- 12V DC – Not so ‘Direct’.

May 14th, 2010 admin

DC = Direct Current…anyways, 20+ year old car. Original wiring. Weak contact points. Increased resistance from corrosion, not to mention, the odd ‘Gremlin’ ? ……and Engine Management, more specifically, Fuel and Ignition Systems that depend on Voltage/Current accuracy to keep things running in check ? Not a great combination.

The first step in the part of the build planning was to figure out what I wanted to do with the battery. A relocation to the trunk seemed like the best course of action, as I would like to house the majority of the electrical components there, out of sight, out of mind.

The plan was to run main 0 Gauge Positive and Negative runs from front to back, hood to trunk. I also decided to impliment a fuseless setup, using all breakers and a redundancy of in certain areas, to give me maintenence points, or power killing abilities, without killing the entire system.

The shopping list that I had to satisdy for this portion of the build was quite a bit more extensive than I had initially planned, but I figured that I might as well pull out all the stops and ‘Just Do It’ while I was focusing on it anyways.

Starting out with an NHRA Approved Battery Relocation Box from Taylor, I then focused on ordering up all of the wiring that I would need. Mutiple meters of 0, 4, 8, 16 gauge wiring was acquired along with distribution blocks to suit all junctions and gauge-change points, as well as DC fuseless breakers in numerous amperage values to work as both safety and future maintenance points, as I described above. The diagram shown also includes plans for a 5 channel amplifier for the ‘Entertainment’ portion of the build.

With a proper wiring foundation planned, it was now time to turn to enhancing the 12V DC system, more importantly, the Voltage delivery for both the Fuel and Ignition Systems.

On the advise of another BNR32 builder, I decided to check out the Boost-A-Spark and Boost-A-Pump from Kenne Bell. Both units are cockpit ‘intensity’ controlled, boost activated Voltage Boosters/Controllers that are both Performance as well as Stability oriented in design and are extremely popular with the USDM EFI Hot Rod crowd and are both Track and Time proven units. Both require a mere 10V to operate normally and from there are able to stabilize the Voltages going to either the fuel pump or ignition systems and under positive manifold pressure (via a sensor) become active to boost voltage to user/tuner desired levels for added performance and overall safety. Although there may be ‘JDM’ type boxes such as these that exist on the market, these are simply THE BEST and are known the world over for powering some of the highest HP cars on the street, as well as the track. They were simply the best choice for my application.

So, foundation planned, Fuel and Ignition System’s power requirements taken care of……what next ? Dare I buy into the overpriced ‘JDM Grounding Kit’ ? Not exactly, although I will be laying Ground Wires anywhere and everywhere possible, as it does help – I just don’t need fancy purple wires and gold terminals totalling $250 USD to accomplish this, but then again, if there wasn’t a market, certain products wouldn’t exist, so I will not judge too harshly.