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Battery relocation [Merged 3-8]

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My reasons for doing this modification was with the addition of a GM Mas and translator I was having a shortage of underhood room, besides lack of space this was also for better weight distribution and my oem battery hold down was fubar. My solution was to relocate the battery. This was the way that I did my relocation, your parts/results may vary. To do this mod you should have the following. This is for a 1gb car as my switch location will be different than on a 1ga.

Parts:
1. Moroso, or other NHRA approved Battery Box. Jeg's P/N 710-74050.
2. Moroso, or other NHRA approved Battery Disconnect Switch. Jeg's P/N 710-74101
3. Distribution blocks (3). I used a 4 fuse block and two single fuse blocks. I don't have P/N's for these as all stereo shops are different. I did use Lightning Audio, and Stinger blocks though.
4. Fuses. I used a 150A (battery), (2) 80A (alternator & starter), (2) 30A (IGN & Rad FAN etc...), and a 20A (MPI).
5. Wire. 15 ft. of 4 gauge power wire, 3 ft. of 4 gauge ground wire.
6. Wire loom.
7. Zip ties.
8. Electrical tape.
9. Connectors. Crimp type.
Tools:
1. Drill, 3/8, 5/8, and 3/4 bits.
2. 3/8 drive ratchet.
3. 3/8 drive 10, 12, and 5/16 sockets.
4. Phillips and standard screwdrivers.
5. Allen wrenches SAE (distribution blocks)
6. Crimping tool.
6. Wire cutters.
 
Now that you have everything together you can begin. I'm sorry that I didn't take enough pics, I didn't think I would be writing this.

Getting Started.

1. Disconnect and remove uicp.
2. Disconnect and remove battery.
3. Remove battery tray and support. This can be tricky as the bolts on the support are kind of awkward to remove.
4. With everything out, get your 4 fuse block and decide your mounting spot. I mounted mine on the strut tower with metal tapping screws.
5. Cutting the wires off from the old fuse block (oem). I wired up my 4 fuse block the way that the oem one was wired so I wouldn't forget fuse ratings. This should take up 3 of the 4 spots on the new block. In the last spot, I wired the two other white wires that were attached to the positive terminal originally.
6. Mount your new block and put correct sized fuses in the block.
7. Decide the mounting spot for the single fuse block, I used an existing hole on the firewall and drilled a hole on my block to use the same sized bolt to attach the block.
8. There's a black wire with a red stripe that was attached to your battery as well. This gets wired into the single fuse block.

The wiring order (4 gauge) that I used is this. The Black/red wire into the single fuse block, from the single fues block to the 4 fuse block, and then from the 4 fuse block into the cabin of the vehicle.

9. Cover all 4 gauge with loom. I also used electrical tape on the ends and in 6 inch increments (just to be safe) and then clean everything up with the zip ties.
10. Reinstall your uicp.

You're done under the hood. This was the hardest part.

Before and after.
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Ok, now that everything is squared away under the hood, you will want to find a place suitable to bring the wire into the car. Here's what I did.

1. Remove passenger seat and belt assembly on the console side of the seat. I was going to skip this step myself but I'm glad that I just did it.
2. Remove your rocker cover trim, it's the thing that says EAGLE on it...LOL.
3. Remove kick panel trim.
4. Remove rear seat cushion. There are tabs at the bottom, pull them upwards and the cushion comes right out.
5. Remove plastic trim on pass side, this is a pain. I broke a few of the tabs on this one, be careful. Now you're ready to get the wire inside of the car.

If you have your HVAC unit in the car you won't be able to use the hole that I did and you might have to drill a hole. If you choose to do this, make sure that you put a grommet in the hole to protect the wire. Not doing this will cause a direct short and more than likely burn your car down.

Now that you've gotten your wire into the car.

6. Pull carpet up and move it out of your way.
7. There are two plastic plugs on the rocker panel. I pulled these and drilled them so they would be like grommets and protect my wire. You can run the wire over the frame rail, I just chose not to.
8. Run your wire behind the trim so that it will not be near anything sharp.
9. Now that you have your wire run behind the trim you're going to want to unscrew the small screws that are holding the rear (wheelwell) trim, this will allow you to move the trim without having to remove it.
10. Now that you have all of your wire run to the rear of the car, you can now put your car back together. This is the opposite of removal. I know, you're probably thinking... duh Stacy, but I'm dumb sometimes and it's late. Sorry.
 
Now that you have the wire to the back of the car, smile and know that you're almost done. Now you have your decision to make. Where are you going to put your box? You will want your box on the pass side in the back corner. Let's get started.

1. Remove back middle trim panel, the one that covers the hatch lock mechanism.
2. Remove the small square trim piece.
3. Remove back trim piece that wraps around from the side to the back. This is the trim piece that you'll be mounting your final fuse block to.
4. Remove carpet.
5. Mount fuse block to trim and drill the holes for the wire to come through it.
6. Decide where you want to mount your Battery Disconnect Switch. I don't use the key hole since I can pop the hatch from the inside. I used the keyhole itself so I wouldn't have to do any more drilling than I have to. Mount the switch

Now for the wiring part. I ran my wire into my fuse block, from the fuse block to the post on the switch, from the other post on the switch to the positive terminal on the battery. From my Negative terminal on the battery to the chassis of the car. I used the child safety seat bolt for my ground.

7. Now that you have the fuse block wired up you will want to make sure that all of your connections are tight.

IMPORTANT... Wire the disconnect/kill switch as stated above. I snapped this pic before I had a chance to do final testing of this install, this will cause a direct short. This pic shows 2 sets of wires, you only need 1. I just wanted to include this pic so you know what the back of the switch looks like. So remember, wire as stated above.

Point of interest: If you've done the fuel pump rewire mod, now's a good time to connect the positive from your pump to the kill switch.

Kill switch.
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Back trim piece w/ wires and block.
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Ok, now it's time to mount the box and finish putting the car back together. Your box will come with instructions on how to mount it so I will just give a quick rundown of it.

1. Find where you want the box mounted.
2. Take the battery hold down and use it as a template for drilling the floor. Be careful and make sure that you're not going to drill into your gas tank or exhaust. If clear, drill holes.
3. Reinstall carpet, find drilled holes and cut carpet to accomodate mounting rods.
4. Flip box over so you're looking at the bottom. Take battery hold down and drill holes into the box.
5. Drill holes in the side of the box for wires and vent tube, use supplied grommets.
6. There's a plug in the floor right in front of your box, pull it out and drill it out enough to accomodate your vent tube.
7. Turn disconnect to the "OFF" position.
8. Finish wiring up battery. Look for your hatch lights to come on, if they are on you did something wrong. Check your switch wiring.
9. Using the supplied mounting instructions finish installing the box. This is the part where you might want some help. The threaded rod part is a pain if you're doing this by yourself.

A tip that I would give if you're doing this alone is to pre assemble the battery hold down before you install it. The battery hold down assembly should be locknut, hold down strap, then regular nut. You'll see what I'm talking about when you go to install it.

10. Put all trim back together and admire your work.
11. Turn switch to "ON" and you're ready to roll.

Have fun resetting your radio stations...LOL.

You are now ready to drink.

This Bud's for you!

Sorry for the lengthy article, but it's my first one and I wanted to be thorough. Doing this is at your own risk, I'm not responsible for you doing anything that might burn your car up. With that out of the way, good luck and happy modding.

Box w/ battery.
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Box w/ lid on, lid's not bolted on yet though.
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Final pics of switch, very stealth, just the way I like it. ;)
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If you have a distribution block how do you power you Timing light to change the timing advance from the CAS? There would not be a point in the engine bay to clamp the 12V lead to the timing gun to power it if you relocated your battery.
 
I use the alternator terminal, I have my PS and AC fan removed though.
 
Well, I've looked through just about every thread that has the words "battery relocation" in them and I've decided to give it a shot but I have a couple questions before I start. First, I researched the sealed aluminum battery box from Taylor (p/n TAY-48103) and it claims that it is NHRA legal. I just want to run it by everybody because it doesn't look that sealed to me, I may and probably am wrong. Also, for the people who did the relocation, did you run another power line from the battery to the alternator like on taboo's site?

http://www.taboospeedshop.com/battery_relocation.htm

I'm kinda confused since I didn't see this mentioned on this forum. Taboo did this because he said that it is possible for the car to run solely off the amplifier for a certain amount of time even if the kill switch is activated.

One more thing, how did all the 2gs mount their battery box without taking out the spare?

Thanks for the replies. :thumb:
 
I'm also going to get the Taylor box, from summit you can get the kit ,with it includes wire for only $115, hell of a deal if you ask me. as far as the alt. rewire, you can and I believe you are suppost to if you plan on being NHRA legal. My track does not check "street cars" very heavily so I will just be doing the one rewire for the battery. I believe most the people on here that do it just because of space isuses do the same. best of luck.
 
I relocated my battery shortly after buying my car. I bought a new summit kit off ebay for like $55. 4g wire to the trunk, plastic battery box mounted to the floor with a red top optima inside. I didnt wire to the alternator either. Now I have some room for future plans.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I got a couple more questions since we are on the subject.

1. Mounting the battery box, where did you 2g guys put it. Keep in mind, I would really like to keep my spare in case something happens to a tire. And if you mounted it above the spare on top of the carpet, did you bolt it down to the frame or the wood part that you need to lift to get to the spare? There is a long drop to the frame, so I'd like to hear what should be best way to get through this.

2. Where did you 2g guys mount the kill switch? Did you use the longer lever type or just the switch itself? I was thinking of using the keyhole as one, it won't bother me much and I don't think in need to hack anything up.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
Another question that I have about using a circuit breaker. Would it be ok if I used a circuit breaker instead of a fuse? Would it be ok even if the alternator is charging the battery or is the circuit breaker ok to use 2 ways? Thanks.
 
I'm thinking about moving the battery in my 2g to the trunk. I'll probably just put it in one of the corners between the fender well and the rear seat.

If you're just making a street car, that will see some local test and tune days at the track and not planning on making an all out drag car, I don't see why you really need a kill switch.
 
How did you 2g guys mount your box and be able to bolt it to the car so it won't move around if you get into an accident? I'm having a hard time trying to mount it. Also, I would really like to keep my spare tire, so if somebody has a good idea of how to mount it, I would like to hear about it.

I bought the taylor relocation kit already and I'm going to try to use the box it came with.

Edit:
BTW, I need it to be NHRA legal, maybe not 100% thought depending on what they check.
 
I drilled 2 holes in the floor and bolted it down with nice big washers on each side. I also bolted it to the metal brass looking bracket that runs front to back in the trunk. The brass bracket thingy might be a 1g oinly thing though im not sure.

I got a pic in my gallery
 
Unfortunately for 2gs, we have the floor that has a huge indentation for the spare tire and no room for anything else.
 
Mike1992 said:
I didn't see a need for a kill switch, so I didn't put one in.

Goodluck passing tech without one. Depending on the track some will make you start the car and they will test the switch right there. Most will just fail you if yo have moved the battery and dotn have a switch. I dont see why people do mods like this then do them half assed.
 
i put 2 hinges on my rear licincse plate at the top, and at the bottom i put 2 strong magnets and bolted a small metal strip on the rear bumper underneth the plate, and i have my kill switch behind the plate :thumb:



:dsm:
 
boostedinaz said:
Goodluck passing tech without one. Depending on the track some will make you start the car and they will test the switch right there. Most will just fail you if yo have moved the battery and dotn have a switch. I dont see why people do mods like this then do them half assed.

How is not using a kill switch half assed? If I want to cut the current I flip the circuit breaker. I've been to the track a couple times and they never inspect my car, so I dunno watcha mean.
 
Mike1992 said:
How is not using a kill switch half assed? If I want to cut the current I flip the circuit breaker. I've been to the track a couple times and they never inspect my car, so I dunno watcha mean.

Pehaps a little track in your area, but if the track is an NHRA certified track then they should be checking for it. It is in the NHRA rules. IF you were to go a sanctioned event you would be left in tech for no kill switch. They need a way to kill ALL power from the outside of the car if something happens.
 
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