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You're fine. Losing a couple strands along the way isn't going to do anything. Hell, I've taken mine off and re-applied about 3 times now. I lose a couple each time. Idea, (in theory) is to have whatever 'load' be equally distributed. You aren't really introducing any current, but rather, giving the signals more 'highways' to travel on so the signals are a bit quicker; and not as delayed. No way to confirm whether or not this works but some guys swear by it while others swear it's snake oil. Either way, for $30, no risk, and only benefits to gain....why not? I also think it's a good little mod to introduce yourself to the platform.
My personal experience, I applied a grounding kit within the first two weeks I had the car; the exact set-up that is in this DIY. I read about the stuttering/bucking, harsh shifts, delays, etc... guys were having and could count on one hand (twice?) where I noticed a odd shift in over a year.
Anyways, drove with the kit for 13 months. I took the kit off in February, 2018 on a Sunday when I installed my Strut bar....just because I wanted to see if it all was placebo. I didn't drive my car until Tuesday of the following week and I noticed immediately that the car was carrying on differently by the time I reached the end of my road. Mind you, this was at 4:30am on my way to work so my first thoughts weren't directed to the shifting characteristics of my car...Shifts were much harsher; 3-4 was brutally noticeable and 2-1 would lock the seat belt when coming to a stop...It wasn't just in traffic either. 'Easy' stops were jarring and highway accelerations were noticeably delayed when stomping the throttle. It got to the point I couldn't handle leaving it in 'D' and took over in 'Manual' mode. Didn't seem to help, as the delays in downshift/upshift and actual gear change were severely disconnected. For example, I'd downshift from 2-1 and you could count a solid 'One Mississippi' before the RPMS would jump to signal I was in 1st.
I reinstalled the kit a week ago and haven't noticed a harsh/odd characteristic since. Shifts seem to have smoothed out and stopping and accelerating are more predictable. I'm not saying it's DCT quick, but when I stomp the throttle it acts like a normal automatic vs me questioning if I actually stepped on the throttle or not before it drops 2 gears, hangs for a second as it decides the best choice, chooses (chooses wrong), and then we're moving....
You're fine. Losing a couple strands along the way isn't going to do anything. Hell, I've taken mine off and re-applied about 3 times now. I lose a couple each time. Idea, (in theory) is to have whatever 'load' be equally distributed. You aren't really introducing any current, but rather, giving the signals more 'highways' to travel on so the signals are a bit quicker; and not as delayed. No way to confirm whether or not this works but some guys swear by it while others swear it's snake oil. Either way, for $30, no risk, and only benefits to gain....why not? I also think it's a good little mod to introduce yourself to the platform.
My personal experience, I applied a grounding kit within the first two weeks I had the car; the exact set-up that is in this DIY. I read about the stuttering/bucking, harsh shifts, delays, etc... guys were having and could count on one hand (twice?) where I noticed a odd shift in over a year.
Anyways, drove with the kit for 13 months. I took the kit off in February, 2018 on a Sunday when I installed my Strut bar....just because I wanted to see if it all was placebo. I didn't drive my car until Tuesday of the following week and I noticed immediately that the car was carrying on differently by the time I reached the end of my road. Mind you, this was at 4:30am on my way to work so my first thoughts weren't directed to the shifting characteristics of my car...Shifts were much harsher; 3-4 was brutally noticeable and 2-1 would lock the seat belt when coming to a stop...It wasn't just in traffic either. 'Easy' stops were jarring and highway accelerations were noticeably delayed when stomping the throttle. It got to the point I couldn't handle leaving it in 'D' and took over in 'Manual' mode. Didn't seem to help, as the delays in downshift/upshift and actual gear change were severely disconnected. For example, I'd downshift from 2-1 and you could count a solid 'One Mississippi' before the RPMS would jump to signal I was in 1st.
I reinstalled the kit a week ago and haven't noticed a harsh/odd characteristic since. Shifts seem to have smoothed out and stopping and accelerating are more predictable. I'm not saying it's DCT quick, but when I stomp the throttle it acts like a normal automatic vs me questioning if I actually stepped on the throttle or not before it drops 2 gears, hangs for a second as it decides the best choice, chooses (chooses wrong), and then we're moving....
Makes me excited to do this mod! Thanks again for everything
So I realize this is my first post, and I'm honestly trying to be constructive, but I'd like to inject some insight into this DIY...
I'm an engineer, and a car audio nut, so I'm used to working with electronics, cars, wiring, modding, etc. I would never say never without knowing the whole story, but I have to say I'm not sure how the heck this would make any difference. That said, so many people know it does so I'm intrigued.
In the audio world I see this type of upgrade done all the time to get better current flow through the factory system and that DOES for sure help an audio system that is limited by the factory grounds which were only designed to handle a smaller amount of current then an aftermarket system typically asks for. We don't even think about doing what we call a "big 3 upgrade" until we add 1000 watts in amplification to a car. However, who knows, maybe Nissan messed up the factory design and just under grounded the heck out of our cars.
I don't want to talk about how it can or can't, does or doesn't work... I just want to help this DIY be way more cost effective and easy to install.
The way the original poster shows to do this there are 9 connection points, 1 at the battery going to the body, 4 at the body going to the engine block, and 4 on the engine block.
Battery to body...
Great... lets get good solid juice to the body and everywhere that has a ground will benefit from less resistance and therefore less voltage drop.
The body to engine block...
1 to the engine block, great. Get it as close to the alternator as you can to get the most direct path where you need it. More than one going to the engine block? I don't understand. The engine block is a HUGE chunk of metal and in no way would benefit from multiple connections. The body as well is known in the audio industry as a 4 gage connection to anywhere. Running multiple connections to it would have very miniscule effect if any on voltage drop.
One more thing...
Run a 4 gage from the power on the battery to the 12v output on the alternator. This makes sure you have the other side of the circuit fully taken care of.
Those are the big 3. We usually do it with 1/0 gage wire which handles up to 4000 watts of power. If you're putting in big audio then that's what it takes. 4 gage is plenty in our case. You can run 1500 watts of power through 4 gage w/o appreciable loss.
Hope that helps. I'm curious to try it and see what happens.
So, regarding this post, I asked a co-worker if he could gather me some 4 gauge cable to start doing this diy. He’s in charge of installing all of the audio equipement in the boats. I explained to him what I was going to do. Showed him the pictures of where these cables were being connected to, long story short he said battery negative to chasis is good, chasis to engine is good; but having multiple connections on engine and/or chasis would do absolutely nothing extra. I kind of understand where he’s getting at so my question now is, what’s the point of having all these connections everywhere? Is it just for looks? Or is having all these connections serving a purpose I don’t yet see? Is my co worker right or wrong? Appreciate it if someone would chime in.
I believe the theory is, you're providing more 'highways' (cables/wire) for the signals to travel vs the Stock, OEM set-up. Obviously, there's only so much you can do but anything is better than nothing...Seriously. Like Dan said, it's a bit over-hyped but I noticed a difference when I took off my kit. The DIY kit makes the 7AT tolerable and behave more like what you're probably used to.
I believe the theory is, you're providing more 'highways' (cables/wire) for the signals to travel vs the Stock, OEM set-up. Obviously, there's only so much you can do but anything is better than nothing...Seriously. Like Dan said, it's a bit over-hyped but I noticed a difference when I took off my kit. The DIY kit makes the 7AT tolerable and behave more like what you're probably used to.
Oh I see. I’ll give this a shot sometime soon, I’ll be back with my opinion on this. Thanks for your input!
So just got done with this 2 weeks ago, fairly easy job to be honest. Well, since I have a 6mt, I wasn’t able to see any improvement with the shifting as so many of the 7at drivers claim. I went ahead and skipped connecting a wire to the negative terminal on the battery (didn’t want to risk bypassing any of sensor or what not) but everything else I connected the same. Not sure if this is my imagination, but music seems a bit louder now. Who knows, maybe it’s just me.
Thanks for the DIY. I followed it. I was skeptical....and I was right. Zero, zip, zilch nadda difference.
I don't feel like ripping it a part so it stays.
So I just installed my own grounding kit. Followed the instructions OP posted and found, sadly, not much had changed. I noticed shifts were a tiny bit quicker, however that whine from the speakers still remains. I decided, hey, it only seems to whine when I have the throttle applied, so maybe it's my tb signals! Just grounded my tb's twenty minutes ago and the whine is still there. Maybe theres something I did wrong?
I need to point out that I broke one of the bolts that had a ground already on it on the passenger side, so I was forced to run those wires off the bolt for the ps fluid reservoir. Not sure if that's a killer, but I checked for continuity from my battery all the way to the other side of the car with those cables and everything comes up green.
So I just installed my own grounding kit. Followed the instructions OP posted and found, sadly, not much had changed. I noticed shifts were a tiny bit quicker, however that whine from the speakers still remains. I decided, hey, it only seems to whine when I have the throttle applied, so maybe it's my tb signals! Just grounded my tb's twenty minutes ago and the whine is still there. Maybe theres something I did wrong?
I need to point out that I broke one of the bolts that had a ground already on it on the passenger side, so I was forced to run those wires off the bolt for the ps fluid reservoir. Not sure if that's a killer, but I checked for continuity from my battery all the way to the other side of the car with those cables and everything comes up green.
Any guidance would be awesome!
Whine in audio? I’d search through the audio forum for advice especially if you have aftermarket components introducing noise.
Maybe theres something I did wrong? 