Mod Guide: Big 3 upgrade
#11
Key word, imports. And even still, most of those kits use 8ga wire. I wouldn't even waste my time doing this mod with anything less than 4ga. And with a cost of $60 or better, they cost alot more than buying the materials needed to do this mod.
#12
So if i have 4ga wire already i cant use 4ga for the big 3?or i can? or should i use 1/0 or 2 gauge wire im not runing a big system and i change my system often i have a spl 5500 watts amp at 1 ohm on a 2000 monte carlo.but most likely i will be sellin it soon and just drop down to a 1000.1 amp or somethin.
#14
i ended up getting some really thick wire for mine it is 1 ot gage 4 gage is the type to use for amps. 1 ot is for industreal use as in wiring for traktors things like that it cleaned up my missfire shame that i ended up having to get a new coil pack before i did the wire upgrade. The grounds were the problem for me it took out my coil packs two of them thank freakin god it didnt take out a higher priced electrical unit, like the pcm or my throttle body thats a fly by wire. oh forgot thanks for the post me personally dont know how to be that neat on the explenations when posting some thing. i give you mad props on being that therogh
#15
My 2 cents....as an electrician...wire is wire....what you are looking for is welding leads...or one insulation I know is DLO, we call it diesel locomotive cable. It has really high ampacity and is really loose, almost like SOW (think extension cord insulation).
One other thing is that crimp lugs are just as good as solder (are lots easier anyway),
and if you know an electrician he probably has access to a good crimper that can do big wire. If you had the lugs, the cut wire, and a crimper,you could make the cables in five minutes.....no sloder required....just dont try to twist the wire before putting it into the lug...just strip it and slide the lug on... if you twist you wll never get all the strands in. After that slide on some heat shrink and any sleaves (prob should make sure they fit over lug first). Everything should be found at local electrical supply house (have electrician friend buy it.. might get contractor's discount.)
One other thing is that crimp lugs are just as good as solder (are lots easier anyway),
and if you know an electrician he probably has access to a good crimper that can do big wire. If you had the lugs, the cut wire, and a crimper,you could make the cables in five minutes.....no sloder required....just dont try to twist the wire before putting it into the lug...just strip it and slide the lug on... if you twist you wll never get all the strands in. After that slide on some heat shrink and any sleaves (prob should make sure they fit over lug first). Everything should be found at local electrical supply house (have electrician friend buy it.. might get contractor's discount.)
#16
You're welcome man, I figured somebody could benefit from it.
#17
does a big three upgrade wreck your stock alt...or will it work with a stock batt and alt just fine...i dont want to do the big 3 if its gonna wreck my alt in my 07 monte cuz i am kinda broke to be wrecking parts in my car lol
#18
the big 3 is suppose to help getting your car more juice. there should be no problem with it, it should actually help your charging system out. Also... if you dont have money for wrecking parts, how can you drive it like you stole it?! hahaha (i thought that was funny)
#20
I'm also gonna add some advice since I realized that the pics biggriggs posted are actually of my car before I top swapped.
Like mentioned in the first post, the alternator's case is your true ground. And after a little thinking, I decided that my chassis-to-engine ground that's pictured (using the front engine mount) isn't really in a good location. I would honestly recomend running the ground wire to the alternator and using one of the alternators mounting bolts as the gound point. You won't get a better ground than that.
I personally haven't done this yet though, as I've been kinda losing interest in the audio scene. I'll be scaling down my system soon, so I won't really benefit too much from running the new wires.
Like mentioned in the first post, the alternator's case is your true ground. And after a little thinking, I decided that my chassis-to-engine ground that's pictured (using the front engine mount) isn't really in a good location. I would honestly recomend running the ground wire to the alternator and using one of the alternators mounting bolts as the gound point. You won't get a better ground than that.
I personally haven't done this yet though, as I've been kinda losing interest in the audio scene. I'll be scaling down my system soon, so I won't really benefit too much from running the new wires.