Hyper Ground System UPDATE
 

For those that have been following up, I came across a company that sells an upgraded ground wire that basically grounds your battery, transmission, engine block, intake manifold, and chasis. The kit consists of 5 wires that just daisy chain throughout your engine bay. They claim a gain from 2-10HP, 2-13ft-lbs of torque, and 7-18% gain in mileage.

Well, originally they were going to lend me a kit to test out, but their policy is to lend to companies with a dynometer only. So, they refered me back to my hometown of Huntington Beach. There is a company called XS Engineering that has been testing the kit and they do have a dyno machine. I'm supposed to go back on Monday, have my Maxima baselined, then the kit goes on. Should take like 20 minutes...it's a really easy installation and then re-dyno. All this is going to run me up about $200 and I'm a poor college student. Hopefully the gains will be present and I can start making my money back through the increased gas mileage.

Just for reference, this is a new company that has out sold HKS in Japan for years. They just established here in the US 3 months ago. For those that saw the WRX at Stillen Day...that car belongs to none other than...XS Engineering and it was out fitted with the Hyper Ground System wires.

Here were the following stock cars tested so far:
2001 R34 GT-R....10HP...12 ft-lbs.......1.8 MPG gain
2001 Civic EX....5HP....6 ft-lbs.......3.1 MPG gain
2001 Corolla.....2HP....4 ft-lbs.......3.0 MPG gain
2000 Legacy......10HP...12 ft-lbs.......2.1 MPG gain
1997 Maxima......????...?????????.......??????? gain?

Hopefully the world will know on Monday.

BTW
 

They have yet to come across a car that shows no gains at all. The worst results they've had so far has been 2 HP, 2 ft-lbs, and .5 MPG. The best percentage wise was with a Ford Focus giving 5% more power and 15% better mileage.

How much does the kit retail for? I believe the gain is from improving the ignition system.

interesting

I was told the kit sells for $300 in Japan...but then it was brought to my attention that everything in Japan is expensive (i.e. clothing, food, toys...basically everything except cars themselves). The company, Sun Overseas Trading Company, is selling introducing the kit at under $130. They have a 4 coiled-layer kit that is about $130 and the 3 layer-coiled kit for $110. They say that the Maxima should run off the 3 layer since the distanced traveled from component to component are relatively close. A BMW would use the 4 layer kit since the battery is in the trunk.

Basically if you look at the battery in the engine bay, you'll see the positive wires and the negative. The kit focuses on the ground wires. Just to the right of the battery is one ground wire that goes from the battery to the chasis. There is also one more on the opposite end of the engine bay. Then you have a ground on the transmission, one more at the top of the engine block (by the number 2 spark plug), another at the intake manifold. By daisy chaining all the wires together, you'll use the whole kit consisting of 5 wires, zip ties, and the higher conducting battery post. So the kit really doesn't sound too complictated, I think it just conducts better and provides greater resistence (Voltage = Intensity X Resistence) thereby increasing the voltage and efficiency. They can be side posted as well as top mounted. I'll show you pictures of the install, come Monday, as well as the dyno. I'm hoping for at least 3 HP and 2 MPG.

XS said they have trouble reading the gains with Turbo applications since forced inductions have too many variables each run. But they believe the Maxima will have consistent runs.

Well technically, couldnt you get all the wire you need to do this yourself, from Home depot, for alot cheaper?

Keep us posted. :)

I guess so
 

I'm not really sure which wires are better conducting while increasing the impedence. Then, you'd have to measure out the wires and make a heat resistant coating. Other than that, I don't think these wires are anything super high-tech. I think it may just be a thicker gauge, but then I may be wrong. If the dyno and my gas tank show a gain, I'd totally recommend this product.

Try pricing out high quality power/ground wires like Phoniex Gold or Monster cables. For some long 4 gauge wires, distribution blocks....the $130 price tag is not too bad.

Re: I guess so
 

Kevin...keep us posted. I would love to see some installation pics and dyno. I saw this product on the XS Engineering's WRX and it looked promising.

the math:
 

alright, i just decided to do this (the specs i used are approximations of my car and what ive read on the org):

lets say you get a 2 mpg increase

where you got 300 miles on 14 gallons before (thats 21.4 mpg), you now get 327.6 miles on 14 gallons (thats 23.4 mpg). thats an increase of 27.6 miles. at 23.4 mpg, thats 1.17 gallons of fuel you save. lets convert that to $$. 1.17 gallons @ $1.60 for premium is $1.872 every fillup that you save. the product costs $130 so divide 130 by 1.872 and you get 69 fillups. Since I fillup about 3 times every month (some may do more, some may do less) thats 3(number of fills per month) timez x (number of months) = 69 fillups. 3x=69 basic algebra: 23 months.

thats almost 2 years before this pays for itself. is it worth it? thats for you to decide :)

Re: the math:
 

Well...
You really have to factor in the power gains. I mean if this product does nothing more than increase your mileage, then you really have to think about it. I don't a single person on this organization bought the supercharger, let alone the y-pipe thinking they'd make their money back on gas savings. I think is the first product to actually have a shot of increase power slightly as well as mileage.

The way I figure is if I get 22 MPG now, see and increase in even 2.2 MPG...that is a 10% increase in fuel economy...which would then translate to saving 10% of the gas pump. Here in Socal, it costs about $27 to fill up the tank. So you'd save about $2.70 each tank.

If this product works, the beauty of it is, it's fully transferable and transplantable into any vehicle.