eatsleepdrum

Originally posted on g35driver... just wanted to show as much people BlackBetty's work as possible!

What up y'all,
I've had the mod itch for a while now and finally with two days off in a row I've managed to get some work done!

First of all I want to give +100 props to Jeremy (BlackBetty) and his amazing product and service. If I remember correctly I sent him a pm at 3 in the morning, and he got back to my by 8am through e-mail! After me desperately wanting the product ASAP Jeremy managed to send it off on that day's shipment when he GOT HOME from a day off... what a great guy. I received the wires (4AWG carbon fiber wrap) within three days (only due to the weekend) and just installed them on my car. Pics are coming later on, but I just wanted first rant and rave about the quality and ease of installation about the BlackBetty Grounding Kit.
Check it out for yourselves:

Wires just opened - Wires ready for install.


Now here comes the easy installation, and following are pics of the specific grounding locations and before and after shots. All instructions were done from my iPhone off of GShack and G35Driver installation posts.




Intake Manifold Grounds


Final battery ground before zip-ties

Engine open, all zip-tied



Again, I can't give enough props to BlackBetty for the kit, and here's what I've noticed on my car: I always use tiptronic or paddle shifters and ALL of my gears shift much quicker now, especially 2->3, 3->4, and the most important 4 or 3 -> 2. I haven't noticed much volume increase on the Bose system, but can notice that everything is a little brighter. That or it's the placebo effect.
I am getting 3-4mpg better, but that could be because of the ECU reset as well. Overall, I believe the BB grounding kit was a great choice for a starter mod, and has definitely increased my driving excitement.


NOW, onto the grille:

I stalk G35driver all the time for new and exciting things to do to my ride, and the most intriguing one I saw lately was about "painting" a grille black. This DIY article introduced a product called Plasti Dip Spray (blue spraypaint looking bottle) which turns into a black rubberized coating once dried.
I was excited about this more than spraying it because of the fact I can literally "peel it off". I haven't tried this yet, but I know it's possible and can even re-apply coats if it gets damaged from debris and road crud.
Here are some pics of the install: Pretty self explanatory.
Before:

Bumper off

Grill out of bumper

First Coat

Back on with no emblem

I like it on much better

Much better lighting


I love the ding-resistant finish and the more aggressive approach. +1 to whoever made that first thread about PlastiDip spray! All in all it was a hot couple hours of work in the 105 degree sun - but totally worth it!
Hope this inspires someone to get the itch as well!

/rant
Sam

surfjax87

That grille looks bad a. It might be about time for me to get rid of the chrome up front too.

Topper

I'm not a total neophite but what is a ECU reset and what is involved to do one. I have a 09 vert and considering doing new ground wires.

mindonmatter

Looks great. Would you mind taking some close up shots of the grill? I would like to see the finish a little better.

I need to re-do my grill. I painted it, and it's not hold up well at all. Looking for different options, and this sounds interesting.

eatsleepdrum

jax: thanks bro

topper: the easiest way to reset the ECU is to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery for 10-15 minutes, but these is another brake/gas pedal press method which can be found on these forums somewhere... but it automatically does it when your wires are disconnected for a while

matter: thanks dude! i'll get some shots when i get outa work (working hard on my lunchbreak now [: ) it is a matte finish but i'm planning on sanding it down with ULTRA fine grit and spraying a coat or two of clearcoat for shine. i'm loving the fact that I can take off this and respray it w/o screwing up my chrome. also, the thicker the coats means more protection from road debris!

eatsleepdrum

here ya go mind:

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Thanks for the review and for your business Sam!

jujubii

iTrader: (5)

didnt wanna double post nor steal your thread but i just installed BB's grounding wires on my coupe and here's my impression/review on the 4awg wires.

when i first held the package it was alot heavier than i expected. ALOT. however, you can tell just my holding them that it's quality sh*t.
btw... the carbon fiber look is pretty sexy on my PG

id give installation a 4/10 haha... dropped a nut here and there (its REALLY easy to drop them so yea...) also burnt myself because our engines get so damn hot - even after waiting an hour after driving. the 4awg wires are pretty beastly so it resisted alot of bending LOL. but after you get it all settled in and neat, they look amazing and its 1 more DIYmod you can be proud of and brag to your friends about esp. when you explain to them what grounding wires do tehehhehe. btw... im an engine newbie and it took me 2hrs including the trip to home depot and 15 minutes of sh*ttting in my pants when i dropped the nut. (im sort of a perfectionist so yea....)

effects on my '09 AT:

throttle response and shifting - for me, the wires didnt do as much as everyone says/praises in this category. however, there is a noticeable positive change in the throttle response and a slight decrease of up/down shift lag. its better not not eliminated *better than nothing i guess

volume and bass - the wires make my music SO much cleaner and louder! this wasnt the case of the placebo effect for me. I can verify this because my roomates and i once sat in my G and noticed how low the volume was and how pooopy the bass was. after the wires, my car now bumps like a ****

mpg: i didnt really expect much of a change but to my surprise, there was a noticeable difference. i can tell because is stare at my mpg gauge more than the road haha... i usuallly cruise ctrl on this one particular street at ~50mph and my mpg gauge hovers about 26~28mph (straight -no in/decline). after the mod it now goes up to around 30~33. simple amazing!

A+ for the mod.
plenty of upsides no downsides
Jeremy is super nice, friendly, and easy to work with. He also answered all my questions within half a day!
paid for it on paypal on 8/12 6pm (last thursday) and i got it yesterday (monday) morning in the mail. got here (SoCal) from texas super fast.

jujubii

iTrader: (5)

word of advice for the OP:
i plastidipped my valence, spoiler, and my grille and they all came out pretty nice.

However, i wanted to go further by permanently painting them and decided to start with the chrome spoiler first. Sanded it with 320grit sand paper, primed it with 3m bondo filler primer-gray, sprayed it with duplicolor acrylic premium enamel - flat black, and topped it off with Krylon Matte Finish. Also did some 2000grit sanding for overspray in between coats (did this process twice for each layer: coat, coat, sand, wipedown). I did a couple more coats for the paint because i kinda messed up.
If you ever decide to take my route... get a damn sander. sanding is a pain and if you hand sand it like me it'll probably get really uneven, thus affecting future coats and layer. after doing the spoiler i decided it was too much of a hassle and am going to stick with plastidip for the grille for hte rest of my life hahahha..... by the way, plastidip's rubbery finish also act as a natural anti-chipping layer that most people who paint their grille have to deal with. so imma stick with that versus the chipping.
my 2cents.