battery tray replacement

[mikey]

I am thinking about taking on the job of cutting out the old battery tray and stand in my '70 1.7 . Just how hard is this??? I am lucky to not have too much damage. The tray itself is pretty well rusted out, but stand just has surface rust. I figured I should do the whole thing and see what it looks like underneath it all. Should it be ground out, our cut out???? Is the replacement stand and tray to the exact same demensions?? What sort of project am I in for???

Mikey

[This message has been edited by mikey (edited 11-17-1999).]

[rich]

When I did mine I just needed to replace the tray. There are spot welds holding it to the stand and inner wheel house. Use a spot weld drill bit for the tray to the stand, (available at any auto body supply store) then cut the tray off the wheel house leaving the spot welded flang. Use a small grinder to grind away the remaining flang. Then sand blast the stand and treat with a product like Rust Mort or POR 15. Paint as recomended on the label for the rust inhibitor. Oh ya my car was completly apart. I meanall glass, interior,driveline,wiring,ect.
Good Luck

[LHAYES]

I had a 70 1.7 with the same problem. Upon reflection I moved the battery to the right rear corner of the rear trunk eliminating future rust and corrosion problems. I cut out the tray and support structure with a die grinder and smoothed things up with a regular grinder. It's a tedious job with the engine in the car but can be done by the average contorsionist (a prerequisite to owning a 914). Good Luck

[joncdeke]

When your done you might want to take the advise of JP Noonan and install a Optima 800 battery. I purchased mine for $115.00. It can be mounted upside down and still won't leak.

Thanks!

Jon

[Ascaris]

You may or may not want to go this way, but when I replaced mine it was very easy. The reason was I had the engine out.

When I replaced the tray and support, I prepainted everything and then welded the support to the suspension console and painted the welds. The tray itself, I pop riveted to the support and sidewall. That let me have everything protected by paint, and if (when I'm old and grey) I ever have to do it again I can just drill out the rivets and pop in a new tray (or repair the old one).

Good luck. If you want some horror pics of my work, email me.

Ascaris

[mikey]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. Now I just have to get around to doing it..........that is the real chore!!!!

[J P Stein]

One more view of this.
I took one look at the location/installation
of the battery and said "the hell with this crap" and put it in the rear trunk.
One of those ABS(?) plastic (non rusting)
numbers, bolted the the floor.
Re routed two cables and lenghtened the four red wires. Optmia's don't have to sit level,
no welding, it was (to me)a slam dunk.
Don't know if the roof will still go in there
but I don't do that nohow.
JPIII