Battery Relocation

xluciusx · 06-22-2005

*Warning, Long nearly pointless story*

My starter went out and I took out my cruise control to get to it and decided I might as well leave it out since it doesn't work, but this led me to the discovery that my battery was basically just floating around in the engine compartment and had been held in place by being squished between the cruise unit and the firewall, anyway, now it was free. SO I decided to relocate it to that nifty exactly battery sized compartment on the passenger side of the 2g trunk.

*Part actually worth reading*
With the battery in the trunk running 4 gauge wire from the positive to the engine compartment and the negative grounded out on the thing that normally holds the spare tire the car starts, but not very cleanly. What I mean is it cranks for longer than normal. Is this simple the unavoidable result of the charge having so far to travel or is there something I should be doing different?

LightningGSX · 06-22-2005

4 gauge is way too small.You have a drop of at least a full volt.And If you ask me, the chassis doesn't make a very good return path either

LightningGSX · 06-22-2005

Maybe try a larger chassis to starter bolt ground under the hood, that may help

xluciusx · 06-22-2005

I think I'll pic some 2 gauge up after work.

So should I be running a line from both the positive and the negative battery terminals to the same old lines? You know, normally it goes postive baterry terminal to starter and fuse box and negative battery terminal to chasis ground and engine ground. So I would do the same with the battery in the trunk just with a long wire connecting the terminals to the original lines
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying about the chassis to starter bolt ground...

Onefast99gsx · 06-22-2005

I was faced with this Decision.

When i got my Magnus manifold my Optima battery was too big to fit anymore so i was faced with 2 options. Get a smaller batter or relocate the battery to the hatch area. Did you already start on it's relocation to the hatch area? I thought my best route was to just get a smaller battery. I ended up getting a Odyssey MJ-680 battery. They are like 3.12" wide. Why do you want to move it? If you race the car, there are things to consider that you may want to check on before you do.

-Being that our cars are hatchback, i believe the battery has to be in a sealed case.
-If you relocate the battery(and you race the car), i think you need a shut off switch in back of the car. I'm not certain, someone else might be able to vouch for this.
-4gauge too small. You would want 1 gauge wire.

Personally I don't see the reason for doing it unless you need the room. If you took the cruise unit out, then you obviously gained room.

LightningGSX · 06-22-2005

From the factory, there is(supposed to be) a ground going directly from the neg battery terminal to the bolt that holds the starter to the bellhousing.Since you probably grounded the battery to the chassis in the rear of the vehicle, your starter is grounding through the tiny wire that goes from the firewall to the intake manifold.So, before you change your power wire, I would put a 4 gauge ground going from the bolt on the firewall(the bigger one where the neg term on the batt normally hooks to) to one of the starter bolts.That may solve your issue without having to change to larger power wire.I can go take some pics if this is confusing.

Edit: you may have done this already, where does the ground coming form the starter bolt connect to?

xluciusx · 06-22-2005

More room is always nice, but the main reason was that the car came without the stand and holder for the battery, so it was just sitting, loose, inside the bay. And that definitely isn't a good deal. Also I am trying to get remove/get as much weight as I can of my front suspension, if you have seen my car you understand why

I haven't raced the car yet, but I plan to. And I have heard the things about a switch and sealed container, I already planned on taking care of those.
Thanks a lot for all the info though.

LightningGSX · 06-22-2005

Actually, if you want to do it right, you need 0 gauge or larger(I tend to have overkill problems though).

Onefast99gsx · 06-22-2005

No, problem.... I'm pretty sure on those NHRA rules. I just wanted to make you aware if you weren't already so you didn't underbudget. I spent my whole winter upgrading my car and know all about underbudgeting now. For every one upgrade you do there are at least 3+ in return it seems. Just don't do something stupid like zippy tieing the positive main wire to the fuel lines underneath :-)