anj Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 With multiple projects going on I thought I would start another. After running the rally cross I was fixing the headlight and found it difficult to work with the battery in its current location and decided to move it to the trunk. The other advantage besides cleaning up the engine bay is better weight distribution. My long term plan is to place the gas tank under the trunk as it was originally designed. This will lower center of gravity and open the trunk for placing of the stereo amps and increasing trunk space. I am not carrying a spare tire underneath and will need room in the trunk. With that in mind I wanted to place the battery below the trunk for lowering the CG and to keep the truck clean. I constructed a metal frame and placed a plastic tray in the bottom. It will be welded in with a removable top. A battery cut off switch will be placed in the trunk. I am guessing I should switch the negative ground but input would be greatly appreciated. In the front I will also have remote terminals in case the car needs to be boosted. I will be running the cables under the car and it will be well protected behind the drive shaft. The plan is to install the battery and move the exhaust to the passenger side and then in the future install the fuel tank on the driver side. http://www.flickr.com/photos/67027731@N04/sets/72157629644688360/ Arun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anj Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Found an interesting article while doing research on relocating the battery. Rabin had mentioned that I should run a ground cable rather then use the chassis to the starter and block. This article supports that https://www.shogunindustries.com/cgi-bin/ws400CS.cgi?cart_id=1120511095208456&page=tech/ground.html Arun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Doubting your own flesh and blood - nice. (Just kidding!) Thanks for posting the article - I always knew it was best to run separate ground, but that was a great article describing exactly how bad the chassis is. For your battery box I had assumed you were going to use the lip of the box and drop it through the top of the hole so that the lip rested on the top side of the trunk. Seeing that you're welding in from underneath - I'd make sure you ensure to lay 1" beads every 2" or so, and make sure to get both layers of sheet steel into the weld bead. I'd then use some seam sealer the underside joint to the floor to seal it up. Are you going to use sheet steel to enclose the box too? Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anj Posted May 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Doubting your own flesh and blood - nice. (Just kidding!) Thanks for posting the article - I always knew it was best to run separate ground, but that was a great article describing exactly how bad the chassis is. For your battery box I had assumed you were going to use the lip of the box and drop it through the top of the hole so that the lip rested on the top side of the trunk. Seeing that you're welding in from underneath - I'd make sure you ensure to lay 1" beads every 2" or so, and make sure to get both layers of sheet steel into the weld bead. I'd then use some seam sealer the underside joint to the floor to seal it up. Are you going to use sheet steel to enclose the box too? Rabin Since I am new to welding, I will use the box to practice welding so I will weld both top and bottom and along the chassis supports. I was going to leave the box open and may cover the side to the wheel well only. The opening was too close to the gas tank for me to install from the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N9TE Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 That's a pretty respectible mod there Arun. Very clean1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I'd recommend enclosing the box for sure - you'll get way too much crap inside the battery box - especially since you want to rallycross it. You could have easily gotten away with doing a sheet metal box strength wise - but having the cage is a nice touch. If you're using a sealed dry cell battery like the Optima you won't need vent holes, but if you're using lead acid then you will need to do some venting. As for sealing the box up - since it's already in place you might want to look at just gluing some plastic panels in place to seal it from dust and such. Welding sheet into place - might be hard now that it's in place. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 BTW - Well done on the minor rust repair you did at the same time. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryancohnracing Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Arun, My 505 has the battery in the trunk, RR corner. Cables run from the engine bay to the battery as the article and Rabin suggested. It had a small-ish gel racing battery that died, I replaced it with an off the shelf GM style side post. Had to remake the mounts but it was $200 cheaper than replacing the gel battery that was in the car. I just could not justify the added expense. Love your battery box, frankly I never thought of doing anything like that with mine and its a great idea. Several things to note: The master cut off switch looks like a 2 terminal switch. If you ever wanted to use it to "kill" or shut off the engine/power while the car is running it will not work since you have to switch off the alternator as well. You can buy a 4 terminal switch that does this. Wiring is more complicated and the switch costs more of course. What brand switch did you buy? There are good ones made by Hella in the style you have and there are cheap ones made by who knows. They work on the same principal and ALL will fail in time. However, the interesting bit is that when they fail they haven't really failed, just corroded inside. We use this type of switch on race cars and dirt, grit etc get inside, cause scoring of the contacts which then corrode. When that happens, drill out the rivets, clean the parts, add a washer under each contact post on the inside of the switch to add contact pressure and reinstall. This added contact pressure was such a good fix I used to make this mod on any new switch I was installing. Eventually I realized new switches were a waste of funds since every old one I had could be fixed in this way. Where you mounted your switch will help since its out of the weather, but it will fail. I cannot think of a single person using that type of swtich that hasn't had a problem at some point in the last 20 years. If you'd like I have two good used ones in stock and can pop one apart, take a few pics and show you the mod before and after. Let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anj Posted May 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Thanks Bryan The switch is a Hella and the only purpose was to shut power when I was working on the car. The position of the battery is such that it is not easily accessible, I added two bolts to the battery cover and will add a hinge once move the tank. I will look into the mod you suggested when it fails or I might open and add some dielectric grease. Arun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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