Moving battery tray to passenger side on xflow

[techbod]

The battery seems to have died over the winter despite being on a smart charger, and just wont hold a charge. Its done pretty well, though - it was on the car 7 years ago when I bought it, and I suspect it had been on the car for a while before that, so no complaints.

 

So having wrestled it out from under the carbs, I'd like to relocate the tray on to the passenger footwell side as it makes it easier to get to. I have a slight complication in that I have a oil catch tank mounted on the outside of the passenger footwell, so the battery will need to locate further forwards.

 

(Since it lasted so well, I'll probably replace like for like, Varta in case anyone is wondering, so I can't lie it horizontal on the bulkhead as per the smaller batteries, so in front of the footwell it will have to go.

 

Any pictures of a similar setup I can look at for guidance? Thanks

[Drumster]

A wise move, 'twas really a pain being under the carbs.

 

Originally I had a Banner battery under the carbs and moved that to the top of the passenger footwell, later I moved to a smaller battery. It may depend if you have the short or long passenger footwell. Have a look at the links below to see if that offers help or inspiration....

 

Banner battery here scroll down to the end

 

Ultramax battery here again scroll down to the bottom.

 

[Molecular--Bob]

A smaller gel battery such as an odyssey pc625 will fit in the original location, and can be placed from under the car. It means you don't have to relocate the battery cables, which is a plus.

[techbod]

*thumbup*Thanks for the responses and links.

 

This afternoon I removed the battery tray and cables so I guess there is no going back now...

 

I like the battery placement shown in the links, but my passenger side footwell is short, so I don't have a ledge to place it on. A quick and dirty test shows the battery and tray will sit on the chassis rails in front of the catch tank without fouling on anything. Here. However the battery is then only 10cm or so from the exhaust, and the whole arrangement feels like a bit of an untidy solution.

 

I suppose the better solution is to remove the catch tank and mount, make an extended battery tray that can span the chassis rails next to the passenger footwell, and add a bracket on the end to hold the catch tank. Which is all quite alot of work - meaning the quick and dirty solution above does hold some appeal...

[techbod]

So battery tray and oil catch tank moved. Starter motor and earth leads are connected, but what did anyone doing a similar conversion do about the brown (alternator) lead?

 

Did you extend the lead and route it round to the new battery location or tape up the now redundant end and run a new wire entirely? Neither seems a particularly neat solution.

 

Or bite the bullet and pull the loom apart and move the wire round ? (Thats alot of work but neater) .

 

Thanks

 

 

[Molecular--Bob]

Previous owner of mine did the extended lead, and i have seen a distribution stud used as a joiner bit like this, which was a bit neater.

[combine]

My battery is still underneath the induction stuff , used to be webbers , now tb's, doesn't seem to be a problem where it is easy enough to get at with a screwdriver to open the cells for charging although its rarely necessary !

[techbod]

Thanks for the reply.

I've gone for the extended lead solution and tried to keep it as neat as possible. Halfords sell a heat shrinkable butt connector which seems to have done a good job of joining the two wires together (together with some crimping for extra security).

 

Onto the next job.