Ground wire kits

[cowboydren@b15sentra.net]

On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 10:13:09PM -0600, Qualudia101@aol.com wrote:

> Any comments whether these really worth installing?

Well, I've seen independent tests that say these are worth anywhere from
1-7 WHP.  By "independent," I mean two different magazines, Import Tuner
(2NR) and Turbo and High Tech Performance (Turbo).  XS Engineering has
been the dyno facility in both tests, and XS is a big distributor of the
Sun kits.  Here's what I *think*, as if anyone really cared. ;)

The concept is simple, to improve the ground side of the electrical loop
to a condition equal to or exceeding the condition of the various
positive sides of the same loop.  The circuit, for the most part,
depends on grimy, grungy, less-than-perfect bolt-to-bulkhead or bolt-to-
block connections to complete itself.  At the time your car was built,
this was at least adequate, though some bolts were probably coated in
oil or a lubricant (such as the spark plugs), which may or may not
inhibit electron flow over time.  The Sun (and competitive) kits intend
to replace some of the "high traffic" electron pathways with dedicated
copper and sometimes shielded (in the case of Gold and Silver kits) wire
cables.  Great.

As stated by another poster, one could feasably do the same thing with
cables and connectors found at any car audio shop, with the major
difference being that you may or may not be able to find a shielded
cable at a car audio shop.  The idea behind shielding the wires
(again, according to Sun) is that you positively eliminate electron
leakage, ensuring all of the electrons that *came*from* the battery and
then operated your electrical toys make it *back*to* the battery.  You
could absolutely do the same thing with a po'boy kit assembled from
parts at Circuit City, but when you're talking about differences in HP
that barely register on a dyno, wouldn't you want to have the best stuff
possible?  Food for thought.

Were the cars in the XS dyno runs modified before the magazine editor's
very eyes?  Yes.  Were all of the cars in the tests actually the same
cars between the two magazines?  I'm pretty sure they were.  Is XS
making massive markup on these reground kits?  I bet they are.  It
sounds like a fun thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, though, doesn't
it?

> If so which of these is better...Arospeed or I think HR wires? Can't find the
> article right now that advertised them.

Of the ones sold commercially, most are made of aluminum cables, and are
not as elegant to route as the Sun kits.  Sun actually has some sort of
a patent on their method of routing the wires, so other companies cannot
sell a kit *to* do the same thing.  I don't think that means you can't
actually route an Arospeed kit like a Sun kit, but see above comments on
wire quality.

--
-=|JP|=-        "Stew my foot and call me Susan!"

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