Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ How To: The Big Three

[MAlby7]

How To Do It!

I got this from www.focushacks.com

Time Required:
1-2 Hours

Tools and Supplies Needed:

- Approx 2 feet of 4awg ground cable (black if desired)
- Approx 4.5 feet of 4awg positive cable (red if desired)
- 6 ring terminals or lugs of appropriate size for wire chosen
- 1/2" black heat shrink tubing or other insulation
- Wire crimpers large enough to tackle 4awg cable
- Soldering iron / solder / sponge
- Wire cutters of size large enough to cut 4awg cable
- Razorblade or other tool to strip cables
- Heat gun
- 6" black cable ties

Basic tools to remove bolts: - 8mm 10mm & vice grips


Procedure:

Cutting the wire:

Cutting the wire to the proper length is important. If the wire is too short, it will not reach where it needs to go, or it may reach, but be placed under too much stress. If the wire is too long, it may touch something it's not supposed to and it will look unsightly. These are the recommended lengths:

Engine to Chassis ground - 8"
Battery to chassis ground - 12"
Alternator to Battery Positive - 4' 2"

Instructions:

- Cut wires to appropriate lengths
- Strip approximately 3/8" insulation off the ends of the cables.
- Make sure your heat shrink tubing slips over the lugs. if it doesn't slip over the ends, cut the tubing now and slip two pieces per wire. if it does, wait until after you crimp / solder.
- Insert cables into lugs (ring terminals) and crimp. Make sure the wire is crimped enough, but be warned: over crimping can break the strands
(Optional, but recommended) Using the soldering iron, heat the top of the lug right over where the opening is where you see the threads. Put a bead of solder on the tip of the iron. when the solder flows to the lug, start feeding solder from the top first (of the wire) to the bottom, filling the "hole" in the lug. let the iron sit on the top of the lug long enough so that you get good contact / flow.
- Place that wire aside and start working on the next one.
- When all the ends are soldered, let them cool for a few minutes. Cut heat shrink tubing to approximately 1.5" lengths and slip over the lugs.
- Heat the tubing to insulate the sides of the lugs that will not be bolted / see ground
- Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery, and then the positive. If you have capacitors, discharge them.
- Near the back of the engine towards the passenger side strut tower, locate the rear engine hoist. Attached to this is the engine to chassis ground. Remove the bolt (8mm, I believe) and, keeping the stock cable in place, attach the 8" ground cable to this bolt. Follow the stock ground to the tab on the strut tower, and connect the cable there too. Using cable ties, secure the upgraded ground to the stock one.
- Remove the small nut on the factory negative terminal. Attach the 12" ground cable to this nut and tighten. Attach the other end of this cable to a nearby bolt. If it is not a factory grounding bolt, make sure the connection is sanded clean to ensure a good ground. If you sand any new connection, spray with electronics grade clear coat or use dielectric grease.
- Locate the alternator. On the back of the alternator there is a "tower" with a red cap. Remove the red cap.
On the back of the tower there is a 10mm bolt holding down the factory alternator cable. **(Note: do not remove this cable after installation)**
Try to remove the 10mm bolt. Sometimes the entire tower will twist with the bolt. Using vice grips, grab the tower near the bolt and hold it secure while you loosen the bolt. Attach your new 4ga alternator cable on top of the stock cable to this bolt and tighten. Replace the red cap.
- Give yourself a couple inches of slack before you secure this cable to the firewall or other secure point to allow for engine movement.
- Run this cable along the firewall to the battery positive, securing it as necessary.
- Attach this cable to the factory positive terminal, using the small nut on the factory positive terminal, similar to the one you used for ground.
Make sure all bolts are tight and all cables are not near any moving or hot parts. If so, cable tie them to a safe place.
- Reconnect battery. if anything starts to smoke, remove the terminals immediately and check connections.
- Tighten battery terminals.
- Admire your work.

NEGATIVE BATTERY POST TO GROUND ON CHASSIS WIRE:


ENGINE TO GROUND WIRE:



ALTERNATOR POST TO POSITIVE BATTERY TERMINAL WIRE:

[SVT dean]

thanks

[MAlby7]

Your Welcome

[GlennH]

very nice!!!

[scoobasteve]

I redid two of the grounds on the big 3, it makes a huge difference on the svt. the gages dont dim anymore. i cant wait untill i actually install the high output alt.

[ANTHONYD]

What exactly is "the big three"?

[scoobasteve]

Big 3... Upgrading your engine grounds and alternator charging cable. It helps alot on the focus, because i believe the alternator cable is 8~10ga, and the engine grounds are about the same.

[silvermist]

what about the ground that goes to your tranny. that one is a bicth to get to.

[Raine]

Meet @ my place first weekend in Sept. to do this to everyone's car.

[scoobasteve]

what about the ground that goes to your tranny. that one is a bicth to get to.

Ive never seen this ground before... do you have any pictures.

[PerfectSaiyan]

what is the tehcnial advantage of doing this?

[NOS2Go4Me]

It smooths out the power delivery to the car and stabilizes the voltage of the car's running system (12V).

Also, there have been minor gains at the wheels, but the big bonus is engine responsiveness.

[nass]

yeah the Alt. was the hardest to do for me I ended up finding out that the Alt was dying ( only putting out 12.8v while running ) so I replaced it and put it on while it was off the car

I used spare power cable I had laying around so my colours don't match. Red cable goes from negative to the body at the battery and same for the engine ground. The dealer tech. brought me into the bay to point this out to me cause he actually thought I had the positive going to the chasis and he didn't want to touch the car

[PerfectSaiyan]

It smooths out the power delivery to the car and stabilizes the voltage of the car's running system (12V).

Also, there have been minor gains at the wheels, but the big bonus is engine responsiveness.

oh alright, one of these days I might end up doing it!

[focuzin]

hey guys i did the big three on my car and it was not easy I broke the alternator tower, it was to tight when I tried to turn the nut it snapped of the tower, I checked the dealer for parts but no luck but I found a place that carry the part and for 5 bucks I fixed it, that is probably the hardest thing to do for this job, If you are doing it to your car take it easy when unscrewing the top of the alternator tower.

It smooths out the power delivery to the car and stabilizes the voltage of the car's running system (12V).

Also, there have been minor gains at the wheels, but the big bonus is engine responsiveness.

oh alright, one of these days I might end up doing it!

[dierless]

hey guys i did the big three on my car and it was not easy I broke the alternator tower, it was to tight when I tried to turn the nut it snapped of the tower, I checked the dealer for parts but no luck but I found a place that carry the part and for 5 bucks I fixed it, that is probably the hardest thing to do for this job, If you are doing it to your car take it easy when unscrewing the top of the alternator tower.

It smooths out the power delivery to the car and stabilizes the voltage of the car's running system (12V).

Also, there have been minor gains at the wheels, but the big bonus is engine responsiveness.

oh alright, one of these days I might end up doing it!

i want to know where you got your post from, the same problem happened to me and i cant find anywhere that has it. i also emailed you on this. if anyone can help me out thanks.

[02_svt_guy]

i did the BIG 3 on my grand prix and as far as performance there wasnt any to be had but my stereo became less of a draw and i virtually had no light dim!

i totally recommend

[Honkeytonk Monkey]

^^^In that shot it looks like you connected your battery ground to the upper radiator support, isn't that part made of plastic? You'll still be getting a ground from your factory cable still being there. The best ground point I've found is the upper shock tower area near the transaxle side motor mount, try not to connect the main ground to a part that bolts to the unibody, but to an integral part of the car's unibody.



I'll get some more shots of the battery relo at some point, but this is how I ran my distribution. The Battry negative ducks under the battery tray to the shock tower point I noted. I'll pull the tray and get a shot of that grounding point as well. In my case it no longer matters ads my battery in in my spare tire well, but that was the grounding point I used before the relo.

With the engine off, and the stereo playing at normal levels I still read 12.8-13.2V on the voltmeter, with the engine running with full A/C and all the lights on I read between 14.2-14.8.

The biggest bonus you get from the big three is the end of headlight dimming while running the system. I have underdrive pulleys on my car, and a deep cycle battery, but even so the car had a terrible tendency to shake at red lights, expecially with the headlights/fog lights on at the same time. After doing this, even with the A/C on full blast, the stereo running, and all the lights on, the car idles smoothly and the headlights don't dim whatsoever.

[MAlby7]

^^^In that shot it looks like you connected your battery ground to the upper radiator support, isn't that part made of plastic?

Well since I sold my car I can't go out and check but I remember sanding the paint off of the part and metal filings were everywhere as you can see in the pic. Pretty damn sure it's metal.

It's also where the www.focushacks.com hack tell you to put it.

[SmokeBCBuDZ]

Well I am going to give "the big 3" a go tomorrow. Wish me luck!