Battery Relocation

Phil @ Aero K

AK's V.P.
Driver
Battery Relocation - Finished w/ pics!

Ok so i wanna put my battery in the back and put my intake where the battery is, but i just need to know whats the best way to do this and what exactly do i need to do it. My rear interior is totally gutted so i have no problem with space, but idk where to bolt it down, how much wire to use, what kind of wire to use, and what should i use to hold the battery down. If any one has done this before or knows of a good and safe way to do this, i would love to hear it cuz i wanna do this before the event and keep in mind i also need to pass tech. Thanks guys :D
 
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You know you want to move your battery to the trunk but you don't want to fork over more then $50 for a kit! I will show you how you can do it for under $25 and in less then an hour of work!

First: What you need and where to get it!

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Very high quality wire!

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Battery Tray, Negative Battery wire, Battery Tiedown (for the tray), Positive Terminal

**it's better to use a box and you can get those for $12 from autozone**

You can use your old negative wire but mine was corroded so I got a new one.
The battery tray is very firm I was supprised it's high quality for that price! if you want you can get a battery box for $12. All parts were bought at Autozone but almost all auto parts stores will have these parts.

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The Wire is run through where the ECU wires enter the car (passenger side to the left of the metal AC lines) Then down under the dash and past the ECU

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You undo the screws for the door molding. Under the molding there are white plastic clips that hold the carpet up you just pull the carpet up along the edge (it's not glued down so it's very easy!) and run the wire along the edge. Along under the rear seats and through the opening to the trunk.

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The wire is routed behind the molding to where the battery is. I put it on the passenger side since I want as even weight distribution as possible. (I don't usually have passengers)

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I cleaned the paint off the spare tire holder and used it as a ground it seems to work very well you might use a different spot. My car runs much better then it did before I moved the battery most likely due to the new negative wire.

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This is what the back looks like all hooked up.

You use six 3/4inch self tapping self sealing metal screws to hold the box down. if you place it where I did you will not have to worry about hitting the gas tank.

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Now onto the engine compartment hookup! I used a hidden Kill switch with built in fuse to link the two wires. Connect the Wire that was hooked upto the battery in the engine compartment to the new line and use rubber insilation tape and then electrical tape on all the conections. I chose to put the fuse at this point to have an clean line through the car.


As you can see I then put in a short cold air intake for improved throttle responce! also moving the battery leaves room for my intercooler pipeing once I go KA-T!

My battery weighs 25 pounds so it's a total of 50 pounds different in weight disturbution! -25 from the front, +25 in the back

Well that's it! very easy and it took me less then an hour a very worthwhile mod!

If you want to know about the short intake it's a aluminum turbo cold air pipe from a Volvo I got it for $5 from my junkyard with the rubber connectors!! And yes I know APC Filters SUCK

Keep in mind that you will be requireing more from your battery after doing this I had trouble at the last event because my battery was not upto the task (it is now RIP in battery heaven) so I had to get a new bigger battery (dry cell :D )
 
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Relocation kits are nice b/c you get a proper box (required for most sactioning bodies), plenty of cable, ends, and tie downs. Do yourself a favor though, if you're keeping the battery inside the cabin or if you hatch is not sealed off, get a sealed gel battery so you don't poison yourself!
 
dori dori said:
Relocation kits are nice b/c you get a proper box (required for most sactioning bodies), plenty of cable, ends, and tie downs. Do yourself a favor though, if you're keeping the battery inside the cabin or if you hatch is not sealed off, get a sealed gel battery so you don't poison yourself!

Yeah a box is required for a hatch, and if you're going to be doing events, I now have a box in my coupe (I did this writeup for NICO a long time ago before I was doing anything but daily driving)
 
Oops, you're right. I should have known better...back in my "system" days I'd use 0 gauge for power & it is definitely bigger than what I'm using now for my relocation kit.
 
wow thanks kenrik ur the ****in man! thats pretty much all i need to do this. How hard was all this on a scale from 1-10? and how long did it take you...what problems did you run into? Thanks
 
Use 0 gauge from any stereo shop. Or Fry your alternator. I made the mistake before. Also get a sealed box.

Check the regs for batteries in the rear some race bodies require an On/Off switch externally on the car.
 
i had the same setup with 2 gauge wire and it would work for like a week and then it wouldn't and i would have to switch it back to the front. any ideas as to why? it never blew any fuses or anything either
 
Bad ground I'd guess. The first time I set up the trunk battery, I grounded on the strut bolts. Lasted for about a week until the first rain and didn't work after that. Scraped some paint, drilled a hole, and made a new ground...worked till I crashed her.

Zak, I've been using 2-gauge for years now w/ no problems. I'm going to switch to 0 though when I go standalone (for redundancy's sake).
 
Yes a good ground is importaint I scraped all that paint of the tire holder after I took the pics and I have not had a problem in over 6 months.

How hard was it on a scale of 1-10?

1

lol a chimp could do it... :p I think you'll be alright
 
im on 0 gauge now, grounded to the strut tower bolt, sanded tho, s far, so good
 
well i bought the box today but i went everywhere looking for the wire....i went to lowes 1st, then circuit city, then autozone, then pepboys, and i was so desperate as to go to some ricer shop to look for it, none of em had it, idk where to go next, i told em i need a 2 gauge battery cable or a 0 gauge, none of them carried it. I dont know where to go now..any one have any suggestions to where i could find it? tommorrow ill probably go to like a sound system shop or something, i guess thats the only place i have left :confused:
 
ONE80ESSEX said:
well i bought the box today but i went everywhere looking for the wire....i went to lowes 1st, then circuit city, then autozone, then pepboys, and i was so desperate as to go to some ricer shop to look for it, none of em had it, idk where to go next, i told em i need a 2 gauge battery cable or a 0 gauge, none of them carried it. I dont know where to go now..any one have any suggestions to where i could find it? tommorrow ill probably go to like a sound system shop or something, i guess thats the only place i have left :confused:

Lowes... it's not "battery cable" They have a place were they cut cable for electrical... just ask 0 or 2 guage wire... tell them how much and they will cut it for you. You should go with the stuff that has thiner strands of copper
 
Kenrik said:
Lowes... it's not "battery cable" They have a place were they cut cable for electrical... just ask 0 or 2 guage wire... tell them how much and they will cut it for you. You should go with the stuff that has thiner strands of copper

thats what i asked for and i told them what i was using it for and the guy was weird and **** and he told me that their stuff was for like household **** and not for automotive and that i should try a speaker store cuz their **** wouldnt work, but they did have 2 gauge wire that looked like i could use but the guy was just saying i shouldnt use it for that
 
go to u pull it and get a bmw wire that is like a 0 or bigger and it has connectors already on it. I was there today and they still had some with cables.

they are like 12 ft and are seriously only $2.
 
I just picked up some 0 gauge from a local audio shop.....but i was pondering everything and thought of what am i ganna do with that red thing with the plugs that goes to my starter that connects directly to the positive side??
 
ONE80ESSEX said:
thats what i asked for and i told them what i was using it for and the guy was weird and **** and he told me that their stuff was for like household **** and not for automotive and that i should try a speaker store cuz their **** wouldnt work, but they did have 2 gauge wire that looked like i could use but the guy was just saying i shouldnt use it for that

Well it's not made for automotive, But electric wire is electric wire if it's the same guage/strand thickness, the guy was just an idiot.
 
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