Grounding Kit

[YSOSLO]

Hey all. I took part in a GB through m3f and installed this grounding kit in my car last week. I definitely noticed a difference in accelerator response and overall the car feels a lot lighter and more nimble. Nate checkd out the engine bay with his electrical tester and all of the readings were perfect, so the kit does what it's supposed to with regard to grounding everything out.

When I bought into the 1st GB the only color available was black and now they have 5 colors. I highly recommend the kit. It's made for the regular MZ3 for sure, and there have been inquiries about it fitting the Speed3, but I haven't seen a definitive answer yet.

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=118097.0

 

[DrWebster]

Yeah, that guy does quality work. I put my throttle body ground back on last night, we'll see if it makes a big difference for me in the long run.

 

[dmention7]

Hmmm.... that seems like a lot of dough for some loomed wires with ring connectors. Personally, I'm not sold on the grounding kits (having done it myself on the 3), but if it worked for you, then great!

 

[YSOSLO]

Yeah, I'm sure you could probably rig up something yourself if you're handy, but most guys would use speaker wire or something and these have the heat resistant certification and everything, and the quality of this guys work is excellent. When considering the quality of materials, time and cost saved having to track down the materials, time saved not having to deal with the measuring, cutting, attaching ends and ease of installation due to the excellent detailed instructions I figured it's worth it. I'm sure other wire would work alright, but it does give me a certain peace-of-mind knowing this wiring can handle the engine heat no matter what. I just wanted to make people aware of it, because it worked for me.

:66: :drive1:

 

[lwrydr]

Any particular method to the grounding scheme? Like are you daisy chaining or star grounding? what parts are you grounding to? I did this in my turbo PT Cruiser & star grounded from the components to the chassis ground the battery was tied into. It did make a small but noticeable difference.

 

[YSOSLO]

Here's the installation diagram.

There are MUCH more detailed instructions shipped with the wiring, but this gives you the basic idea.

 

[lwrydr]

Interesting. Looks like you are daisy chaining. On my PT I star grounded.

This on a M3? Can someone list the components you are grounding?

I see:
Battery to TB (5)
Battery to valve cover (4)
valve cover to fuel rail (3)
Fuel rail to ? (2)
? to ? (1)

What I can't tell is if there is one going to the PCM, I don't see one going to the transmission or to the chassis of the car (unless you count the negative of the battery). Also on my PT I grounded the alternator case.

 

[dmention7]

Point A is a large bolt in the strut tower, so that's the chassis grounding point. And the negative battery terminal is also grounded directly to the chassis a few inches away, but I would have upgraded that wire if I was bothering to ground the rest of the engine.

 

[mazdamn02]

This looks like a good way to get laughed at in any mazda service bay... or car audio installer, or performance shop, etc...

just my $0.02

 

[YSOSLO]

This looks like a good way to get laughed at in any mazda service bay... or car audio installer, or performance shop, etc..

If performance is improved, then why would there be laughter. Do people that install the big 3 when they have a higher-powered aftermarket sound system get laughed at too? I guess I don't get your point.

 

[darkdan]

Hmmm.... that seems like a lot of dough for some loomed wires with ring connectors. Personally, I'm not sold on the grounding kits (having done it myself on the 3), but if it worked for you, then great!

That's been my position on these things for years.

 

[spek1098]

If performance is improved, then why would there be laughter. Do people that install the big 3 when they have a higher-powered aftermarket sound system get laughed at too? I guess I don't get your point.

Got dynos to show improved numbers? I don't trust people personal butt dynos very much, and this has been debate for years over at M3F with no real conclusions being made. I grounded the tb with my old engine with no effect.

The ground between the battery and the chassis should be top priority, as that is fairly small for all the electronics this car runs. Next would be the ground between the engine, the left MM, and the chassis, and that should take car of everything on the engine, the rest is just a gimmick if you ask me.

 

[YSOSLO]

No dyno numbers between Friday and Sunday...sorry.

 

[2BAR4WS]

Got dynos to show improved numbers? I don't trust people personal butt dynos very much, and this has been debate for years over at M3F with no real conclusions being made. I grounded the tb with my old engine with no effect.

The ground between the battery and the chassis should be top priority, as that is fairly small for all the electronics this car runs. Next would be the ground between the engine, the left MM, and the chassis, and that should take car of everything on the engine, the rest is just a gimmick if you ask me.

On new cars, Id agree that it's a gimmick, but on older cars it's a good idea, as the older wires corrode and lose thier grounding capabilities with age. Not that it will help, but it may at the very least give you a sound peice of mind.

If performance is improved, then why would there be laughter. Do people that install the big 3 when they have a higher-powered aftermarket sound system get laughed at too? I guess I don't get your point.

The car-audio guys run bigger cables because of the added power drain, and to ensure the longevity of thier expensive systems.



Ive done a grounding kit on 3 of my vehicles now, and none have shown any improvements over stock.

 

[mazdamn02]

My point is no one has done any dynos on this type of thing, and I'm a staunch believer that if adding $1.50 worth of copper would improve a modern car that much it would be done at the factory.

Not to be mean or anything, but until I see some kind of a before and after dyno this is kind of a moot mod.

 

[lwrydr]

This looks like a good way to get laughed at in any mazda service bay... or car audio installer, or performance shop, etc...

just my $0.02

We didn't laugh when we did it years ago before anyone really knew what we were up to. I worked in the aircraft industry years ago. We did something similar called bonding. it was done to the airplanes chassis to reduce the impeadance of the chassis ground over the length of the airplane.

I justed wanted to see how you guyz are doing it on your cars.

 

[YSOSLO]

The whole point of this grounding kit isn't to add horsepower. It adds absolutely none. What it DOES do is increase the throttle response, so the car doesn't have a moment of lag for a half-second after you hit the gas. Granted for the vast majority of you that are driving Mazdaspeeds it's probably a non-issue for you. But those of us with the na 3 can tell the difference immediately. This mod also gives smoother acceleration overall. For those of you that only want to spend money for a steeper dyno sheet, this is not for you. However if you're the person driving a regular 3 and you feel like your car just isn't quite and quick as you think it should be, then I definitely feel confortable recommending this kit or something similar that you choose to do yourself if you want, because I'm a lot happier with my car now that I've installed this. Ultimately, that's all that matters. Can this be done for less money...probably. However if you're like me and don't have high quality wiring and connectors sitting around, don't want to drive around town tracking down all of the necessary parts or deal with cutting them to fit etc and have no clue about how to go about grounding your engine, then for roughly $40 you can get 'er done with absolutely no hassle.

 

[dmention7]

hehe.... I remember the threads on m3f regarding grounding even just the TB getting 50 pages in length with 1/3 of the posters saying it was stupid and pointless, 1/3 saying they did the mod and felt a huge increase, and 1/3 saying they did it and felt diddly squat.

I was in the latter 1/3 personally. I even went as far as to disconnect the intake and have someone futz with the gas pedal while I watched the throttle plate... now granted, this was with the engine off obviously, but the response of the throttle servo was so quick that I couldn't possibly fathom how a little bit of extra impedance somewhere in the engine bay could slow it down enough to make a noticeable difference.

And, until someone actually comes up with a genuinely plausible reason as to the mechanism for the additional grounding improving throttle response, or the reason for the wide discrepancy in reported results, or even obtains some methodical results showing quantifiable differences.... then this one falls somewhere between the placebo effect and weird japanese hoodoo, IMO. But as long as you didn't pay $100+ for an ebay kit with LEDs and shit, you're not going to get flamed by me.... lol

 

[2BAR4WS]

And, until someone actually comes up with a genuinely plausible reason as to the mechanism for the additional grounding improving throttle response, or the reason for the wide discrepancy in reported results, or even obtains some methodical results showing quantifiable differences.... then this one falls somewhere between the placebo effect and weird japanese hoodoo, IMO.

And thats really what it boils down too. Butt dynos are inaccurate, and the people who say they feel "huge increases" are normally the ones who just say that to convince themselves that it was worth the money. I have a few freinds who say they feel "HUGE" power gains from everything they do, from a fuel filter, to an air filter, to a rice cannon, grounding kits, etc etc.


"It's all in your head."

 

[YSOSLO]

So with the logic all of you are throwing out here, I'll use an example to clarify our positions. My neighbor has a POS lawnmower with an engine that revs from low RPMs to high RPMs every 5 seconds or so as he's mowing the lawn. If he were to put in a brand new wire than connects from the engine to the spark plug and the revs evened out completely so it ran nice and even as he was mowing, this would still be a "worthless mod" because his engine still put out the same 4.5 horsepower that it did before he swapped the wire. Any his perception of the benefit of this new wire would be foolhardy at best, because even after putting his mower on a dyno (with it's one little front wheel drive plastic wheel on there netting up to a 3mph max...lol) the lack of gain means the guy was an idiot for even considering such a crazy thing and would be "laughed at" were he even to take his mower into a repair shop because of his stupid decision to replace a wire that he felt provided smoother performance.

Wow....

I think I'll stand by my initial post that this grounding kit indeed increased the overall performance of my car, not because I need to convince myself that it was "worth it" but because it actually made a noticeable change to me. And for those that choose to continue to flame away on this one, then please provide some way for us to prove this theory one way or the other because otherwise this whole back-and-forth is simply ridiculous and I'll simply shutup and leave it as it lays....which means several of you will decide I'm a foolish idiot and others of you will resign yourselves to the idea that, while you may not agree with my perception, it really doesn't effect your life and if I think it helps, then good for me and life goes on. :news: