ok i had a question.... when u change the big 3 ground cables to thicker cables

1. Battery + to alternator
2. battery ground to chassis
3. Chassis to engine.
do u still keep the oem cables.. just add the new cable or do u throw away the oem and keep the new one???

You replace the old (throw them away) with the new ones. The idea is the new ones are bigger gauge and will flow more amps. But I'm not a fan of the "Big 3" mod. Not enough results to convince me it's worth doing. I can give you than a few reasons I think it's a waste of time (and money).

we have pretty good electical systems on our cars, and i dont think you will see a difference with that "mod".

hey everyone i tried posting this on regalgs.org but got no answer, hopefully someone here can help me:

i decided to do the big 3 before the snow hits but dont really understand what exactly to do, especially because i own a park avenue. im assuming it is called the big 3 because there are 3 wires that are replaced with 0g wire but when i look under my hood i see a few more than 3 wires involved with the battery/alternator/fuse panel/ and grounding. i will try to the best of my abilities to explain.

there is one wire coming from the alternator to the fuse panel
there is one wire coming from the fuse panel to battery +
there is one wire coming from battery - to ground on the passenger side fender behind the battery

(the following wires seemed to be a bit bigger than the last 3 that were named)
there is one wire coming from battery + to the starter
and one more wire coming from battery - to an unknown location (im guessing a ground on the engine/chassis) but i havent crawled under there yet.

so does the big 3 include only the first 3 wires i named, or all 5?
if its only the first 3, would it be a good idea to replace all 5 anyway because they are crimped together before they get to the battery/fuse panel?

also when i went to the parts store tonight they had no 0g wire, but 4g still looked pretty big. is everyone using 0g or 4g for the big 3 upgrade?

thanks for any help in advance i tried searching for this before posting.

oh god.. Your not from Cottage Grove are you?

And to answer your question.. As far as i know.. The big 3 doesn't apply to Riv's or Park avenues.. I did the voltage booster thing though.. The write up can be found at the top of the page.. click write ups.. than its somewhere in there

I did run a larger positive cable from my alternator to the positive post under the hood, but that has like a 2-0 cable running back to the battery, which is under the back seat in the Riv. I'm not sure where the battery is on the PA. I have been considering running a larger negative cable directly from the alternator/engine back to the battery's main ground point.

How big of a system are you planning to run?

Tyler,
Is your 97 PA supercharged?
Can you adapt the 140 amp CS144 alternator to your car. If so, that will help with your add ons.
As far as the big 3 upgrade, I don't think you need to be concerned about the diameter of your existing Battery, Alternator and Starter wires.
But you could increase the diameter of your accessory wires that you were asking about.

i would agree, increase the #8 awg wires to at least #4 awg. That's a big choking point from your Alt to the fuse panel and then on to the Batt and grounds.
It will definitely make a big difference to go from #8 to #4 awg. I don't know why they would even make it that way.
On your car it is much easier to upgrade with the Battery in the engine compartment.
The reason I asked if it a SC is because, I think a cs144 mod is a relatively easy mod on a non-SC. But you would have to do a little more investigating on that.

i thought that might be the cause, i saw 11 volts tonight at a stoplight tonight its time for bigger wires and the voltage booster mod hopefully tomorrow