Big Three (Big 3) Upgrade How-To

[NorthernCrew]

does anyone have pictures for the 2.2L?

[Sir Toad]

Quote: Originally Posted by lwrd93

we should have a post your big 3 sticky...

we do


http://www.gmtruckhq.com/sound-secur...html#post18183

[lwrd93]

lol..nice

[supasoulja]

Quote: Originally Posted by suicidal

How exactly do you do it? i'm interested. just need some instruction.

whoevers car that is on suicidals avatar...

[supasoulja]

Quote: Originally Posted by s10junkie98

thanks bud any advice on how to solder the large wires?

Melt solder into terminal, then heat it up and jam the wire into it, then when it's still hot, crimp it to make sure it stays in

[Sir Toad]

Quote: Originally Posted by supasoulja

Melt solder into terminal, then heat it up and jam the wire into it, then when it's still hot, crimp it to make sure it stays in

a cold solder joint with a crimp as a crutch

[BlazerChops]

Just to put in my own 2 cents...

Other than my very first vehicle, a '91 Ford Ranger and my current '02 Blazer, all of my other vehicles have been unibody construction. Since they do not have frames, you had no choice but to ground to the body.

I used to make a solid grounding point to the stock ground location in the engine bay. I suppose most car manufacturers use the typical flat and bare braided ground cable from somewhere on the engine block to somewhere on the firewall or fender(s). I would just add my own 4awg straight to that point from the battery and engine block.

If I were to ever do an install in my Blazer, I would still do it this way as I did in my Ranger and the rest of my vehicles. Since you are making a solid ground out of the body, there's no reason why you have to go cutting and drilling holes through the body of the truck to get to the frame to make your ground.

I hate altering a vehicle in such a way that it is irreversible. For this reason, I have NEVER drilled a single hole in ANY of my vehicles over the years for any of the systems that I've installed. Even for the subwoofer enclosures and amp racks, I design them in such a way that they fit perfectly by friction alone. They are "locked in" so to speak, flowing with the lines of the interior of the vehicle. This makes for a very tight, perfect fit without having extra holes punched throughout the body of the vehicle.

Also, if you ever decide to sell, you can remove everything and the car is back to its original state.

Think about it this way as well. Since 99% of all the electronics in any car/truck/SUV are grounded straight to the body, why not put all of your efforts into properly grounding the body. This way, it improves ALL of the electronics in your vehicle (OEM and aftermarket), not just your stereo or compressors or extra lights.

Again, just my 2 cents.

[blazerxtreme18]

im about to do this im jsut wondering should i put a fuse between the alt and pos. or just wire??? to fuse or not to fuse opinions wanted....

[David12460]

Most people don't but you can. It wont hurt anything.

[blazerxtreme18]

ive heard that the alt can surge an its good to have a fuse there to take the juice instead of the batt overloading

[David12460]

Um a battery is a good shock absorber for spikes. As long as you don't sit over 16v for long periods of time you will be ok. The Alt has a voltage regulator that controls the charging rate.

someone correct me if im wrong...

[S10dude]

correct....i don't use a fuse on my 200amp alt to bat.......work's great.and has for some time now

[blazerxtreme18]

Quote: Originally Posted by xdude2001

correct....i don't use a fuse on my 200amp alt to bat.......work's great.and has for some time now

cool thats what i wanna hear....thanks

[David12460]

yeah I forgot to mention Ive got 0 awg up to my 160amp alt. I also have no issues.

[B_Rich]

One fuse won't save you even if you do have a short in that wire anyway.

[blazerxtreme18]

just put in a dbelectrical 220 amp alt. and did the big 3 with 0/1 gauge its nasty i love it best thing i ever did...i recommend it..i gotta get some pics up..

[Elite_Tux]

Ok..here is one thing I don't see going on.. what are you doing with the power wire that connects to the fuse block? I installed a small amp and I am not looking to do the big 3 just yet..but can I connect the amp power wire to the alternator power wire? I tried to connect it to the positive battery post but the stud is too small...and the stock harness won't screw in with the amp ring terminal in there.

[B_Rich]

Quote: Originally Posted by blazerxtreme18

just put in a dbelectrical 220 amp alt. and did the big 3 with 0/1 gauge its nasty i love it best thing i ever did...i recommend it..i gotta get some pics up..

Can I ask what your output is at idle? Amperage and voltage.

[juddspaintballs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Elite_Tux

Ok..here is one thing I don't see going on.. what are you doing with the power wire that connects to the fuse block? I installed a small amp and I am not looking to do the big 3 just yet..but can I connect the amp power wire to the alternator power wire? I tried to connect it to the positive battery post but the stud is too small...and the stock harness won't screw in with the amp ring terminal in there.

It is advisable to skip the factory fuse block with the Big Three. It forms a choke point and restricts current flow. I do not advise that you connect your amplifier power wire directly to your alternator, however. Voltage fluctuates a little directly at the alternator (and therefore throughout the whole truck), but the battery slightly buffers the fluctuation and helps you maintain a more constant voltage (I didn't say it wouldn't fluctuate at all...just a hair less). Also, if the internal rectifier goes poop on your alternator, then your amplifier will see the extra voltage that it shouldn't and may become damaged. If you keep the battery in between the amp and alternator, then your battery will die before your amp sees too much voltage, thus protecting your amplifier.

If you can't get the amplifier power wire on the battery, you need battery post extensions. See my original post in this thread explaining them. Picture included.

[Sir Toad]

my picture

[juddspaintballs]

yep

[Elite_Tux]

Yeah I finally got it with those side post extenders, I though the power wire pig tail was an inseparable assembly and I couldn't remove the bolt but I got it out and all is good and I am bumping now.. Thanks!

[blazerxtreme18]

Quote: Originally Posted by VoRtEcZr243

Can I ask what your output is at idle? Amperage and voltage.

output at idle is 105 amps and voltage is 14.7-8

[opiefavors]

umm a have a crap ton of 2ga wire laying arround will it work? and where can i get the connectors that ar large enough for it i cant find it anywhere autoparts stores radio shack none of them carry it for that big

[Sir Toad]

parts express

[juddspaintballs]

yes, 2 gauge works: it's larger than 4 gauge and certainly larger than stock wiring. you can get terminals for it from parts express (online), a good electrical supply store, or a site i just discovered called terminal supply. actually you can get them at a lot of places, but if you don't know where to look, those are good places to start.

[Geat]

I did the big three on my 2.2 the other day, along with an excessive amperage alternator. Heres my grounds.


Stock frame ground under the intake. The best way to take this off would be to take your intake off.

everything ground off

2/0 and stock wire

Right here is where i grounded my engine block to battery, as you can see the best way to get to it is the passenger side fender well

2/0 again

[IdonthaveanS10]

hopefully someone can answer this.... the how to says not to fuse the alternator to battery wire because it is pointless for whatever reason, but then why is the stock alternator-battery wire in most vehicles run through the fuse box, and potentially how would fusing/not fusing affect the setup? I thought if you dont fuse it and some kind of crazy surge at the battery/alternator happened then both would be damaged, same way you fuse a power wire to an amp so a power surge wont damage it/the battery...

[Sir Toad]

fusing the power wire at the battery has little to do with a surge ...it has to do with a wire being shorted,mainly in an accident,and it prevents damage,explosion of the battery

why put a fuse in between the alt. and battery?...there is a power source on both sides of the fuse

[IdonthaveanS10]

i fused it since i had an extra 250A fuse around, but my friend wants to do this and doesnt have a fuse and i want to know if its safe or not to not have one

why put a fuse? i figured this wire is in your engine bay, and if youre not careful running it or have an accident it could get stripped or short/touch bare metal, and the fuse would protect whichever unit is opposite the fuse at least...

[neo71665]

Quote: Originally Posted by IdonthaveanS10

i fused it since i had an extra 250A fuse around, but my friend wants to do this and doesnt have a fuse and i want to know if its safe or not to not have one

why put a fuse? i figured this wire is in your engine bay, and if youre not careful running it or have an accident it could get stripped or short/touch bare metal, and the fuse would protect whichever unit is opposite the fuse at least...

There is nothing wrong per say with having one. Its just pointless and adds something else to go wrong. The only way to fuse it where the fuses do the job they are intended to do is to have a fuse on each end of the power. One with one end on the battery and the other on the cable. The other one must have one end on the alt and the other on the cable. With just one fuse you will still have one end hot, until the engine is killed at least.

[chicagotypewriter]

well with the stock alternator should i stick with 4 gauge wire? or could i go bigger. i know it says the bigger the better but i just want to double check

[David12460]

Bigger wire will reduce the amount of resistance in the circuit. So yes running bigger wire will be best.

[Forklift]

Quote: Originally Posted by chicagotypewriter

well with the stock alternator should i stick with 4 gauge wire? or could i go bigger. i know it says the bigger the better but i just want to double check

Im running a stock alt and 1/0, I went big

[chicagotypewriter]

i probably should have but i just went with 4 guage(im poor right now) i should take pics since ther is none of a 2.2

[Vash]

Just a note. One person said "Wire is wire". Not true at all. The quality of the metal and purity effect it. You can buy cheap thick that is not even as good as thin premo. I realize most people here know that just saying. Trust no one... if they add plastic to baby milk they will add stuff to your wire.

[juddspaintballs]

Wire is wire. Some are made of higher quality materials than other, no doubt. But, for the length of wire any of us will be running, it makes virtually no difference. Skin depth, the right hand rule, resistance loss, etc. is so minimal with the amount of power capable in the vehicle versus the length of wire used that if you compared a copper clad aluminum wire to a pure copper or pure silver wire, it's likely that unless you had a Fluke multimeter, you'd not be able to even tell a difference between the wires.

Yes, there are better wires than some, but if you have the choice between a wire of pure copper or a wire of copper clad aluminum, why not go with the less expensive wire in lieu of the fact that you won't gain anything by spending the extra money on pure copper. Same goes for strand count for the most part, except wires with higher strand count are usually more flexible.

[Vash]

In the original write up should be remove POS first not remove Neg first.

Remove = Pos off neg off
Install = Neg on pos on

Great write up again thx.

[opiefavors]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vash

In the original write up should be remove POS first not remove Neg first.

Remove = Pos off neg off
Install = Neg on pos on

Great write up again thx.

Why is that, if you do it that way then if your wrench was to hit something metal it could fluck some things up.

[williambriggs]

i got 2 gauge wire and while im doing this im moving the battery behind the passanger seat in the cab.

should i use a distribution block to connect the alt., starter and fusebox to my 2gauge power wire and ditch that factory 175amp fuse mounted under the battery?..i only want 2 wires going into the cab (1 pos & 1 neg)

then for ground could i just ground the block to the frame and battery neg. to the frame (less wire to run if i can do it this way)

[juddspaintballs]

yes, sounds good. use a fuse between the starter and dist. block though. i don't know what the max amperage the starter takes, but use that value for the fuse.

[williambriggs]

think the factory 175amp fuse will work?? ill just connect the starter to it then to the distribution block..

[juddspaintballs]

like i said, i don't know what the starter's maximum acceptable amperage is. i suspect it's below 175 amps, however.

[Masta Squidge]

Quote:

Fuses are NOT necessary. Fusing the power wire is pointless because power flows from both ends (either battery positive terminal or the alternator)

I would like to formally disagree with this statement to the utmost extent.

Fuse towards the battery. I dont care what anyone tries to tell you, its much better to burn out a voltage regulator in the alternator than cause a dead short in the battery. If you short this wire, and have no fuse, what do you think happens? The simplest, easiest and safest route is a fused battery terminal. That way anything connected to it is protected from causing a direct battery short.

And try to avoid one with a flimsy plastic cover. 90% of the time they vanish into thin air, and thats just lame.

Although i will agree with the argument that a wire that is short and well run and doesnt rub on anything will probably NEVER short out, but thats not my point. I would rather buy a 30 dollar block than a new 200 dollar battery.

[oldskoolchevelle]

thanks for writing this up. helped alot

[Mr.woodscrewsNbondo]

Quote: Originally Posted by blazerxtreme18

im about to do this im jsut wondering should i put a fuse between the alt and pos. or just wire??? to fuse or not to fuse opinions wanted....

cars were made for years with no fuse there with no problems

[max1million]

If your battery is not loosing charge you might skip most of that just connect to the battery as mentioned, or electrically closer to it which I also mention here along with amp rating for common wire gauges. I hit that post first.

[superten911]

how do I find the stock ground on my engine block? I havent ever looked but my engine is a first gen blazer 4.3? I also got the blazer two days ago...

[juddspaintballs]

Open it up and take a peek. It's not always in the same place on every truck even if they're from the same year. Usually goes to the firewall down low though...

[98SonomaMan]

Hope I'm not pissing anyone off by posting in an old sticky, but what is everyones opinion on solid copper core wire? I used this on my '98 and it worked well but was hella hard to work with. How does this compare to using 1 or 2/O power cables?