ChrisF

Anyone have any experience with these two products. Sun Automotive states that these products increase the electrical potential of the engine which results in:

Increased hp
Increased torque
Improved fuel efficiency
Stabilized idle
Brighter lights
Quicker engine starts
Reduced emissions
Reduced audio noise

On the civic it’s reported to have a 5hp increase and better fuel mileage. It cost about $115 for the ground system, and $169 for the voltage system.

What do you think? Could this product be worth while purchasing?

http://www.sunautomobile.com/con_products.htm


Chris

DaveWhyman

It looks pretty, but unless the old ground wires are shot, I doubt you would see a 5 hp increase.

On my old car I had an AFC the kept registering some stray voltage, even with grounding the hell out of the engine it never went away.

rmpage

Grounding kits stabilize electrical potential between different engine components by tieing them all to the negative battery post. This keeps them all at the same potential while at the same time cutting down electrical interference induced by the alternator, ignition system, etc.

Think about how if you have some poor audio work done, you can turn on the radio and hear alternator whine. The interference from the electrical system enters the audio and makes it sound like crap. The same thing can happen with your fuel system - EMI/RFI (electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference) can invade your fuel system and instead of making music sound bad, it can wreak havoc on the fuel and ignition electronics, robbing your engine of performance.

From the factory, vehicles have little problem with EMI/RFI. When you start poking around in the engine bay this can change. So a grounding kit or condenser, like a ground loop isolator for your audio, isn't much use unless a problem already exists. There's no sense in installing one unless you've had a lot of work done and have problems as a result.

ChrisF

That sounds very reasonable and you are probably right. When you are talking about “a lot of work done” I’m assuming you are referring to people who have T3 turbos and such that add a mass of parts in the engine bay.

However take a look at this link with the TL. From the article all they did was a stainless catback (+6hp), an injen intake (max probably +10 hp), and the voltage/ground systems giving it a total of +30 hp. I know it’s a different car with a larger engine with larger potential performance gains but its interesting none the less.

http://hondatuningmagazine.com/tech/0505ht_tl/

JTso

iTrader: (2)

But how many hp is from the ground wires?

rmpage

Yeah, any time you start changing the engine bay configuration by adding masses of metal that may not be effectively grounded to the frame you introduce a change of EMI/RFI.

Personally I wouldn't bother unless you've added some stuff already, but grounding kits (not condensers) are very cheap and very easy to install. All you do is screw a few wires down to various engine parts and run them to the battery post. They also are a nice engine bay dress-up if you get one with cool looking insulation on the wires. So by all means give it a shot, it's not going to hurt anything.