Mounting the battery in the passenger compartment

[monsterZ28]

correct me if what i plan on doing is a waist of time but i would eventually like to change my battery location. too much of a pain to change batteries not that i do it often but with the amount of work access is a plus. has anyone ever attemped to do a task such as this?

[zmm95]

I mounted mine in the compartment where the spare tire is, however ive seen it mounted in the trunk floor where the t tops go which, if access is what your looking for is your best bet. If you plan on mounting it in the passenger compartment are you going to be racing at all? There are rules you have to abide by if you plan on going to the track

[BIG CAT]

We mounted ours in the spare tire well. Make sure you use a sealed box.

[monsterZ28]

Yeah I plan on racing, nothing big just for fun

[monsterZ28]

I heard of a sealed box or a battery that is sealed off so the gasses emitted from the battery don't leak into to comparent, where would I go to get on just any autostore?

[zmm95]

To race it needs to be sealed, mounted to the body, have a tube going from inside the box to outside the vehicle to exhaust gasses, also the big thing is that you have to have a battery dissconnect switch at the rear most exterior portion of your vehicle. A common placement on our cars is the berger panel.
I got.my box on amazon for cheap. Taylor makes it and it comes with all wiring and mounting hardware and a hold down for the battery. Its a nice aluminum piece, im not sure if the plastic ones you can buy at auto part stores meet nhra requirements
I can upload some pictures if you want

[Terryhotrod]

Yes please show pics

[zmm95]

Here is the box, where i installed it, all buttoned up and ready to go, that plastic cover and carpet cover everything so you cant even see it.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-02-02_01-24-28_300.jpg

Here it is while i was in the middle of wiring through the trunk wall
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-01-31_00-48-20_599.jpg

And heres the switch mounted on the berger
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-01-31_01-07-22_789.jpg

Those are all the pictures i took but if you want anything else just ask and i can snap a few for you later today.

[monsterZ28]

ok thank you i will try this after most of my other priporities have been taken care of first

[monsterZ28]

the cable what wire size do you recomend im not seeing that the kit gives the wire. i was told zero or double ot. also can i get closer pictures of the tubing that releases the gasses where you mounted it?

[zmm95]

Alright sorry for the delay man ive been busy this weekend.
To awnser your question, 0gauge is probobly the best choice. However i actually went with 2gauge. Most will tell you this it too small, ive been running it for about 4 months now and have had absoloutly ZERO issues with it. Heres the amazon link..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000CQ24AQ/ref=mp_s_a_8?qid=1335083241&sr=8-8

I think thats it at least. Since i dont trust the amazon descriptions i always cross check the part number on a reliable site like jegs or summit, just to be sure what im getting. Anyways, to the battery box porn. Lol

Well heres the fitting, I forgot the size but i think its a 3/8" 90* barb fitting. It says it comes with the kit but for some reason mine didnt have one, no big deal though. Went down to my local hardware store and picked one up.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-04-22_01-01-48_226.jpg

You can see the nut you use to secure the fitting to the box here. The box is pre drilled for this fitting and like i said before, it should come with everything you need.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-04-22_01-01-39_636.jpg

Heres how i routed the tube, just straight down and through the floor.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-04-22_01-01-23_46.jpg

And heres the tube coming out of the floor, sorry for the paint overspray lol,
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/moosemania55/2012-04-22_00-59-07_763.jpg

If you need any other help feel free to ask.

[monsterZ28]

It's no problem been busy myself first chance I had since I last posted. Thanks for the pictures and advice helped me out a lot. Just nice seeing other peoples work so I can bounce ideas off of, oh and how long of a cord did you use for the positive wire? Also where did you mount the negative wire to the body? And would you know if NRHA would allow me to put the battery behind the pass seat? Not sure where I wanna put the battery I have T-Tops and I like that space in the back, I can always leave the tops at the house if need be

[zmm95]

No problem buddy, and i used almost all of the 16ft it comes with.. our cars are loooong. Lol, i grounded the negitive wire on the wheel well tub thing, if you take off that plastic cover youll see the big lip that comes up off ppretty much the center of it. I just stripped the paint and bolted it to there. And im not sure if nhra would allow that. I honestly dont see why not, all the rules say is that if the battery is inside the pass compartment, not separated by a firewall, it needs to be in an nhra approved box. However running that big ass wiring back to the switch and then aaallll the way back to the front is going to be a huge PITA!

[monsterZ28]

Thanks and yeah when I put the line loc in it took me almost two days to do really picky how my car looks haha, but thanks for the hints and tips I'll prob end up doin this small project in about a month after I replace the distributor..... Dreading that day but has to be done

[lt1nova]

How did you guys wire your disconnect switch? I ran the alt output back to the battery side of the disconnect switch so the engine doesn't continue to run.

I also ran my negative cable to the block to avoid any grounding issues.

[zmm95]

thats how i ran my alt wire as well. Par nhra rules thats how it has to be run...and damn! You ran that fat cable allll the way to the block?!

[monsterZ28]

sorry a bit confused about the coments on the disconect. cant you just run a wire from the battery to the switch from the switch to the pos cable to the engine cmpartment?

[monsterZ28]

9178kinda like that? sorry for the crappy 5 sec drawling just hope you get the idea

[zmm95]

Thats a good picture! Wouldove taken me an hour to draw that! Lol to pass tech at the strip with a relocated battery they usually have you start the car and then thell turn the battery switch off and it has to kill the car or else you fail, since most alternators put out enough power to solely run the engine you have to make a new alternator wire that runs to the post on the switch that connects to the battery, and then a wire from the other pole to whatever + connections you need to make. This will make sure that when the switch is off, ALL power is cut off to everything.

[monsterZ28]

Oh ok so just to make sure before I start cuttin wires n shit, the cable running from the power end of the alt as to be cut and the switch tied into that line? Not sure how thecamaro is but on my third gen TA there was a hot wire I. The back of the alternator pretty sure it's the same set up just don't want to make an ass out myself

[zmm95]

Yeah the thick red wire... looks like 6ga or somthing,, its bolted onto the back.. i wouldnt say cut it though i would say make a new one to extend back to the switch

[monsterZ28]

ok sorry for the late delayed thanks but thank you lol havnt been on the computer for couple days really