Krusty The Clown

Just seen on www.stiracing.com a Power Earth Cable. Is anyone using one or something similar?

Dark Blue Mark

Very worth doing IMHO. The Subaru earthing is crap, and many people have fitted DIY versions of the above with good results. If the sensors going to your ECU have a poor earth, then it can cause a few problems, hence these things will help.

There's a thread about DUY earh mod in DIY somewhere...

They are normally quite pricey, but a DIY one can be done for under £30.

MB

Ritch96

Recently did this myself with a homemade kit. I had a fairly minor hesitation problem and this was one of the things the guru's recommended trying. Got the basic idea off this guy :-

http://stefanostadal.homedns.org/car_mods_engine.htm

(very good site)

You'll see a link to an online vehicle wiring supplier, they we're very helpful when I phoned and the stuff turned up next day!

Extremely worthwhile, car feels much smoother throughout, cost me just under £20 and it looks the dogs too.

Ritchie.

Dark Blue Mark

Ritch,

Did they supply the bits as a kit?

MB

Ritch96

All I did was order the stuff to make it up myself. Enough cabling to run from several points around the engine, from both struts and also through a very convenient grommet to the ecu plate. Also got all the connectors, heatshrink and insulating tape and finally some flexible convaluted tubing in various diameters. Basically very similar to what the website showed. The only differance is I got "thinwire" and slightly larger ring connectors.

I don't think they do a kit, I'm sure soon as you buy anything remotely connected to "subaru" people stick a 200% surcharge on!!

Ritchie.

ozzy

The auto electrical place on my site don't supply a pre-made kit for the Impreza. I took advice from others on SN, followed some older threads and decided to order the bits 'n bobs myself.

There's nothing magical, just some decent cable, ring connectors and some heatshrink to make it look tidy. You can buy custom kits, but these are £100+. Only benefits from them are the gold connectors, fancy coloured cable and a custom connector to allow all the cables to fit onto the battery terminal. You could make it look 10 times better by sourcing gold connectors and better looking cable from any ICE supplier or auto electrics place.

I listed the parts I used with approx. cable lengths as a guide on how much cable to order. I also ran the cables in some PVC tubing so that it would look more OE and tidier in the engine bay.

Stefan

Dark Blue Mark

Cheers Ozzy,

You've updated the site haven't you? Very good it is too.

MB

hawkeye

my car came with an earthing mod when i bought it from the dealer in june 02 must say that car is very smooth when compared to other sti v7's ive driven cant comment on whether it is the earthing mod alone...................... but when it was left off after a battery change there was a deffo difference

ozzy

Yeah, finally got my finger out and made some changes. Sites not bad for an amateur with FrontPage, but thanks for the compliment

I've a couple of other little projects (headlight wiring harness upgrade & LambdaLink) to content with and once I get some time to install them I'll add them to the site.

Stefan

Krusty The Clown

Was quoted £130 from stiracing.com for a kit OUch!!

scrappydog

using gold plated terminals is simply OTT. Simple battery terminal leads from halfords will do the job. Connect from battery to inlet manifold, from manifold to alternator and manifold to offside suspension top. Thats only 3 leads for about £18. Also get wirewool/emery cloth to polish contacts and some aerosold electical sealant to cover the connections. While you're at it, check the existing earthing points at the front of the car and clean these up as well. Whole job is around 30min and less than £25.

You could spend mega bucks and go to town on it, but I'm sure there are other things you could spend your money on!

Worthwile mod for £25, a waste of money for £150.

Andy

PS. If you're seriously interested in ICE, then obviously you may want to spend a little more on earthing, But as far as normal performance goes, the std Impreza earthing is a little lightweight, so a cheap boost will ensure it all runs nicely.

wooosh

I've just completed a group-buy for these over on the P1 web site. I have done around 28 in total (£35 each delivered)and make them from high quality ICE power cable.

After carrying out the mod I noticed much better idling especially before the car heated up in the morning and also my boost gauge was much brighter.

ozzy

Woosh,

What sort of connection are you using at the battery terminal?

Stefan

Dark Blue Mark

Woosh, id be interested in a kit if possible?

MB

grahamfrary

I know this made a BIG difference to my old MY98, but I see my new MY00 has got better earthing to the manifold anyway. Does improving it further still make a difference>

Graham

black_scooby

Me to Woosh

Lee

coskev3

Just spotted this on E-Bay; http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=32094

exesspeed

take a look at this kit i made, 4 gague copper and gold plated end,s and gold earth block, and on my94 it made a noticable diff, at lower rpm, and during start up, hks also make them amoung others, at about £120, eek here,s the link,s



this isnt the whole kit i made, think i used 5 differing lenght,s



[img]http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1693557&outx=600&oq=0[/img



http://markmainwaring3092.photos.cn.com/
the above is a link to the actual site,

hope this help,s

ive made a few now, and the one,s ive sold everyone seem,s more than happy, as the guy,s above mention, you can make them much cheaper, but ive used the thicker 4 gague copper wire, at approx £3.00 per half meter, and the gold plated ends, which need soldering as well as crimping, the earth block alone cost £8.00, my total cost was well under the RRP, of any of the 3 ive seen for sale, if anyone is interested, in a kit mail me at
aopf74@dsl.pipex.com

also they look awsome in red, but you can make em your self, as i did, hope this helps any one,
mark,

wooosh

The kits I make are for the Classic only as I can't say if they will fit the other models. (they shouldn't be too different.)

Mail me as per profile of your interested. (see link for a picture of the kit)

wooosh

One of these...

exesspeed

woosh what a nice looking kit, can i ask can you mail me where you get the blue cable from, and it looks like the same gague wire i use 4awg, am i correct, very nice looks well neat, but arnt they woth it,
regards mark

wooosh

Cheers,Mark,

I have a supplier thats gets me the cable. The kit is 8awg and covers 7 points in the engine and ECU.

I have had good results with these. I also do an online fitting guide so there very easy to install.

exesspeed

excellent thanks for the speedy rep, im off out now, going to see if i can find some 8 gague in blue, as i can only get it in red at the mo, i will let you know how i get on, thanks mark

wooosh

Ok, those interested in a kit e-mail me rightupye@yahoo.co.uk



If we get enough interest i'll do another batch......

exesspeed

hI HERE,S A PIC OF SOME OF THE GOLD PLATED EARTH KIT I MADE, WIYH THE TYPE OF BATT, EARTH BLOCK I USED, ALSO BELOW THIS PIC, WILL BE A LINK to a site for you to see where i fitted them on the car, please mail me if your interested in any of these, at aopf74@dsl.pipex.com



hope tis helps, if the links dont show pic,s click on the index next link on the page, hope this help,s

http://markmainwaring3092.photos.cn.com/c70473.html

marklemac

Thanks for the ebay link.

There are only 2 kits left on there now ;-)

Pavlo

I did some testing yesterday with my car, looking at a misfire problem. I found to my horror that the bracket bolted to the gearbox that takes the battery earth cable had a resistance of 3.6 ohms.

To put this in perspective, I couldn't find more than 0.2 ohms from any one point on the gearbox to any one point on engine. It's difficult to put a volt drop on this as there is another earth to chassis from battery that seemed fine. However for starting and charging you are going to see a drop of a few volts, which is not what you want.

The moral of this story is make sure your earthing is sound!

Misfire much improved by the way with earths from inlet manifold to chassis, alternator and relocated standard earth cable to not use the bracket.

Paul

AJbaseBloke

Glad you got that sorted Paul, but shattered that I am going to have to add another leg to my earthing

I found that taking a line from the central engine mount (where the pitch stopper is connected, and a few earths are taken too in the OE system on my B4) to the battery has cleaned up an annoying stutter I was getting...

People here are earthing their mufflers now too

Cheers

wooosh

Anyone else interested in an Earthing Kit?

Pitzi

I sent you an e-mail this morning mate, did you receive it??


Same to Exesspeed......