Battery Relocation

[Tiramisu]

My battery tray is of course rusted out and I would like to relocate the battery to a different location possibly. I have heard of people relocating to the front or rear trunks. I am not sure where the best location would be as far as weight distribution goes. Any help would be appreciated as far as ideas or kits available.

[Serge914]

I had the same concern and decided to relocate mine in the back trunk. I used a marine battery box and can still put the roof in there in the original position. I ran the cables thru the plastic cap; a lot easier than using the front trunk where there is not much space anyway if you have a spare tire.

[campbellcj]

For weight, the front trunk is best, (or the inside passenger floor.)

On my car I simply replaced the battery tray.

[ejm914]

I moved my battery to the front trunk. I used the positive cable from an Audi that had the battery under the back seat. It was the right length to reach the starter and had two heavy wires to tie into the B+ wiring at the relay board. My tire well was lost to an oil cooler anyway.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

As I understand it, you can use the rear trunk location without having to extend the + wires at all. Just run a new ground wire. And, of course, do the mounts themselves.

--DD

[Va914]

Is there a problm with battery acid fumes in the trunk?

ALSO. should the battery be on the pass side of the rear trunk? To keep the weight in the same approx. location as stock.

Thanks

[Tiramisu]

Thanks for info on this mod. Does anybody have pictures showing the rear truck modification? I would like to see how its it mounted and hole locations. The marine battery box sounds like a good idea as well.

[JmuRiz]

I would suggest getting a sealed battery if you were going to place it in the trunk so the fumes would not be a problem anyway. Also I would think that over the right rear wheel (pass side) would be best...it's an old american drag racing trick. It leads to less tire spin.

Nathan

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'73 2.0 914

[echocanyons]

I am interested in photos of people who relocated the battery to the fron trunk.

I am also interestd in the fit and placement of the 6conversions with the battey in the front and the spareand the oil cooler shround.

Also what guage wire should I be using?

thanks,

Kelly

[Tiramisu]

Echo,

Well...this is what I did. I got a battery box, battery cable mount, and a mongo length of battery cable from Summit Racing. I took out the front tire and the box mounted perfectly with the J bolts thru two holes in the bottom of the front trunk...then I took off the pass side rocker panel. I drilled a hole in the wheel well..then another in order to get the cable into the rocker panel area and then snaked back to the engine. I used rubber grommets and cable hangers to keep everything clean and from bouncing around. In the engine compartment I drilled a big 1/2 hole at the original location of the battery so I could use the existing wiring and mounted the Summit mount and viola..battery relocated. I had to fabricate a special metal mount to mount the FI CPU and the new Crane ignition since the CPU mounted to the battery tray.

[echocanyons]

Tiramisu,
Did you run the cable in the lungitudinal space?

do you have any pics available?

I there no room for the spare anymore?

thanks for the advice so far.

Kelly

[J P Stein]

Just happen to be working on the "shroud" for my oil cooler and the camera was close at hand. It's not really what was asked for, but maybe of some help. I need to locate some of that felt carpet to cover the shroud thingy.....anybody?



And then there's the battery deal. I put it in the back cause it was easy. Any where is better than in the engine room. Just needed to splice the 4 red wires into one bigun'.
Everything else was long enough.

HTH

[Kevin Powers]

unless you plan on springing for a battery like a optima spiral cell you can plan on the acid gases from the battery getting into your trunk pading and carpet and rotting out the trunk area. i bought one just to avoid the regular acid nutralizing maitaince hassle. when you put in a new bat make sure to check the alternator belt

[J P Stein]

From my experience, anyone with the rear trunk carpet/pad installed that lives in the NW already has a problem or will......The nekid trunk floor ain't pretty but if that combo gets wet, it will hold the water there and eat up the floor. The engine room sound pad is the same kinda' villian. When coupled with the battery location, it seems that someone had a plan.

[Kevin Powers]

you are right about the moisture here in the pacific nw. looking at your picts i see you have already forked for the spiral cell. and from the repairs done you had gotten tired of the acid vapor problem just as i did. the money spent on the bat upgrade(yikes) was the most cost/time effective one i have made on my car.

[J P Stein]

The repairs I did were primairly cosmetic, tho the tin worm was workin' away. I sandblasted the engine room (never do that again), removed the battery tray, seam welded everything in sight, and repainted. The seam welding includes everything from the firewall to the trans mounts, including the suspension consoles. The suspension consoles are the areas that benifited most from all this "make work". The factory welding there is abominable.

Elimination of the battery tray really opens up access to the motor
and allows vision of the hell hole on the pass side. Here's a pic.

[echocanyons]

JP you are so resourceful, did you make the oil cooler shroud yourself?

I will be going with an optima or similar battery so acid fumes wont be a problem.

Does anyone know what guage wire the battery cable is, and how mcuh feet I will need (approx) to route it to the front hood area?

JP thanks for the descriptive pics.

Kelly

[J P Stein]

Ayup.....tho "making it" would be a better description.....not done yet. Still gotta' fab something to block off the fuel pump from the lower (hot) section. Got a plan, tho(it's only been changed 2 or 3 times:-). I'll prolly punish you guys with more pics.

The mount for the cooler is made of wood, shaped to fit the inner nose (a convoluted area)......that, I can deal with.....unconventional, I admit.
My wood working skills are far superior to my metal working and I have the tooling. Sometimes ya gotta' go with what ya got.

Back to the shop to make some saw dust!

[ejm914]

Here's a couple of pictures of my front mounted battery, oil cooler housing and spare tire setup in my '74. The battery is secured in a salvaged Saab battery tray that is bolted to the trunk floor. I use a non-sealed battery which is designed to vent through a small hose that hangs down below the trunk floor. The ground cable goes directly to the body. The positive cable is from an Audi 5000 and runs through the left longitudinal. This cable is the right length and has the correct ends on it. In addition to the starter cable it also has two heavy gauge wires crimped into battery terminal end. These are used to do the rewiring necessary now that the four red wires at the original battery terminals have no where to go. Two of these go up front anyway so it's possible to considerably shorten the run. The oil cooler is angled in the housing, has an inlet below the bumper and an outlet in the floor of the tire well. The frame work I added supports the carpeted board and provides a bolt down for the spare. The spare is a "donut" tire mounted on a stock steel wheel.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I have also heard of people using "00 welding cable" with the appropriate ends. No, I don't know what that is, but I suspect a welding supply shop would. Remember, the longer the run and the more current the wire has to carry, the thicker it should be. The battery to starter connection probably carries the most current of anything in the car.

--DD