Rennline Battery Box Installation (pics)

[MuffinMan]

I purchased the Rennline battery box kit when I was at Hersehy a couple of weeks ago. It is a brand new product for them, and it relocates the battery to the "smuggler's box", much like the WEVO kit. The Rennline kit is more of a skeleton to hold the battery in place, while the WEVO is somewhat of an "insert".

The Rennline kit was designed for one of the Optima batteries, as you will see in their printed directions, but I modified it to work with an Odyssey PC680MJ battery. Btw, I don't think the metal jacket (MJ) is necessary when using the Odyssey battery in this application.

Here are some pics of the kit:





Here are the actual parts to the kit





Here's my tiny Odyssey placed inside. The Optima battery the kit was designed for has "feet" that the Odyssey does not have. Therefore, I had to make a bracket to hold the battery "down". The existing pieces of the kit were enough to eliminate the other 5 degrees of freedom.

[MuffinMan]

Here's the bracket that I made from a piece of aluminum stock purchased at Lowes.



The trunk area before installation of the kit:




First, you put the battery "cage" in place. You can see my bracket in this picture.



And finally you place the aluminum cover over top to make it all pretty. Notice that the Odyssey does not fill the entire opening of this place. I may fill it in later, but for now it's fine.

[Shuie]

Very clean and nice. What are you grounding to?

[MuffinMan]

I haven't had a chance to re-route the wires yet, and I haven't looked for a suitable ground location. I'll probably save that task for next week.

[mjshira]

nice dude, I have the wevo kit. I cant decide what I am more envious of, the garage or the 993 engine

Did you make the autocross?

James

[MuffinMan]

I didn't make the autocross, I had to finish putting my brake assembly & bearings back together. It gave me a chance to install the battery kit, anyway. I hope to see you out at the next one!

[Schrup]

Rob, nice adaptation. I didn't see that product on the website, how much did you get it for? I considered the Wevo box but it also wasn't designed for the odyssey battery, so I just made my own bracket out of steel stock.Here's some pics.

[Zendalar]

That battery..is unbelievably small.. How much power does it have?

[Schrup]

680 cold cranking amps. It comes with a 2 year warranty, I've had mine about 2 months with no problems. Even when I went through smog & leaned out my car too much, I had to crank it quite a bit before I got the mixture right & it started again. Best part is that it only wieghs 15lbs!!!

[aigel]

Paul:

Before you take your car to DE, make sure you cover the pos. terminal with isolating material. While it looks like the batter will never come loose, if it does and sparks, all you need to add is fuel - which is right around the corner.

Cheers, George

[Schrup]

Thanks for the tip Goerge!!! I would hate to short circuit my first shot at terrorizing my instructor.

I like the wevo better. Its a a nicer and cleaner install. My 2 cents.

[Rennline]

Hey guys. Here is a few pics of the unit with the Optima battery. This unit retails for $195.00. It is not on the website yet. We have about 15 new products that will be added this week. If you have any questions or would like to place an order. Give us a call directly or Pelican Parts and we will be glad to help. Rennline

[widebody911]

Is it just me, or does it seem like a bad idea to have the battery terminals exposed like that. I haven't done any measurements, but is it possible to drop the battery into the well another 2 or 3 inches and put something over the top of it to protect the terminals?

I like Paul's setup - the epitome of simplicity.

[MuffinMan]

Yes, the height of the battery is fully adjustable. Checkout the pics at the top of the post, and you will see the adjustment slots. Regardless, the terminals are essentially exposed in the standard location in the front corner of the car.

[chrisp]

Does the battery box touch the bottom of the smugglers box or is it suspended above the floor?

If it is suspended I would expect it to develop fatigue cracking along the edges where the box base turns up to the box sides.

Maybe Rennline has done significant testing to show that it's fine but I think it should be supported from underneath if it's not already.

A piece of that hard foam that they sell at arts and crafts stores could be easily shaped and would provide enough compression resistance to add years of life to this design.

For $200 you want this to last forever.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by MuffinMan
Regardless, the terminals are essentially exposed in the standard location in the front corner of the car.

Ah, but the flat area across the smuggler's box is more apt to be used as storage. When I load the car for the track, my aluminum jack goes there.

[Rich Lambert]

I believe most sactioning bodies require battery terminals be insulated. Common sense mostly...you don't want a forgotten screwdriver to cause a battery arc that's nearly on top of the fuel tank.

[MuffinMan]

Originally posted by chrisp
Does the battery box touch the bottom of the smugglers box or is it suspended above the floor?

If it is suspended I would expect it to develop fatigue cracking along the edges where the box base turns up to the box sides.

Maybe Rennline has done significant testing to show that it's fine but I think it should be supported from underneath if it's not already.

A piece of that hard foam that they sell at arts and crafts stores could be easily shaped and would provide enough compression resistance to add years of life to this design.

For $200 you want this to last forever.

It is suspended only by the ledges of the cage that holds the battery, although it's hard to tell from my pictures.

[911pcars]

"680 cold cranking amps. It comes with a 2 year warranty...."

Paul,
Can you check those Odyssey specs again? I suspect they are some rating other than CCA's. The big yellow Optima seen in Rennline's post is more like 680 CCA's, usually a direct correlation with size and weight.

Sherwood