October 25, 201014 yr I use Welding Supply wire for my Big 3 Wiring and battery wiring, even from battery postive/ground to distribution blocks. From distribution blocks to amplifiers is the only place you will spot KnuKonceptz Kolossus Fleks wire in my car.
October 25, 201014 yr Welding cable = copperKnu - copper clad aluminumIsn't the KnuKonceptz Fleks 99.9% copper?The Fleks Kable is copper, but at $3.40/foot what would you pick?
October 28, 201014 yr Ok...some stupid noob questions to keep you guys on your toes...Where abouts on the engine block would the ground wire normally be located? I haven't had a chance to take the mud guard off and look real hard but I haven't seen where it goes from up top. I do see a braided cable grounded to the firewall and going off and down into the direction of the block. The stock power wire from the alt looks to be about an 8 ga size (or whatever OEM automotive equivalent there is) so I would gather I should probably beef all this stuff up.This may seem self-explanatory to most but I'm a little dense on my next question. Where do most of you guys get your 1/0 ring terminals? What hole size is typical? I would think 5/16 on the alternator and maybe a little bigger on some of the other stuff.I have a 2001 S10 ZR2 and plan to put a new HU and speakers in it just as soon as the equipment arrives. For now I will use an old Kenwood 8'' powered subwoofer and a 300 watt 2 channel amp made by Legacy Car Audio to power my front door speakers. I am leaving myself plenty of upgrade potential in the wiring with intentions to likely build a sub and buy a better amp as money and time permit. To make a long story short my intentions are leaning more on the sound quality side of things than it is to impress the neighbors 4 miles down the road.
November 7, 201014 yr I just did the big 3 on my cavalier build and I bought the connectors off of ebay for 5.25 x2 free shipping I believe. And yes 5/16 is pretty standard everywhere except major connection points like on The engine or battery if you have the gm screw on type batt connector. I got around this by shaving off the inside a little or drilling it out.The alternator lead should definitely be upgraded an 80A+ alternator doesn't need 8 or 10 awg wire resistance when trying to run a couple hundred amps.I have never seen an s10's engine bay up close but I'm sure that the braided wire is it. Mine was a 4awg wire that went to the transmission right by the starter.Hope this helps good luck.
November 7, 201014 yr Ok...some stupid noob questions to keep you guys on your toes...Where abouts on the engine block would the ground wire normally be located? I haven't had a chance to take the mud guard off and look real hard but I haven't seen where it goes from up top. I do see a braided cable grounded to the firewall and going off and down into the direction of the block. The stock power wire from the alt looks to be about an 8 ga size (or whatever OEM automotive equivalent there is) so I would gather I should probably beef all this stuff up.This may seem self-explanatory to most but I'm a little dense on my next question. Where do most of you guys get your 1/0 ring terminals? What hole size is typical? I would think 5/16 on the alternator and maybe a little bigger on some of the other stuff.I have a 2001 S10 ZR2 and plan to put a new HU and speakers in it just as soon as the equipment arrives. For now I will use an old Kenwood 8'' powered subwoofer and a 300 watt 2 channel amp made by Legacy Car Audio to power my front door speakers. I am leaving myself plenty of upgrade potential in the wiring with intentions to likely build a sub and buy a better amp as money and time permit. To make a long story short my intentions are leaning more on the sound quality side of things than it is to impress the neighbors 4 miles down the road.Add don't replace!For your ground ... go off the alternator mounting bolt. As far as going from the Alt +, you could go as small as 4 gauge and as large as 1/0.
November 7, 201014 yr Hmm... Just a quick question... a few days ago I upgraded the Alt to Batt+ ... and the Batt- to chassis ... Couldn't really figure which was right.. I kept reading the 3rd to be engine block to chassis... Is it the mount bolt for the Alt actually that? I'm confuzzled atm... Also, if I don't upgrade that last one, how bad is that?
November 7, 201014 yr Hmm... Just a quick question... a few days ago I upgraded the Alt to Batt+ ... and the Batt- to chassis ... Couldn't really figure which was right.. I kept reading the 3rd to be engine block to chassis... Is it the mount bolt for the Alt actually that? I'm confuzzled atm... Also, if I don't upgrade that last one, how bad is that?Shouldn't be that crucial, some vehicles make it easy to get to the alt bracket.
November 8, 201014 yr Great thread! Ill be doing this in a while. Probly after I do my HU,door speakers,and 2channel amp. I already have 2 12"kicker L7's (got them for $200 ) . But I need Christmas cash for a amp and custom box. Edited November 8, 201014 yr by swagger_wagon468
November 8, 201014 yr Hmm... Just a quick question... a few days ago I upgraded the Alt to Batt+ ... and the Batt- to chassis ... Couldn't really figure which was right.. I kept reading the 3rd to be engine block to chassis... Is it the mount bolt for the Alt actually that? I'm confuzzled atm... Also, if I don't upgrade that last one, how bad is that?Shouldn't be that crucial, some vehicles make it easy to get to the alt bracket.Instead of doing the alt- to chassis, I just did my engine block to chassis and it helped so you could try that as an alternate.
November 8, 201014 yr Hmm... Just a quick question... a few days ago I upgraded the Alt to Batt+ ... and the Batt- to chassis ... Couldn't really figure which was right.. I kept reading the 3rd to be engine block to chassis... Is it the mount bolt for the Alt actually that? I'm confuzzled atm... Also, if I don't upgrade that last one, how bad is that?Shouldn't be that crucial, some vehicles make it easy to get to the alt bracket.Instead of doing the alt- to chassis, I just did my engine block to chassis and it helped so you could try that as an alternate.Okay... Good idea.... Not sure where a good spot on my engine block is for me to actually use though....
November 8, 201014 yr On my car it was where my cooling fan was grounded to, the negative wire from my cooling fan went to a bolt on my engine. There was an 8 gauge wire going from the bolt on my engine to my frame, I sanded down where the ground was on the frame since it wasnt from the factory and upgraded the wire to 1/0 gauge. Just add an additional wire to what is already there, dont replace the wire.
November 8, 201014 yr I've always viewed adding to be better than replacing. If you add and later on you decide to sell you can take all the wiring out without anything bad happening. 1/0 is expensive and always nice to have around. If you had replaced everything it'd be a lot harder to get everything back. That and adding = next to zero resistance because you have a 1/0 + 8-4awg wire.
January 14, 201411 yr I would definitely like to do this on my truck but have 0 experience in doing so. I can't view any of the pics that were posted and that alone would be an enormous help!!
January 14, 201411 yr I would definitely like to do this on my truck but have 0 experience in doing so. I can't view any of the pics that were posted and that alone would be an enormous help!!It's not hard at all. I'm going to be doing mine within 2 weeks I can walk you through it. Very easy. I was 16 and did it on my car with no prior experience of car's engines.
January 15, 201411 yr I would definitely like to do this on my truck but have 0 experience in doing so. I can't view any of the pics that were posted and that alone would be an enormous help!!It's not hard at all. I'm going to be doing mine within 2 weeks I can walk you through it. Very easy. I was 16 and did it on my car with no prior experience of car's engines.That would be fantastic bro would be much appreciated
September 26, 201410 yr Ive done this to a couple cars over the years. I bought 4ga stuff to do it on my Grand prix gtp, when i went to do it it looks like the 2 grounds are already 4gauge or close to it. The alt wire looks like 8 ga though. Is it even worth it to do this with the 4 gauge or should i get 2/0. Bought it all on ebay and didn't look first like a dumbass.
September 26, 201410 yr Depends on the system really or if you plan to upgrade in the future. With a little system 4 ga should work fine.I usually use 1/0 just to not have to worry in the future.
September 27, 201410 yr Most I'll ever go is 2k rms. have 1k rms now. But my gtp has 125amp alt stock.
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