DIY Earth Kit

[SuperDave]

I'm no expert in the names of some parts but I'll inlcude a pic of anything I am unsure of.

A soldering iron is also required in order to get a good electrical connection between the wire and ring terminals.

Minimum upgrade parts; (costs about $35)

1x Negative terminal block (circled blue in pic below) with at least 2 connections for 8 gauge electrical wire.

6x 8 gauge ring terminals (link)

2m of 8 gauge electrical wire

I recommend the parts below since the battery earthing wires are already 8 gauge.

Better upgrade parts; (costs about $40)

1x Negative terminal block with at least 2 connections for 4 gauge electrical wire

2x 4 gauge ring terminals

4x 8 gauge ring terminals (link)

1m of 8 gauge electrical wire

1m of 4 gauge electrical wire

Providing you don't stuff up excessively, there should be plenty of electrical wire outlined. And to avoid a second trip to the shop you could maybe buy an extra ring terminals.

Step 1.

Cut the electrical wire into 4 outlined below.

Wire A: 370mm of 8 gauge

Wire B: 630mm of 8 gauge

Wire C: 370mm of 4 or 8 gauge

Wire D: 620mm of 4 or 8 gauge

Step 2.

Add ring terminals to both ends of wires A and B

Add ring terminals to only 1 end of wires C and D

This is done by stripping back a little of the plastic shielding, twist the exposed wires place into the cylindrical hole and add solder with a soldering iron. Since the ring terminals is pretty big I recommend holding the ring terminals in some pliers and hold the iron (whilst on max temp) against the ring terminals until it gets bloody hot. Then add the wire and feed the solder in while still holding the iron against the ring terminals. You may need to move the iron into direct contact with the solder.

Some ring terminals will need to be enlarged to fit onto some bolts on the engine and gearbox. I can't remember which ones though. But once you are in there it will be easy to tell. Just get a round hole file (or drill) and softly make the hole bigger. I say softly because the ring terminals bend easily.

Step 3.

Wire A installs as shown below, the engine cover needs to be removed.

Wire B starts here (passenger side suspension strut)

and ends here. The car will need to be jacked up (and supported on chassis stands) and the passenger under panel removed. This attaches to the gearbox, you most likely will not have some of the extra stuff I have in this pic

Wire C starts and ends in this pic, while wire D starts here. The battery needs to be moved to the drivers side to get access the bolt underneath itself.

and wire D ends here. The car will need to be jacked up (and supported on chassis stands) and the passenger under panel removed. This attaches to the gearbox, you most likely will not have some of the extra stuff I have in this pic

Step 4.

Reattach all things removed (except old electrical wire :P ) and place the ends of Wires C and D into the negative terminal block THEN put onto the battery. You will have also done an ECU reset, follow the ECU reset guide for any problems or info.

Edit:

Got a better pic of the earthing points on the gearbox. The green one is for Wire D, the yellow for Wire B

If any more info or pics are needed, ask and I'll see what I can do.

Edited July 26, 2006 by SuperDave

[trd]

what tools do we need? and where can we get it? is it expensive?

TRD

[SuperDave]

Tools would include; Soldering iron, side cutters (or for the lesser experienced wire strippers), spanners, screw driver, crimpers. The soldering iron isn't essential, since you can just crimp the ring terminals onto the wire. If your missing any of these tools or don't have access to them, I wouldn't bother making this. The gains so minimal it's not worth paying $70 for a soldering iron just to make this.

[kelvin33]

:) dave is arranging a group install for free :)

isn't it :P

[ooorolla23]

heya superdave! awesome work but sorry for a noob question........... what does earthing do??

thanks

[SuperDave]

No problem with the question. Cars already come with earthing wires, but usually its really small gauge. All this guide does is replace the small gauge wire with something beefier, since electrical current flows better through something with a larger diameter.

[ooorolla23]

No problem with the question. Cars already come with earthing wires, but usually its really small gauge. All this guide does is replace the small gauge wire with something beefier, since electrical current flows better through something with a larger diameter.

Awesome bud. thanks for the explaination :)

[Tourer_V]

Also being that the car/motor is earthed better u may see a few other benifiets in using an earthing kit, these include : Brighter Headlights, More Power from motor, Easyer starting due to starter motor being better earther And audio benifiets with better grounding for head units/ amps etc

[jonrolla]

thanks for that

i replaced all my stock earths with 1/0 gauge car audio wire. I pulled all the stock wires out and it took 2 weeks to make new ground wires i couldnt remember where the stock wires use to go. NOte to self never rely on other people to terminate wires for you even if its for free.

the pictures really helped, i better go out and check to see if i placed them in the right spot.

i did go to the s/h toyota car yard to "have a look" at some corollas to see where the originals went. With the sales guy being really pushy and annoying it was too hard to see where all the wires were meant to be.

thanks again for all your help

this site rocks keep up the great work

[Mopp]

Did this and it was great to follow.

All info is correct and easy to read

Edited November 26, 2007 by Mopp

[CME-LFT]

Its cool to leave the original ground wires and just add new cables on to them right?

it wont cause any backfeed or anything seeing as electricity takes the path of least resistance itll end up using both the new cables and the original.

still dont understand why i need to jack the car up, it looks like i can get to all spots with a bit of leaning over the grill or am i wrong?

[MT]

Its cool to leave the original ground wires and just add new cables on to them right?

it wont cause any backfeed or anything seeing as electricity takes the path of least resistance itll end up using both the new cables and the original.

still dont understand why i need to jack the car up, it looks like i can get to all spots with a bit of leaning over the grill or am i wrong?

One of the points is underneath the gearbox, so you will need to be under the car to get to it

[wil_rolla]

hi, i'm still waiting for my kit to arive from ebay, cost me $35...

but i'm not sure if i should remove all the original cables or just add to them??

and i was told if you earth the spark plug coils (some where, not sure where) this will help improve the spark and therefor give "better" preformance... is this true???

DIY was very helpfull....

[SuperDave]

It's not going to hurt leaving the stock ground wires in place, but it depends on if there is enough thread to get the mounting bolts to tighten back up.

The main reason to going to a larger diameter wire is because if you increase the cross sectional area by x%, the resistance will decrease by the same x%. This assumes that both the original and replacement wires are made out of the same material and are the same lengths. Hence why there will be no real issue if the original wires are still used, but it will look neater if a single larger diameter wire is used.

You can try earthing the spark plug coils if you want, but I'm sure Toyota did a good enough job of it. I mainly made this guide to show people that you don't need to spend $100+ on an earth kit.

[CME-LFT]

Hello once again, Quick few questions.

All the bolts are only threaded into the holes right? theres no nuts behind each bolt that could fall off if im not careful?

And as i was saying in a previous post, if i would just add 8 guage to all the originals (no using 4 guage, and keep the originals) i should see the same benefit correct? seeing as ive added extra wire anyway?

Also, ive been browsing the net and come across the BIG 3, and from what i read it recommends that the active from the Alternator to the Battery should be done as well.... anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

[SuperDave]

Hello once again, Quick few questions.

All the bolts are only threaded into the holes right? theres no nuts behind each bolt that could fall off if im not careful?

And as i was saying in a previous post, if i would just add 8 guage to all the originals (no using 4 guage, and keep the originals) i should see the same benefit correct? seeing as ive added extra wire anyway?

Just bolts, no nuts.

Electricity follows the path of last resistance. So unless they both have the same resistance, then the electrons may chose one wire over the other and render it useless.

[CME-LFT]

Did the upgrade the other day, used 4 guage for the 3 cables near the batt and strut and 8 guage near the power steering bottle. It did make a slight improvement, headlights not dimming as much. (might get bigger alternator if i can)

[kv015]

Also being that the car/motor is earthed better u may see a few other benifiets in using an earthing kit, these include : Brighter Headlights, More Power from motor, Easyer starting due to starter motor being better earther And audio benifiets with better grounding for head units/ amps etc

I have read all the info in this topic and am wondering if this would help with my problem. If anyone knows could they please post?

Hi, Just wondering if anyone else has the same problem as me and if so, how you might have fixed it.

I purchased my ZR6 in December 2007 and right from the beginning have had a noise interference, a whistling noise like an old fashioned radio that is not tuned in correctly, whenever I connect my ipod to the auxilliary input jack in the centre console and also use the power charger cable plugged in to either socket (dash or console). If I remove the power cable there is absolutely no interference, but as soon as it is reconnected the noise is there again. It also gets much louder as I accelerate particularly from a stationery position. I have had the Toyota people look at it but so far no solution. I am pretty upset about this as I feel that if they include an accessory in a car then it should work and I like to use my ipod when I am in the car and need the ability to charge it as I use it.. I would really appreciate hearing from anyone with a similar problem or from someone who has a suggestion about how to fix it.

Hope someone out there can offer some assistance. many thanks.

[SuperDave]

Sounds like you have a dirty/poor earth with the radio. This guide is just for the engine bay, which I am sure you noticed :P

If you can find where the stock radio earths to, then undo it, clean the terminal and make sure there is no dirt or paint where it fixes to the chassis, if so clean it with some sandpaper. Since it is occurring when the charger (I'm assuming it plugs into the cig lighter?) is connected also give the earth for the cig lighter a clean up also. Not having a ZR6 I can't say where the earth points are for it. The Toyota wiring diagrams show where the earthing points are.

Edit: Does it do it with the factory head unit, like playing a CD or listening to the radio?

[Lunjiaow]

Im thinking about doing this to my Yaris. I installed an Apexi RSM. Voltage reads at 13.8v give or take, and when putting load on the engine/battery. ie, accessories, fan, audio system it drops down to 13.4v. Wondering if it will make a difference if i add extra grounding cables to boost it up to 13.8v with load on.

Anyone compared yet or notice the difference? Maybe its psychological thing? lol.

[rodspringer]

Apexi units read funny voltages my Apexi NEO reads lower than it should as my trusty fluke multimeter reads a higher voltage at the battery.....

[Suprathai]

Trust the Apexi or the Fluke?? Thats not a hard decision...(Its Fluke by the way)

[kv015]

Sounds like you have a dirty/poor earth with the radio. This guide is just for the engine bay, which I am sure you noticed :P

If you can find where the stock radio earths to, then undo it, clean the terminal and make sure there is no dirt or paint where it fixes to the chassis, if so clean it with some sandpaper. Since it is occurring when the charger (I'm assuming it plugs into the cig lighter?) is connected also give the earth for the cig lighter a clean up also. Not having a ZR6 I can't say where the earth points are for it. The Toyota wiring diagrams show where the earthing points are.

Edit: Does it do it with the factory head unit, like playing a CD or listening to the radio?

Sorry to take so long to respond as I thought I had the solution with a toyota T-SB that was supposed to fix this issue. The guys at my dealership got the part sent in from the US to fit it, did fit it for me, but no change to the interference. so they took it out again and said they don't know what to do next. Its been 2 months and I haven't heard anything from them about a solution. They say, just don't plug it into the charger!

Anyway, the noise is only there when using the ipod when it is connected to the power source, ie cigarette lighter. No noise with radio, or CD or ipod without charger.

thank you for offering solutions. I will take your suggestions to the dealership service centre and see what happens.

Many thanks, Kay

[re99ie]

Also being that the car/motor is earthed better u may see a few other benifiets in using an earthing kit, these include : Brighter Headlights, More Power from motor, Easyer starting due to starter motor being better earther And audio benifiets with better grounding for head units/ amps etc

After reading all the pros and cons of earthing kits, I don't believe they provide any advantage and its more for just bling and gimmics for a car.

The only time it will be useful is when the engine has been removed out of the car for rebuild or replacement. Also late model cars have more than one earth source for the engine.

A good battery or a voltage regulator are a better investment IMHO instead of more clutter in your engine bay.

Edited May 27, 2009 by re99ie

[SuperDave]

I don't believe they provide any advantage and its more for just bling and gimmics for a car.

Thats why I made this guide. Back in the day people were spending $200 or so (who knoes what they want these days) for JDM kits with pretty lights and wires :o