The OEM grounding equipment is fine but it needs to be CLEANED periodically, use a wire brush and clean the bolt threads, the lug, and the mating surface. Apply a thin layer of electrical anti-oxidation grease which will prevent further corrosion, bolt it all back together.

The aftermarket grounding kits look fantastic but electrically speaking it doesn't make any difference in "performance". They do add another layer of protection against failure though so they're not entirely without merit and I would definitely install one if this was a track car because all that bouncing around and additional vibration tends to stress wire lugs eventually.

 

Ah, dang, here I heard the worst things about the Stillen kits, plus I was kinda really looking forward to that tranny ground. I may just make my own, if only to get the full 10 wire setup for maximum peace of mind. Not necessarily for performance, just so I'm not thinking, "This is dope, but could it be doper...?"

That's what I was thinking as far as why these kits actually work, but my reasoning was that doubling or tripling down on the grounding capability by increasing wire and connector size would help slow down future degradation and need cleaning less often. But I happen to have some electrical contact cleaner/protectant, I'll pick up a wire brush and give the grounds a good cleaning to see if there's any improvement from just doing that.

 

Contact cleaner isn't what you want to use, the electrical anti-oxidation grease basically makes it so the connection will never oxidize in the future. It's a good way to protect electrical connections for 20+ years in harsh environments like an engine bay.

Hit the negative battery cable, the other end of that cable where it attaches to the chassis next to the battery, under the coolant reservoir is a 2-hole lug just like the one for the battery chassis ground and that wire connects to the right side of the timing chain cover. There are 3 more wires landed on the timing chain cover I think, one of the two on the top is your 5AT ground.

That will give a good clean return path for the transmission.

ILSCO DE-OX is my preferred anti-oxidation, been using it for over 15 years as a union electrician and never had a failure. They're basically all the same though so if you go down to the local auto parts house they typically have a tiny squeeze bag of electrical anti-oxidation grease for like $2.

Stay away from "dielectric grease" that's not the same thing as "electrical anti-oxidation grease".

 

Oh, I got you, I'll follow that! Do you think something like Deoxit grease would work? That's just what I have on hand, but picking up something else for a few bucks is hardly a problem.

 

Ok I just looked up that product, looks like if you used Deoxit D-series to clean the surface followed by Deoxit-S series to protect the connection that would work fine.

It's mostly for cleaning electrical contacts, you can't get a metal brush in to clean small electrical contacts so you have to use spray cleaners to do the job for you. That's basically what the Deoxit-D stuff is doing, cleaning.

Since in automotive applications like this you CAN get a metal brush in to clean up the metal contact points on things like the grounding system you would really only need to apply something to keep the surfaces oxidation-free in the future, that's what the Deoxit-S appears to be used for.

 

Does anyone still have sxexcx grounding kit instructions? I can get a close idea from all the pictures but would like a set of instructions if possible. I am only interested in SxExCx instructions. I would not mind paying for the instructions from Sean himself, I am sure a lot of research and work went in to developing this kit. Any help is appreciate, thanks.