How on earth does Autozone hire someone like this to manage their store?

[novanutcase]

I was at my local autozone picking up some fluids for the 'stang and, since I go there fairly often, the manager started chatting with me and we started talking about the car.
I had told him that I was thinking about moving the battery to the passenger side rear seat so I could take advantage of the polar moment of inertia along with cleaning up the bay a little bit and that I was going to need some 2/0 cable. He looked around, then took me aside and whispered "Just go to an audio shop and use theirs. It'll be cheaper than buying it from here!". He informed me that he used to do custom stereo installations so he knew a lot about wiring cars. I asked him "I've been told that audio wire is not a good idea since it'll be in the engine compartment and oil and grease may get on the sheath. Is audio cable oil resistant?". He assured me that it would be no problem. He was a professional installer remember! OK! From what he had explained to me made sense, for the most part, so, at this point, his credibility was at an all time high with me. Then it came.........

He just had to open his mouth and say "Don't forget to get a really good ground wire. There's a braided one that, if you use it, will actually increase your horsepower!". I kind of looked at him but I didn't want to be too obvious about the fact that he had gone from fairly knowledgable to complete idiot! I casually asked him "Really? How much horsepower does it give you?". He said "Oh, around 20 - 30 horsepower!". At this point I was about to break out laughing so I made a quick excuse and almost ran out of the store. Hopefully the door closed before I busted out laughing, I mean, I still gotta go back and I sure don't want the store manager mad at me, especially if I need a favor!

John

[Flash68]

That's a great story.

[XcYZ]

lol, nice. Reminds of the time I was a Best Buy and the kid trying to sell me on why Monster Cable was better than anything else.

[elitecustombody]

if you must know, and I'm 100% serious, what the guy was telling you does hold some truth, you will increase horsepower,but not anywhere near 20-30hp, more like 2-5hp, some cars shown to increase power by nearly 5 hp at the wheels,I believe it was 350z, there was an article on that subject few years ago,I don't remember which magazine,but they dynoed the car before and after the install of the ground wire kit, not sure how well it would improve if any on carburated cars,but it does work on fuel injected cars

[Vegas69]

I learned a long time ago to beleive little to none of what most parts guys tell you. I'm talking about Autozones, Dealerships for the most part.

[silverz28]

My buddy owned a garage and he'd get his kicks by calling the parts stores in town and asking for driveshaft fluid.

It funny how many people he would get with that gag. Just goes to show how people are swayed by authority. Act like you know what you're talking about and people will follow.

Not to mention there are alot of dumb people out there.

[XcYZ]

Originally Posted by elitecustombody

if you must know, and I'm 100% serious, what the guy was telling you does hold some truth, you will increase horsepower,but not anywhere near 20-30hp, more like 2-5hp, some cars shown to increase power by nearly 5 hp at the wheels,I believe it was 350z, there was an article on that subject few years ago,I don't remember which magazine,but they dynoed the car before and after the install of the ground wire kit, not sure how well it would improve if any on carburated cars,but it does work on fuel injected cars

You can pick up 2-5hp by just letting the car cool down. I would be very interested in what was used for control and the scientific method used in that experiment.

[thedugan]

Thats okay

When I worked in a shop we sold performance stuff and VAN accessories.

Someone came in and needed a short exhaust pipe

The guy sold him an aluminum table leg for the VANs...

[elitecustombody]

Originally Posted by XcYZ

You can pick up 2-5hp by just letting the car cool down. I would be very interested in what was used for control and the scientific method used in that experiment.

pretty simple method,they strapped a car on a dyno,did a pull to see what it puts down before the installation and after the install they did another pull,

there are more than few benefits of having one of theese kits installed,especially when you have alot of multi-media equipment installed in your car,reduced static noise from stereo,brighter lighting,better throttle response,fuel efficiency

http://www.racinglab.com/hygrsybysun.html

[XcYZ]

Sorry, I'm just not buying into increasing hp by adding ground conductor ampacity.