battery goes to a junction box...it's fusible link..it says" 8.0 S.Q. MM Fusible Link " ok, so what size fuse do i use? can i leave this and go straight to the battery when i do the Big 3?2) from the negative battery post i've got a 10 gauge wire going to the chassis and a 1/0 going to the engine block...which of these do i upgrade? can i do both? if i do both, do i need to upgrade the block to body ground strap?3) chassis to block ground..is that the engine to body ground strap? or am i missing one somewhere under my truck? do i just run a wire from the block to the frame?ok, that should do it...this is next weekends project! when i put my optima in with it's new tsunami topper!wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
September 6, 200421 yr ok..i need a little help here...1) the positive from my alternator to the battery goes to a junction box...it's fusible link..it says" 8.0 S.Q. MM Fusible Link " ok, so what size fuse do i use? can i leave this and go straight to the battery when i do the Big 3?2) from the negative battery post i've got a 10 gauge wire going to the chassis and a 1/0 going to the engine block...which of these do i upgrade? can i do both? if i do both, do i need to upgrade the block to body ground strap?3) chassis to block ground..is that the engine to body ground strap? or am i missing one somewhere under my truck? do i just run a wire from the block to the frame?ok, that should do it...this is next weekends project! when i put my optima in with it's new tsunami topper!wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 1. not sure.2. upgrade the 10g wire to 1/0 and do the same for the block to body strap. I don't really see why it's necessary since the block to battery connection provides the ground for it, but it can't hurt and it's only another $3 worth of wire.3. that is the block to body grounding strap.
September 6, 200421 yr heck..i've got a ground from the firewall to the hood!! where do u think i can find the info on the fusible link? i'm thinking about just calling the service/parts department and asking.....but the other two will be done..hehewheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
September 7, 200421 yr How flexible does this wire have to be? I got some 0/1 in the garage but not very flexible. When i mean flexible, i mean does it have to be flexible enough to bend heavily when flexing around all the car parts.
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