Large, clear pictures and a good writeup. Positive rep for you, sir!
Today I did the big 3 Upgrade on my 9G. This was my first time doing this on any car but I think it went pretty well, and I remembered to take pictures so I could post a quick run through to the forum.
I purchased the NVX's big 3 kit from sonicelectronix and even though I'm completely new to wiring I think this is pretty good stuff. It's 1/0 gauge, 4704 strand, oxygen free copper. The kit I used came with 6 feet of power wire, 2 4 foot runs of ground wire, ring terminals (3 pre attached and 3 loose), pre cut heat shrink, and mounting hardware.
For cutting the wire I just used a simple pair of garden sheers and they did the trick well enough. I used a hammer crimper to attach the terminals but I wish I would of had something better. The crimps were ok but I know they could have been better.
I started with removing the weather strip from the lip under the hood. This is where I drilled to hang the power wire from the alternator to the pos battery terminal.
I zip tied the new wire to the old one until I split it off to towards the fire wall. I had to use a zip tie for the first connection because I drilled to close to where I mounted the fuse holder and couldn't get a good angle with a hanger. The fuse holder mounted perfectly in that open spot on the fire wall with some self tapping screws, there was nothing but open space behind it. It's a little farther down the wire then I wanted but it will work just fine. all the wires are wrapped in cheapo 3/4" split loom.
Next up was grounding the engine. I ran the engine ground from an alternator bracket bolt to the point for the factory grounding strap. I made sure to sand off the paint down to bare metal then sprayed with a rust inhibitor AFTER mounting the ring terminal.
Running the ground from the negative battery terminal actually turned out a little tricky. I couldn't use the side posts like I planned for the factory wiring because the post rubbed the fender wall so cut it off and put the wires into a new NVX terminal with multiple inputs. unfortunately cutting them made them a little to short so I had to get creative. One side was removed from the factory loom to get a little more length, and the other I had to drill a new hole for the ground a little to the left. I was going to ground the new wire to a strut tower bolt but the ring terminal was too small. I had to use the old factory ground location for now after sanding it down. It's just a flimsy piece of sheet metal but it will do for now. I am going to drill out the ring terminal and move it to the strut tower for a better ground soon.
The new positive terminal has another 0 gauge output that is unused right now so I can easily add a power wire for an amplifier.
Here's the full run from one end to the other
And finally a couple full finished shots.
Last edited by rootbeerrocket; 04-06-2015 at 08:14 PM
Large, clear pictures and a good writeup. Positive rep for you, sir!
What made you want to do this mod?
Ive been thinking about it because I am getting a little bit of headlight dimming when playing music etc.
this motivates me to run a bigger gauge power wire to my alternator on both of my cars. i have a box of 4gauge wire that would be perfect. good write up. i would highly suggest ditching the blue loom. colored loom is tacky in my opinion.
good job
'00 Mitsubishi Galant ES 4g64T (Samantha)
'01 Mitsubishi Galant ES 4g64 (Daily)
'02 Mitsubishi Galant ES 4g64 (SCRAPPED)
'00 Mitsubishi Galant ES 4g64 (SCRAPPED)
'91 Volvo 740 Turbo B230FT (SOLD)
'88 Mitsubishi Mighty Max (SOLD)
'91 Kawasaki ZX7 (SOLD)
'95 Kawasaki ZX9R
Nice write-up!
-Greg
"I smashed up the grey one, bought me a red;
Every time we hit the parking lot we turn heads!"
-Pimp C, "International Players Anthem"
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