St18x : Rearmounting the battery

[cerby]

Actually it is surprising how much cable fits in those channels. in the four door rolla i have the only real problem would be at the bottom of the door pillar where there is an angle bracket designed to make life difficult! You have to be really careful with metal pressed against the insulation cos it makes it blow out or melt under heavy load. Though i unless you get hit by lightning i don't see how you'll ever draw that much current!
One thing to watch out for is power windows. One of my friends relocated his battery and ran the cable down the same channel as the cables for the rear windows. One day all his windows stopped working. He checked the fuse and replace it and it blew as soon as he turned the ignition. Anyway after about two weeks without windows he checked the channels and found the battery cable and window cables fused together!! He used lighter cable tho

[vanman]

Definitely check legalities, people. I've been told that at least in Queensland some engineers will approve this relocation as is, however others will not approve it unless the battery box is fully fixed to the boot floor, fully sealed against gas leaks within the car, and vented to outside the car cabin via some sort of hose.

cheers

[Toy77]

g'day,

as for legalities.
you will notice he has used an odessy battery, these are completly sealed and are able to be in cabin without venting sealed box to outside. you are correct though that a normal battery with have to be in a sealed box and vented to outside.

another option is the battery i have, which has its own vent hose from top off battery.

also, as far as the mounting. for drag racing and probably engineering, the battery has to be secure ( as has been done in this case) inside the box. ie you cant just sit battery in box and bolt box down with the battery sliding round inside.

Cheers stew.

[Classique71]

With mine i checked evey avenue i can think of - and will double check as my car needs engineering again for its current brakes upgrade ..

Engineer thinks its fine - so im happy with that ill just make sure he has it in writing ..

Oddessy batterys = the win - they are awesome but buy no means cheap - the one i have is about half the side of a standard lead cell batty - and can be mounted on its side , upside down or on angles without drama - definantly worth a look at even to replace your normal battery up front - simply for the space it saves

[Squid]

Stu - Nice work again!!

[Darren]

When your readying to mount your battery box - use the shortest screws possible - you only have a maxumum of 15MM under this befoire you hit the fuel tank

My battery box came with a strap - and 2 saddles to hold the strap down - this is only to hold the BOX down - youll need to be crafty in mounting the battery itself in the box -

( for this i used the above 5 inch or so bolts , plate brace - with insulating over it and secured down with wingnuts - make sure you have good clearance for your terminals - remember - that metal brace wilkl conduct !!)

Back to the strap - I mounted one saddle right up against the white plastic thing you can see - using metal self tappers - and about 4 washers per screw - not to hit the fuel tank

the secondary - i mounted between the two grommets you see in the lower left corner - theres good metal there - pop them out and feel under - youll see what I mean

Did I read this right, you used self tappers to hold the little plastic strap saddles to the floor then the 5" or so bolts hold the battery inside the box? Or do the bolts go all the way through the floor?

If that is the case and you have an accident the battery will make a nice neat hole in the windscreen and probably any passengers on the way through. Theres no way 4 self tappers or 2 little strips of plastic will hold the weight of a battery in any sort of an accident.

In all of the battery relocations i've done i've used 8mm stainless allthread rod that goes through the floor with a piece of flat bar between the 2 rods under the floor. Nuts tightened down inside the box to clamp it to the floor and to stop the allthread falling through. Then a piece of angle (or whatever will fit the battery) at the top of the allthread clamps the battery down inside the box. If it's going to come out it'll take a big chunk of floor with it. If you can find a chassis rail under the floor run the allthread down either side of that and clamp it into the equation too.

I appologise if i've completely misunderstood what you wrote but this is the only way i've been able to keep my engineer happy about having 10kg of lead and acid behind any passengers. He also made me use that flexible grey plastic electrical conduit the full length of the cables.

Cheers,
Darren.

[Classique71]

nah you make a good point ..

thats all they supply you with with a battety box though the battery used weighed no where near 10KG ..

It was a small oddesy battery - about , hmm , 3 kg tops , no more than say a socket set , or a toolbox in the back that isnt strapped down ..

Ironically the oddessy turned out to be faulty - so i have a warranty claim on that atm , and are using a heavier sealed cell ( note i used sealed cells , gel type , not splashy acidy leaky type ) So ill take your note of advice and make a secondary temp bracket once i drop out the fuel tank ( got to upgrade the pump in the near future )..

In the st185 - theres no way of accessing that area from underneath to bolt strongerwithout dropping the tank out , but it would be a good chance to do so - while it is out .

[Dom-AE71]

good thread mate, it would also be easily applicable to most applications as far as relocating a battery to the boot, how much do the oddesy batteries go for?

[Classique71]

its pretty simple - and by all means not 100% pervect but its done the job well so far for me

The oddessy set me back over 300 i think - will dig up some reciepts if needed but it wasnt far off that..

[Darren]

Hey Stu,

Here are some pics I just took of the battery in the boot of my IP Corolla, might make what I was saying a little clearer. I used bits of alloy channel that I had laying around.

Under the floor...


Inside the box...


With a battery in place...


I think you'll find those plastic strips and self tappers are for use in boats, which is what the boxes were originally designed for.

Cheers,
Darren.

[Classique71]

Yup - makes sense now - thanks for adding to the thread !

[timbosaurus]

Sorry to drag up an old thread... but what a great how-to it is!!!

Since I dont use the backseat in my RA28, I am contemplating mounting both the battery and surge tank/fuel pumps on the floor in the back (fuel behind the driver, battery behind the passenger seat).

The benifits are being able to keep the entire boot space free, and *theoretically* it would be marginally better from a weight distribution point of view. It's also closer for wiring etc.

The down side is the fuel being closer to driver (smell/noise isn't really an issue cos if it's going to smell/be noisy in the cabin, it was going to smell/be noisy in the hatch anyway! But perhaps it's a little un-safer. Anyone think an engineer would consider the difference in location an issue?

I can't really see a disadvantage of having the battery behind the passenger, as long as it's fixed to the floor properly. But i might be wrong.

I managed to find some nice heavy duty welding cable for under $5 a metre at the local hardware!!! (the lugs weren't cheap though!) and got the battery box an battery, so here we go!

[slapper]

Sorry to drag up an old thread... but what a great how-to it is!!!
Since I dont use the backseat in my RA28, I am contemplating mounting both the battery and surge tank/fuel pumps on the floor in the back (fuel behind the driver, battery behind the passenger seat).

not if you're planning on keeping it road legal!
I think you'll find there needs to be some sort of bulkhead/barrier between you and fuel and/or battery stuff.

cheers,
Slapper

[timbosaurus]

hmmm... yeah it has to be legal.

I'd assume that it's possible tho, as the cabin/hatch in a '28 is one confined space and I've seen many a 28 with hatch mounted batteries/surge tanks.

The main difference here is the distance between the driver and fuel/battery. And the fact that it is at the feet of any potential back seat passengers. It may have to regoed as a 2-seater from here on it... no big loss!

[slapper]

hmmm... yeah it has to be legal.
It may have to regoed as a 2-seater from here on it... no big loss!

yesssss ... you might have to pull the seat out and remove seatbelts too.
As you said - "no great loss"


Slapper