Good Grounding Locations in the trunk area

97 Riv Supercharged 158,175 miles
I'm currently getting ready to do a upgrade to run 2 amps and 2 15's with a 3 farad cap. The setup I have now is just 1 amp powering a 12. It is grounded on the right side of the trunk right beside where the power antenna is located. This is a great ground. However when I add 2 15's the amps are going to have to sit all the way up beside the rear seat. Does anyone know of any good grounding locations where I can ground the amps within 2-3 feet of the location??? Thanks

Here's what I did in mine. I got a distribution block and combined both grounds from the two seperate amps into one common ground cable. I then routed it through the opening in the trunk to under the rear seat. I then attached the ground to the same grounding terminal as the main ground for the car battery. All I upgraded was the bolt used to secure the ground cables to the body. I've experienced excellent results so far with this setup. I don't run a cap, I have a 360 watt RMS four way amp and a mono 1200 watt RMS amp. I experience very little light dimming, no ground loop, or any other power abnormalities. It also allows for the wires to be run neatly behind the subwoofer and out of sight. Keep in mind this is all with 4 gauge wire running from the positive and negative distribution blocks to the amps, and then 0 gauge wire running from the battery side of the distribution blocks to the termination points.

Hope that helps.

Now to upgrade that pitiful 360W RMS amp and speaker setup. Just doesn't go loud enough anymore. The Subwoofer is fine. I rather increase the quality and volume of the mids and highs.

Through a distribution block, then direct to the negative battery post.

AA wrote:

Through a distribution block, then direct to the negative battery post.

Thanks for summing my long winded post up. I tend to complicate things.

I've actually done the same. It works well, with no grounding noise. Lets you make a nice presentation, too.

AA wrote:

I've actually done the same. It works well, with no grounding noise. Lets you make a nice presentation, too.

Yeah, all my wiring is pretty much hidden behind the subwoofer and into the rear seat.

I put some plywood down towards the front (cut it to fit the trunk shape), and covered it with carpet, and mounted everything to that as far as amps go, and then neatly routed all the speaker wiring and power behind the subwoofer which is held into place very firmly by the piece of plywood I used for mounted (i couldn't bring myself to mount anything to the car itself).

Could you use the cap as the distribetor block for the grounds? I plan on running both amp grounds to the cap then run a main 4 or 0 gauge wire off the cap to the ground. Same thing for the positive side. From bat to cap run 4 gauge. From cap to amps run 8 gauge.

Possible, just make damn sure it's good and tight, so the terminals don't rotate and touch the positive side - that would make a lot of sparks. I wouldn't do it since the cap post terminals are fairly expensive, and a 4-way distribution block can be had for $20 or so.

To steal a quote from a friend of mine (and he'll know who he is):

"If you can't find a ground in a trunk; you can't find sand in a desert."

AA wrote:

Possible, just make damn sure it's good and tight, so the terminals don't rotate and touch the positive side - that would make a lot of sparks. I wouldn't do it since the cap post terminals are fairly expensive, and a 4-way distribution block can be had for $20 or so.

Yeah, touching positive and negative together with 0 gauge wire can cause quite a spark show. I did that connecting my amp in the Riv. Somehow the positive side came undone while moving the wires around and I didn't bother disconnecting the battery. Sparks all over the place. I'm lucky I didn't fry something or someone.

knuconceptz is the place I got all my wiring and distribution blocks from. Great prices and awesome quality. Here's the link: http://www.knukonceptz.com/index.cfm

Yes, I used a combination of Stinger and knukonceptz platinum finish in my install. All good stuff.

I got 2 distributive blocks, one for the positive and one for the negative. So that decresases the chance of wire's touching, like for instance on the capacitor. I havent got a chance to look at the battery real close, but I notice it's a different type of battery. Where is the best location to hook in the main power wire. Anyone know if the batt is side/top mount? or both??

Lift up the Rear Seat and have a look at what's installed in your car.

Your factory battery is a group #79. Interstates # is MTP-79. This is a side post battery only, I haven't checked with interstate to see if they make a DT version of it with both side and top posts. If they do... the number would be in their system as MTP-79-DT.

I avoided this ordeal altogether and went with a yellow top Optima drycell. They are way underated for output and come factory with dual terminal mount styles. Make life so much easier when hooking in sound systems, or piggy backing batteries for dual battery setups.

agrimm34 wrote:

. I havent got a chance to look at the battery real close, but I notice it's a different type of battery. Where is the best location to hook in the main power wire. Anyone know if the batt is side/top mount? or both??

So someone gave me a negative for commenting on this.!!!!
You have got to be kidding me, he said he looked at it.

Well, open the good eye for Christ's sake.

Sometime's you idiot's make me sick. I just don't have much tolerance for outright STUPIDITY. Sorry, judge me as you wish.

agrimm34 wrote:

I got 2 distributive blocks, one for the positive and one for the negative. So that decresases the chance of wire's touching, like for instance on the capacitor. I havent got a chance to look at the battery real close, but I notice it's a different type of battery. Where is the best location to hook in the main power wire. Anyone know if the batt is side/top mount? or both??

I went to autozone and got an extended terminal post for $4 and just piggybacked the positive amp draw and the car's cable. Easiest way to do it without having to replace the battery.

BTW, does the yellow top battery fit in the stock battery location without any issues?

Rickw wrote:

agrimm34 wrote:

. I havent got a chance to look at the battery real close, but I notice it's a different type of battery. Where is the best location to hook in the main power wire. Anyone know if the batt is side/top mount? or both??

So someone gave me a negative for commenting on this.!!!!
You have got to be kidding me, he said he looked at it.

Well, open the good eye for Christ's sake.

Sometime's you idiot's make me sick. I just don't have much tolerance for outright STUPIDITY. Sorry, judge me as you wish.

I feel for you rick. My integrity went down for some odd reason too. No idea what.

If it makes you feel better, I like ya.

GMFreak8 wrote:

BTW, does the yellow top battery fit in the stock battery location without any issues?

There is complete "Write Up" for the Optima install that would be a great help if your interested in doing that mod.
There's some very good info.
Here it is: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/care-maintenance-f8/write-up-installing-the-optima-34-78-red-top-t4497.htm

Rickw wrote:

GMFreak8 wrote:

BTW, does the yellow top battery fit in the stock battery location without any issues?

There is complete "Write Up" for the Optima install that would be a great help if your interested in doing that mod.
There's some very good info.
Here it is: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/care-maintenance-f8/write-up-installing-the-optima-34-78-red-top-t4497.htm

Nice. I wish I would have seen that. I would have gotten a yellow top instead.

Although the battery I have seems to do the job great. It was 0 degrees today and the car started up with no jumping. Took a good 5 seconds to crank but it started.

GMFreak8 wrote:

BTW, does the yellow top battery fit in the stock battery location without any issues?

Measurements on Interstate MTP-79: 12 1/16" L x 7 1/4" D x 7 3/8" H
Measurements on Optima DT Yellow top: 10" L x 6 3/4" D x 7 3/4" H

Despite the discrepancy in how high they are the Optima does fit under the seat, The difference in depth and length can be filled in with a battery warmer or something to that effect.

GM Freak 8... Was that battery post extender from auto zone Tsunami BT706L ? Can you give me a model # or brand you purchased?

agrimm34 wrote:

GM Freak 8... Was that battery post extender from auto zone Tsunami BT706L ? Can you give me a model # or brand you purchased?

I'm honestly not sure. I threw away the packaging and whatnot a long time ago. It just looks like a longer bolt. DO NOT get the brass one (gold), get the steel one(grey). The brass one is too soft and doesn't thread in well. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

No problem thanks, I did go ahead and buy the brass one because it was just a little bit more expensive and I figured it was better but I'm sure I can exchange it for the steel one. Thanks for the help

agrimm34 wrote:

No problem thanks, I did go ahead and buy the brass one because it was just a little bit more expensive and I figured it was better but I'm sure I can exchange it for the steel one. Thanks for the help

No problem. I actually did the same thing. I bought the brass and then returned it for the steel one. They didn't have any issues with it.