It would depend on how many of the materials/tools you have to buy. I had a few tools that I borrowed from work. I had everything available except the 1/0, ring terminals, fuse, fuse holder, and propane torch. Also picked up a few other small things (2 extra ring terminals, solder, etc). Total cost for me was about $100. A very inexpensive electrical upgrade.

 

Glad to see some info from the car audio sites are making the way over here.

I charge at 15.2v all day long and love it. Also running 2 16v alternators in place of A/C

 

Would you suppose this would work on ANY truck or car? I'm liking the lack of voltage drop and am considering doing this on my 94' F150. Heck, maybe even my 09' Escape, if it's worth it....

Oh, yeah, are you just adding wire? You don't remove the old, factory grounds and alternator wires, do you?

 

Yes, any vehicle can benefit from this. The difference may or may not be noticeable, but it will, nonetheless, make a difference on any stock vehicle. Just lately have manufacturers started using 8-ga or so for stock wiring (and that's only the main ones) and some still use less. They used to use even smaller wires.

Yes, I just added wire. You can take out the old wires to clean up the look if you want, but it's not necessary and is a waste of time IMO. Electricity takes the path of least resistance, so it will use the larger wire over the smaller every time.

 

did the images stop working or is just me?

 

Couple questions.

My factory engine block ground appears to run to a starter bolt under the car. For my big four upgrade, wouldn't it be better to run the thicker wire directly to the frame instead of the same starter bolt? The chassis-frame ground is pretty close.

I noticed that a lot of people ground the battery to the chassis, but wouldn't it be better to ground it to the frame as well? Yes, I know the chassis is connected to the frame, but it seems like going direct to the frame would be the lowest resistance.

 

Btw, Since flickr sucks at not posting those pictures, let me know if you want to host them on my server. Or if nothing else, post them to picasa.

 

Sorry guys haven't been on in a while. I accidentally lost a lot of pictures clearing out my Flickr account, and unfortunately most of the ones from this thread are gone for good. If anyone does this and is up to taking pictures while they do it PM me or a moderator and we will get them added. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

I would do this and take pictures but I need the pictures to figure out how to do it. It would be great if someone else would do this and then post the pictures again.

 

threads really informative but pictures dont work