PimpRod92RS

Hey guys,
I have a 92 Camaro RS and I have an Orion XTR 400 that needs some quality juice (power). I have it rigged to my Pep Boys 8 guage wire right now, which is terrible quality and needs to be taken out fast. While my car is ripped up I am probably going to replace it with four guage wire. The problem is, the battery post is too small for there to be another wire coming out of it, its one of those types of posts that screws into the battery, rather than the post being on the top, I'm sure many of you have them. For the time being, the 8 guage wire is exposed to metal and is tied around the post bare and gives a bad power transfer. So how can I rig up my 4 guage wire to a clean, strong power source? Any ideas? I know there is a distribution post on the passenger side of my camaro near the right of the passenger side headlight(from the front of the car). The problem I feel with this is, there is only 8 guage wire feeding this post, and that will pretty much cancel out my 4 guage wire, correct? Please let me know, and I am not going to convert to the other style battery posts, it just isn't worth it in my opinion, sorry for the long post, give me some ideas thanks!

TrueBlue91RS

Well, if you don't mind cutting the rubber on head of your positive battery connection, you could use a ring terminal on the 4 gauge and put the screw through it into the battery. I've done it in the past with 8 gauge and it works, but 4 gauge may be a bit of a squeeze.

If you don't like the idea above, then you could consider changing the connection over to the "post" type instead of the "screw-in" type. For less than a buck, you can pick up two small posts that screw into the holes in your battery. Then you can either cut the connections off of you existing power/ground cable and replace them with the post connection-type, or change the entire cable.

Personally, I think it's a good idea to upgrade all the battery/ground cables running from the battery to either 2 or 4 gauge anyway. If you don't mind a bit of work, it's fairly cheap to buy all of the pieces seperately and do it yourself. Besides, your car's entire electrical system will benefit from this upgrade, not just the audio.

92 z28

what exactly under the hood do you recommend changing to 4 ga wire?

TrueBlue91RS

The power and ground cables running from the battery. It just makes sense if you're using 4 gauge or more on the audio system.

A too-small chassis ground running from the battery can lead to charging issues down the road if your system's consumption increases.

92 z28

so you are saying replace the ground going to the body? and how do you change the wire from the alternator going to the battery?

TrueBlue91RS

Sorry, I meant to the block. That's where the ground from the battery goes. But yeah, that's the one.

I've upgraded the wire that runs from the positive battery terminal to the connection at the lower left side of the engine. Upgrading the battery that runs to the alternator is a whole different can of worms. Though I'm sure it would be quite beneficial, I've never done it. Basically you'd have to open up the wire covers running over the top of the engine and trace the wires from the alternator to their end point. I'm not sure if you'd have to hardwire the replacement wire to the alternator or not either...

Regardless, I'm pretty sure it's not the "quick-fix" that replacing the 8 gauge power and ground wires is.

90FirebirdV6

you could buy a battery with top and side post, and get top post replacement clamps from like kragen and put those on your amp power/ground cables.

White Ninja

yeah, getting a new battery with top and side posts is the fastest solution, i didn't say best, but fastest. You can go buy a universal top-post battery clamp and just clamp it on the Pos terminal and clamp the wire on the clamp itself... and things are like 1-2 bucks...

92 z28

this might be what whit ninja is saying, but on my car theres this post thing that has a cable from the battery going to. it like a cup looking thing with a screw. i use that to hook up all my power needs to. i got all these crazy lights and stuff so i have a lot hooked up to it. it seems to work great.

PimpRod92RS

yea 92 z thats what im talkin about, that little thing you are hookin ur stuff up to. But my problem is, I dunno if its worth putting four guage wire to it if theres only 8 guage give or take that is supplying the power, kinda limits the power going through the four guage therefore canceling it out am I correct? That seems to be my easiest way in.

92 z28

that makes sense, and its a good point. now that you mention it, im going to try to replace the wire going to the terminal with 4 ga. ill see how hard it is to do. i am going to be running a 4 ga soon to my amp in the back, i still have to figure how im going to do it. let me know if you got ideas, :lala: :lala: :lala: :lala: :lala:

White Ninja

i'm gonna be running 4 guage through my 91Z... as for concelling out the points, the bigger the wire the easily it flows current.... it kinda goes with, you can't opwer your amp with 18 guage speaker wires....that's stupid. no reason to take the 8 out and put 4 if there's no need...except it'll flow better, but not noticable gain whatsoever...

PimpRod92RS

Good point ninja, maybe i'll hang onto it, it ran fine anyway, and i dont feel like doin rewiring the capacitors and all. She'll be fine for now, lemme just finish my guages for now

CaysE

My suggestion is to go with a battery that has top and side post terminals. I suggest this because if you have any particular need for 4 guage wire or better in your car, it's going to put some strain on your battery. This is the "best" solution in my opinion: get yourself an Optima battery, preferably Red top, with the top and side post terminals (I think the size is 75/35; just know which to get, there are two sizes). Hook up your four gauge wire to a clamp style terminal connector and this will go on the positive top post. You will also want to upgrade your grounds to 4 gauge... so set up another short wire with a clamping terminal connector on one end and a 4 gauge ring terminal on the other. This will go on the negative top post and to the chassis ground. You're all set.
The "cheapest" solution is to buy a sidepost accessory terminal and a new sidepost bolt. The terminal is basically a flat plate of metal that goes between the terminal and the connector as you bolt it into the battery. I don't know if you can hook up a four gauge wire to it very easily, though. It's meant to handle 8 gauge or smaller, I believe. You'll need the new bolt so that the connector will bolt to the battery sufficiently. Another cheap solution is to do what TrueBlue wrote; buy some quick charge posts that screw into the sidepost terminals, and it will basically act like a top post battery. The work is changing the stock wiring terminals to top post connectors, which could take you a little time.
Good luck, I hope this wasn't too convoluted. PM me if you need help.
-Casey

ninety1TAgta

This is a fairly simple question with some damn complex/pricy answers so far... Just go buy a bolt with the same threads as the little stubby stock one. Cut it to the size you need, clean some washers and put some anti-corrosive gel on. Shouldnt even cost you 5 bucks...
greg

DISTURBthePEACE

Just change over to a top mount battery. Simple, and you can hook up more than you could with a side mount. Not sure how much the top mount connectors are, I kinda "borrowed" mine from a torn up car in a field.

PimpRod92RS

I found the solution, maybe this can even help some of you out. One day a few weeks ago I was walking through Best Buy to see their system wiring accessories, which seem to have a considerable amount of quality and durability to them, after all they are Rockford Fosgate brand. I found a little tiny gold plated bolt, was about ten dollars, it replaces the stubby little bolt that goes from your positive cable to your battery, and a new gold plated one goes in place of it. At the end of the post, there is a hole for another screw, which was included, where a person can wire as many accessories to it as they want without worrying about a poor connection and whatnot. I popped it in around 2 minutes time, seems to be very easy, you do not have to remove the battery for clearance purposes, some of you might want to look into one of those little bolts. Now my next question is, how do I get my 4 guages amp wire to the back of the car? Its too thick to be squeezed under the door sills, so where's my easiest way back ?

90RS3.1

It will fit underyour door sills fine. Thats where i ran my 4 gauge wire. just losen the screws n shove the wire up there. Then tighten the screws back down. Its totaly hidden and the sill fits back down perfectly flush when you done.

Best way to go with the battery situation is get a dual terminal battery (tops and side post) Id either go with and Optima or Pep Boys sells an Engergizer 900 CCA battery that will also work. Unlike pepboys normal crapy pro start batterey's the energizers are actually pretty damn awsome. The optima is a buck 30 and the energizer is 80. I went with the optima because i had the extra cash and an employee discount