Non Smuggler's Box Battery Relocation?

[Charles Freeborn]

It is never too soon to tune the suspension (corner balance). You will never get to be a good driver in a car that is not set up properly. If anything you will form bad habits from compensating for the lack of tuning.
Not to be rude - but is it possible for you to drop some weight yourself? When I was rowing competitively I knew people that were obsessed about saving a few ounces from the weight of their shells - my thought was always , dude - skip the jumbo burrito or dessert and you're there....
-C

[McLaren-TAG]

I understand your point so no offense taken but dude, it's a hobby, I'm not an F1 driver.

I've only had the car 16 months and there is a cost associated with everything when you've got an old Porsche, so I was just 'weighing' my options.

[Craig_D]

Hey TAG, I dig your mindset and understand what you're trying to do. Maybe it's worth it to try and install some weight in the right front, without going through the trouble (and possible rejection from AX competition)of moving the battery, by just adding some weight to that corner just to test your theory. It might get you quick feedback on whether it will help or not.

But I do feel that the real/only proper answer, is to corner balance the car for your weight in the driver seat.

[dicklague]

TAG......I agree with you 100%. I love the Miata battery. It is a sealed battery with small size and does not cost and arm and a leg. My buddy at the auto parts store got me one for less than $100. Actually I have 2 in my 1973 in the 2 battery boxes that are in the very forward corners of the car.

Porsche did this for weight and balance in those cars, so you are thinking in the right direction. Put that thing as far forward as you can in the passenger front.

And look into the Miata sized sealed battery. Lot better than those high buck high tech batteries. Great value and a good old good battery. I ran my for a couple of years with only one battery. I have 2 for weight and balance and for reliability......if one battery goes bad, I just disconnect it.

[McLaren-TAG]

But since I had a lazy weekend at home, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on it. Decided to do it right, still need some finishing touches but moving a 40 lbs hunk of copper and lead from one side of the car to the other corner does change the balance I'm excited to say. Will definitely look to continue fine tuning and corner balance in a couple of months.

[Maxhouse97]

Reviving this thread - McLaren-TAG I liked your idea here, as I am also in need of moving weight to the right side of my car to mitigate a brake lock-up/weight balance issue. I wanted to avoid the smuggler's box as I want to keep the condensor fan in to at least move air through the cabin.

However looking at your pic again, it seems you would not be able to get a spare in your frunk with this current battery location. Is that true? Not sure I want to lose the ability to carry a spare tire when needed.

I may be back to square one with moving the battery to the smugglers box... perhaps I can install another fan for the air.

[McLaren-TAG]

That would be true, my car is pretty much a AX and joy ride queen that sees about 2k miles a year. you can still get a spare in there if you needed to but not in that location.

The thing I did however is completely restorable, as a matter of fact I think you could probably have it where you had the battery in the original location just to drive around and move the battery as needed for DE or AX events.