Elect Grounding Kit: Classic Aurora - Review

[SupaStealth]

mine looks the same as howard's picutre up a few posts.

[w3rk5]

I got an idea from one of our memebers (thanks zipzag). Can someone losen one of the bolts 1/4" and try and wiggle it?

If it doesn't move, the bolt should be threaded to something fixed. Does this make sense?

This is just an idea. Anyone with a 98-99 Aurora wanna try?

UPDATE: According to zipzag (GM tech collision repair), "The nuts are welded to the under side of the strut."

Thanks for you help zipzag.

[SupaStealth]

well, i hate to bring back an old post, but i'm workin' on this grounding kit today, since it's so nice out and i have nothin' better to do. i loosened one of the bolts for the strut tower, i didn't remove it, just loosened and stuck the connector in there, nothin' major seemed to move, lol, i'll get some pictures up soon, after i figure out what's wrong with my digital camera.

[ITGeek]

Just wanted to chime in on the grounding issue. I've got an electrical engineering background and have dabbled in electronics for many years. I think that the grounding issue has some solid, valid engineering reasons why it might work. I'm not going to get overly technical at this point, but there is one fundamental thing to consider.

The engine is aluminum and aluminum is not as good a conductor as steel or copper.

That being said, when I look at the grounding layout on my 95, there is one thing that jumps right out at me. The grounding wire for the coil packs runs from the plate where the packs are bolted on, to a stud on the engine. There isn't any other path that I can see that gets the ground back to the chassis any closer that a ground wire from the alternator bracket. So the return current has to pass through a good chunk of the engine before getting back to the chassis.

I'd bet that on these other vehicles where the grounding kit has shown improvements, you are probably dealing with aluminum heads at the very least. Considering how picky the electronics in modern vehicles can be, I think there is good merit in the grounding kit mod.

The mod technique is very important. If, for example, you remove the strut nut and slap on the lug for the ground wire without cleaning the nut and the chassis underneath the lug, then the effects of the grounding kit would be reduced. You should grind the paint off of the chassis where the lug of the grounding wire is going to make contact. That holds true for any ground wire, even the OEM ones. The chassis is painted before the wiring is installed. They are relying on the ground path being made between the fastener, the lug, the threads of the fastener, and the threads of whatever the fastener is going into. If the threads of the the nut that is welded into the chassis aren't chased with a tap before the fastener is installed, then the electrical connection won't be as good.

Now that I have rambled a bit, here is what I am going to try on my 95 as a test.

1) Remove the factory grounding wires where they contact the chassis (4 or five points if I remember correctly, including the negative battery cable).
2) Remove the paint from the chassis where the grounding wire lug makes contact.
3) Chase the threads of the fastener and the nut that it screws into with the appropriate die and tap.
4) Throughly clean the lug from the grounding wire and the fastener used to attach the lug to the chassis.
5) Re-connect the grounding wires.
6) Note any performance or drivability gains.
7) Create a grounding wire to go from the passenger strut tower directly to the mounting plate of the coil packs.
8) Note any performance or drivability gains.
9) Create a grounding wire to goes from the driver strut tower to the throttle body.
10) Note any performance or drivability gains.
11) Create a grounding wire that goes from the drivers strut tower to the transaxle case, probably where the transaxle and the engine bolt together.
12) Note any performance or drivability gains.

All new grounding wires will be fabricated with 10 guage wire, just to keep consistant with the orignal grounding kit being discussed. It might take a couple of weekends for me to finish with all of this, but I think that a systematic approach like this might help to determine what areas benefit from this kind of mod, as well as what areas appear to make no difference. I'll keep everyone posted of my progress.

[erw38]

I'll be looking forward to your findings. Thanks for doing this.

[Letitroll98]

Wow, deja vue all over again. I just today installed a grounding kit to check on any performance gains. I had some very similar thoughts ITG, so I changed some of w3rk5's routing. I used 10 ga. stranded, oil and gas resistant T90 nylon insulator wiring with GB Xtreme Ring connectors. These are tin plated copper with a nice heat shrink. I like these better than the gold plated zinc touted as high end. All parts available in the same isle at Lowe's for about $8.

My idea was to avoid ground loops and look for something that might have stray potential to bleed off. So I routed two wires, one from the mounting bolt of the coil pack and one from the mounting bolt on the throttle body. Both go to the mounting bolt of the ELAC.

I saw no need to route anything from the blower motor as its already linked to the bracket on the firewall, as well as the fact that the mounting bracket on the blower motor itself is suspended by a foam insulator, making it not the best candidate, IMHO.

Performance gains? I dunno. It seems like it revs louder. Could that be improved spark? Of course it feels stronger, because I'm stomping on the pedal all over town "testing it out". Subjectively smoother idle, I think so. Stereo? Well, John Mayer sounds a little punchier, I'll try some Green Day later. It's not dark yet, so dont's knows 'bout the lights. It certainly hasn't hurt anything and gave me something to do today.

Can't wait for your more informed opinion ITG.

Edit: Lights seem somewhat brighter. Green Day really cranks up now, my pant legs are flapping in front of the speaker. ;D All judgement very subjective and influenced by the placebo effect. I really would like to see a benefit from this. Jim, how do you feel after some time has passed?

[oldsauroraman1]

Dan, excellent write up!

I've noticed that the factory grounding connections are corroding - which will definitely restrict the flow of electricity and it most likely the culprit in our Aurora's decline in ground - thus the great improvement when the grounding kit is installed.

How many feet of wire did you purchase Dan and what are the connecting points used near the right front (passenger) shock tower? Thanks! :-)

[oldsvairguy]

Installed the grounding upgrade on my '95 last weekend. Went from passenger strut to blower motor, blower motor to starter ground, and throttle body to etcbm at drivers side strut tower.Wire brushed and used Contact cleaner on all areas. Placebo effect: increased confidence that this beast would start and run reliably. Attempting to negate placebo effect: Throttle response is off the line is instantaneous. No more stumble or bog, just accelleration. It would seem that stereo bass reproduction is improved. Time for new speakers! Ingredients: 3 feet of 10 GA THHN wire,6 10 GA x 3/8 stud Ancor heat shrink ring terminals , 3 pieces 12-8 GA heat shrink tube. Total cost about $ 11.00 at home depot. installed ground kit and starter switch on the same day. ( GR 02195 Pn 26030594) Have run it for a week, runs perfectly. Also did airbox mod.

[iowaaurora]

i know this is a very old post but i would really like all oppions i could get on this

aswell as doing the above i was gonna go 1 step further and add a new zero gauge wire from battrey to altnator as well as installing a highoutput 220 amp alt

there will also be a 1300 watt stereo going in at the same time aswell as 120sqft of sound damping

[irocjohnny]

I am going to be jumping on this as well. Strong grounds are the most important part of a vehicles electrical system. I am going to do my own bit of "research" and see about good grounding points.

[RapMastaC1]

I use this for just about every application... would speaker wire work? LOL!

[lahey]

Another benefit of this project is that if your engine isn't properly grounded, or not grounded at all, the electrical path will travel through the wheel bearings and wear them out sooner.

[JimW]

Really?!

I never heard that before. Have you done the electrical grounding yet? Whenever anyone see's it in my car, I get the typical "whats that?" followed by.."oo good idea!"

[jprice90]

this is on my to-do-list, gonna try to get to this by the end of the week, i have friday off, along with monday, gonna get some 4 gauge grounds and other materials for the job, but i seen that 4 gauge Stinger grounds are only good up to 105C, which is just about what some Auroras run

what connectors/terminals work the best?/what kinda did you guys use?

[tipsymcstager]

my two cents ;D


if you'd see the alternator write up i did,you'll have seen
i snaped the body ground of the stud in the frame rail

(then hacked it back on)

mind you i have no base line to go by (before it broke)
but after the alternator was in i was monitoring the volts
on the DIC, and it was jumping anywhere from 11.9 (sitting at a light) to 15.1 (at throttle)
no alarms or anything from the car.no hard starts, but the head and dash lights did flicker.

today i went to autozone picked up a 24" and 32" #4 ground
cables for 11 bucks.
hooked the 32" up to the stud off the block where the other end broke, the 24" from the coil ground, and mounted them both to
their own nut on the strut tower.

haha, the volts haven't been below 14.8 thats with the lights on, steping on the brakes, and playing with the windows! and is now steady at 15.0-15.1 aitting at a traffic light.

thanks for all them tips guy's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jprice90]

what gauge and brand wire

[aphex]

What is the stock size of the nut for the grounding bolt by/under the hood fuse box?

[emarkay]

NECRO THREAD alert:

This kit still available or anyone with a part list?

[lanceslambos]

Just go to any place that sells good heavy duty oxygen tinged speaker wire and buy a 6 foot roll. no special kit! And it does work BTW, It will surprisingly fix odds and ends stuff.

[vaarra]

Pic of my '99...has anyone done the additional ground wire for 1998 & 1999 from wiper motor to strut tower bolt and can include a new pic for this very old but still good thread -or- just a description of whats involved until a pic can be added?

Drilling a hole into the tower some other place close to the wiper motor would be an alternative...

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Why?

[ljhermsen]

Does anyone know if ITGeek is still a member? His/Her input above really made sense to me and I would have loved to hear how some of the testing went. This grounding article is very interesting and I honestly think it has merit. Anyone elses honest input that have done this 'upgrade'?

[Marc]

According to the membership profile, ITgeek was last here on 6/7/2005.

[ljhermsen]

Thanks Marc,

For ANY of you Aurora owners out there that have done this mod, would you do it again if ypu purchased another Aurora? I'd really like to get more details and responses on this.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[ljhermsen]

So, I take it this grounding mod didn't live up to expectations?

[RCA1186]

Sorry, the traffic on this forum is not anywhere where it used to be. I usually recommend the facebook page for the forum as it gets more views. That's if you're on facebook of course.

I tried this kit on my first Aurora and noticed no change. I sometimes think things like these give the placebo effect to the people that undertake them. You spend the time and money doing it and your brain "wants" to feel like it achieved something. I couldn't verify any difference either in performance or overall stability of voltage.

[ljhermsen]

Thanks for the reply and update.

I do not do Facebook.

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Jun 28, 2022 7:25:57 GMT -6 RCA1186 said:

Sorry, the traffic on this forum is not anywhere where it used to be. I usually recommend the facebook page for the forum as it gets more views. That's if you're on facebook of course.

I tried this kit on my first Aurora and noticed no change. I sometimes think things like these give the placebo effect to the people that undertake them. You spend the time and money doing it and your brain "wants" to feel like it achieved something. I couldn't verify any difference either in performance or overall stability of voltage.

GM grounding from factory is usually "JUST" enough. And over time, corrosion and voltage drop from any and all causes can stack up, esp when the battery is far away(like aurora)

I would say that improving the grounds by having additional from the engine to battery and the battery to sheet metal shouldnt hurt, but How much so it could help depends on how the system is doin 

The most important thing is to not cross a ground onto the same place the PCM ground is. Where ever the PCM grounds should oNLY be the PCM. and nothing should be run to it, near it, or cause it to be a ground path for something like a window motor

[RCA1186]

Yep, I just don't think adding grounds would do anything more than cleaning and re-seating the factory grounds would do. I know the perils of losing a PCM ground mid-drive though. Adding the kit won't hurt anything, I just don't think it's worth the investment in both time and money.

[AuroraGirlFromMars]

Jul 6, 2022 7:39:48 GMT -6 RCA1186 said:

Yep, I just don't think adding grounds would do anything more than cleaning and re-seating the factory grounds would do. I know the perils of losing a PCM ground mid-drive though. Adding the kit won't hurt anything, I just don't think it's worth the investment in both time and money.

infact I would do a mod to improve the charge wire before Id do extra for the grounds