Installing a grounding kit

The summary:

This page shows you how to install a grounding kit on a 2.0L Mk3 VW.  You can buy ready made kits but it is usually cheaper if you cut and crimp the wires yourself. You can get the wire and crimp connectors from just about any car audio store or a nearby hardware store (Home Depot, Lowe's Home Improvement). The price will vary depending on how much wire you get and where you go for the stuff. If you get the stuff from a car audio store expect to pay $30US to $50US. I went to a hardware store and got 12 crimp connectors and 11 ft of 10 awg (American Wire Gauge) wire for a little over $6US.

After running the car for a week I decided to try different grounding points and use 8 gauge wire. I went back to the hardware store and got 15 ft of 8 awg wire and 16 crimp connectors for about $11US. I couldn't use the crimp connectors I got the first time because they would not fit on the 8 gauge wire.

After trying different locations I used the 5 locations in the pictures below. The cars performance improved even more using the 8 gauge wire than the 10 gauge wire, but I think it has a lot to do with adding the tranny ground.

The locations I used:
1) Leak Diagnosis Pump Filter bracket
2) Bolt on back of intake manifold that holds the throttle cable bracket
3) Bolt on bracket just below the fuel pressure regulator, not the one next to it (see pictures)
4) Negative terminal on battery
5) Transmission ground

What's it for/do:

Some people will notice an increase in hp/tq (might have to do a before and after dyno run to notice a difference), increased gas mileage, better/smother throttle response, and other things.

The tools:

• 45-60 minutes
• 11ft of 8 AWG copper power cables
• Wire Cutter/Stripper Tool
• 12 crimp connectors (10 with a 3/8" hole, 2 with a 5/16" hole)
• Wire crimp tool, vise-grip or something similar to crimp ends
• sand paper to get the connection points clean
• a metric ratchet/socket set

	Wire going from passenger strut tower (Leak Diagnosis Pump filter bracket) to bolt on the back of the intake manifold.  You will need to remove the bracket from the car to sand both sides and the washer. I had to disconnect the air intake hose so I had enough room to get the bracket out..
	Wire going from bolt on back of intake manifold to bolt on the bracket just below the fuel pressure regulator. You will need to do some sanding here to remove the paint on the bracket. This bracket has a bolt going into the belt cover so I did not remove the bracket from the car.
	Wire going from the bracket just below the fuel pressure regulator to the negative terminal on the battery.  I also used this bolt for the transmission ground.
	Wire going from the negative terminal on the battery to the drivers side fender. You will need to sand here to. After I took this picture I went back to the hardware store and got 2 bolts that fit in the screw holes and 1 nut so I could relocate the ground wire connections. I removed the nut on the battery and used that to get the correct size bolts.
	This picture shows the ground wire connection on the 020 transmission. The battery cover is in the bottom left of the picture and strut tower is in the upper right of the picture. This bolt has two nuts on it. One that holds the tranny to the engine and one to hold the factory ground wire to the tranny. REMOVE THE OUTER BOLT ONLY!!!