Big 3 wire upgrade

[Ric]

hey all, Im thinking about doing the battery, Alt. ground,wire upgrade.
anyone know of a good write up ? place to get the wire, teminals, etc.

[Good Times]

Ric,

I buy all of my wiring crap here: http://www.wranglernw.com/

download the full catalog available online and then call them to place the order. They're pretty quick on shipping them and the quality is awesome. They have connectors for whatever you need so just ask them. They'll be able to help you out. All you need to do is just figure out how much cable you want to buy :)

0/1 ga or 2 ga all around should suffice. I have 0/1 ga but it's pretty overkill (but i love overkill)

good luck!

[Ric]

Lance, thankx for the link :thumbup:

[Flomaster]

*bump*

974runner 3.4L 4x4 auto trans
so was this big 3 upgrade actually done, did it help?

I plan on doing it but have 2 questions.

where the Heck is the engine block to frame ground ?
and
do I need to go from + bat to alt OR + bat to fuse block?

-=Jason=-

[YotaFun]

There is no engine to frame ground on the 3.4.
It is engine to body (look on the passenger side of the engine right behind the intake plenum on the passenger side, there is a wire from the back of the block to the fire wall.

This you could probably move to the frame, just run it from that spot down to the frame.

Reason I know this is cause I was all over the engine last night when I was trying to work my starter. I presume that's what everyone else has done.

[Flomaster]

There is no engine to frame ground on the 3.4.
It is engine to body (look on the passenger side of the engine right behind the intake plenum on the passenger side, there is a wire from the back of the block to the fire wall.

This you could probably move to the frame, just run it from that spot down to the frame.

Reason I know this is cause I was all over the engine last night when I was trying to work my starter. I presume that's what everyone else has done.


sweet probably why I couldn't locate the wire I was looking for a steel braided wire going to the frame. the firewall is suitable is a ground in the Big 3 as the battery ground connects to it.

-=Jason=-

[Erich_870]

Can you guys share the lengths for each wire? I don't want to have to take all of them off and then head to the store for the cable.

Also, I thought I'd share what I do to attach those large eyelets to the cable. I don't have a heavy duty crimper (they are ridiculously expensive :headscratch:), but I do have a little butane torch. What I do is roll up a ball of electrical solder (the size depends on the cable diameter, anywhere from a pea to a marble size) and place it in the eyelet. Hold the eyelet with some pliers and melt the solder with the torch. Then insert the cable. Before hand I trim the cable cover back so it fits right against the eyelet collar. It's a better connection because it can't corrode nearly as much as an open crimp.

Erich

[Terracoma]

I scavenged these photos from another forum, should provide a visual for Erich's excellent verbal description:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/th_wiretutorial1.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/?action=view&current=wiretutorial1.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/th_wiretutorial2.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/?action=view&current=wiretutorial2.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/th_wiretutorial3.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v445/calnorthernGRW/Forum%20Images/Lug%20Solder%20Tutorial/?action=view&current=wiretutorial3.jpg)

[Erich_870]

Thar she be!

Great pics, thanks for illustrating it for me :thumbup:

Erich

[Terracoma]

Yarrr, no sweat, I started reading and thought to myself that I'd *just* seen a write-up on that somewhere...

:thumbup:

[Flomaster]

SWEET thanks for the pics I was wondering how I was going to get those lugs on the 1/0 cable. my local welding supply store had the 1/0 cable at 3.65 a foot *EEK* and the lugs with 3/4 shrink tube.

4 foot of 1/0 cable, 3 1/0 lugs and shirnk tube came out to $25 bucks.

-=jason=-

[slosurfer]

Forgive me for not searching, but what exactly does this upgrade help with?

[corax]

Forgive me for not searching, but what exactly does this upgrade help with?


voltage loss across the ground side - all electrical cicuits must make a loop, you can have a problem on the ground side or positive side that will affect things - it's just that the ground side usually has fewer wires (each accessory has one direct wire with a bunch on each fused circuit) and so if one ground goes bad, it could affect things across the board

[Flomaster]

if you running an amp, lots of light that draw alot of power this could help you out.
imagine a fire hose and a garden hose which one can flow more water????

well the power/ground from the Factory is adequate for normal driving, but once you add lights or a system then its bottle necked by the smaller gauge power and even smaller gauge ground wires.

when I say the tiny 16 ga wire thay they used as a ground from the engine block to fire wall I just about shit my pants.

-=Jason=-

[4x4mike]

What are the lengths needed for the mod?
What about using starter wires? If you go into Napa, AutoZone, kragen, etc they have starter wires from 1/2 a foot to a couple of feet long all with lugged ends of different types. I've used these to lengthen by battery leads, dual battery setup and even lengthening the leads on my winch.

[Flomaster]

for my 97 4runner

from + bat to alt = 12" of wire
from - bat to frame = 20" not entirely sure here. might be 22"
from - bat to random bolt on block = 18" of wire. ( you could go from the stock location which is passenger side behind engine, but the bolt on the engine is hard to get to.)
like I said about 4" should be good but measure first you dont want to be short.

-=Jason=-