(for others)

"The Big 3" is upgrading 3 specific wire runs:

• Battery negative to chassis
• Alternator to battery positive
• Chassis to engine

More info here, in "The OFFICIAL "Big 3" Upgrade Thread, With Pictures":

http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/u...c;f=5;t=007801


My input from the side: That thread talks about fusing the lead running from the alternator to the battery, but he also states that you should leave the original lead intact. This is a REALLY bad idea.

If something happens that would blow one of the fuses, (original or new), current will still flow through the other one wire. Heat. Smoke. Fire. Flames. Bad ju-ju.

Yes, the OTHER fuse should blow as well, but...

Go ahead and "make more work for yourself" (his words twisted) and do NOT leave the original lead intact. Get it out of there.

 

I can only think of one reason for a HP gain, the alternator isn't working as hard. HP means maintaining torque while reving high. That is when electrical loads are the greatest. Possibly the alt can get away with less voltage due to less resistance and therefore puts less of a load on the motor. Maybe combined with better functionality of some components nets a gain in power. The alt does take power right off the motor so a change in the rate of energy consumption there can be noticeable.

Frank

 

Dunno about the alternator not working as hard, but someone up top touched on another possibility... The fuel pump being starved for power.

Installing a larger gauge grounding system may increase the voltage to the fuel pump, thus allowing it to spin faster, thus producing more fuel pressure, thus helping out _IF_ you're running lean in the first place.

I know there's an old thread here talking about hot-rodding a fuel pump to get more spin out of it, and I think Gadget even touches on it in the fuel delivery section of his site.

 

OK folks, here is news flash for you that will blow your mind.

The chassis on the 3rd gen 4Runner is electrically isolated from the body. So, if you try to ground something like fog lights to the frame they will not work...

Everything must be grounded to the body.

Gadget

 

although not all vehicles are "isolated" as you put it, it's always better to ground to the body and not the frame -- if for no other reason, to lower ground resistance.

 

If you're going to rebutt me, at least disagree with me. All you've done is quote me out of context and then support my what I said.

Your description of shorting around a bulb doesn't much apply to this octopus grounding system because of the high resistance of the bulb. A better example would be the multiple strands of conductor in a wire. The current flows through all the strands equally (roughly), not through one strand exclusively.

Impedance on this DC circuit is irrelivant btw, we're only needto deal with simple resistance.

 

This idea was orginally called a grounding web they were using it on some Z cars a while back to increase spark. It wasn't done to a single plate though many grounds were placed in several positions to ground the engine more effeciently.
I made my own grounding kit myself a while ago I used some 4 and 8 guage wire I basically upgraded the stock grounds with it and added a few more. I think I spent about $20 on mine.

You can see one of the wires I added to the intake plenium I also upgraded the on in the back of the plenium as well as the main ground and alternator.
No real HP gains just a little better spark and brighter lighting but that's it.

 

Actually...

Electrons don't flow _through_ a wire, they flow _on_ a wire. It's the reason that the same gauge of stranded versus solid wire can carry more current - the additional surface area allows more electrons to flow.


One more thing about beefing up the grounds... In a DC circuit, electrons flow from the negative side to the positive side - so a solid connection from the battery to the body is the first step in getting the most current you can from your truck's electrical system. Of course, for the circuit to be complete, the electrons have to make it back to the positive side, but it all starts on the negative side.

 

First of all, you are digressing from the whole point of this thread.

Secondly, my example is an eggagerated one to illustrate a point - I humbly apologize that you were not able to follow. A better example would not be multiple strands of conductor in a wire, as these strands have identical grounding points and are practically the same as each other. Any time you have more than one path to ground, you are going to have different resistance on each path. If resistance (and flow) were the same on each path, then there would be no problems with ground loops.

Which leads back to my original thesis: You'd be better off hooking up a single, larger gauge wire.

But I am done with this argument now.

~Bill

 

Current is a function of voltage and resistance. It's voltage/res to be exact. If you are trying to get a desired current and you lower the resistence, you must lower the potential proportionately. And alternator under load can easily take 5hp of power to generate that load. That number was from an old guy years and years ago. With todays higher voltage ignition systems and added electrical accessories like fuel pumps, etc.. possibly the power consumption is more. I'm not sure how much more, I'm just theorizing. I mean if people are feeling smoother idling, etc.. things are working differenty than before and there's a reason.

BTW, if the fuel pump is starving for electricity, that there indicates a defficiency.

Frank

 

Ever notice how people who can't back up their arguments resort of snotty comments and the like instead?

I've been talking about multiple grounds, particularly the use of the hyper-ground multi cable system. That was the subject.

 

Yes, but the wire strands can't handle the heat well. Multi-strand wires actually have a lower amperage carrying capacity as a result of this. It's why house wiring and bus bars are solid. Transmission lines are multi-strand for flexibility and strength, but the strands are large, the size of your household solid wires.

 

I just talked to a friend of mine who is an electronics major and he told me that in this type of grouning system, each wire has a diferent resistance and the wire with least resistance will cary most of the currnet but the others will still cary some of the current (this is what mystical and foxtrapper are debaiting about). Baised on this, it would seem adding extra wires for a ground will resullt in better grounding than just having one big one. Adding more grounds might also result in a path with less resistance than the stock ground, therefore imporving the grouding of the electrical system. It sell seems like a good idea.