Alpha 5

iTrader: (8)

Some of you may remember a few years back my was hit by a drunk driver in a hit and run. Yep, It was parked in front of my house and some time during the night a drunk bastard in a white cavalier hit my car then took off. Well my insurance paid me pretty good and I got the car fixed but never purchased a new battery. Ever since then the -neg post has leaked a little acid. I knew one day it would go out, well it has been about 2 years now or so and the other day after work, IT WENT OUT. LOL

Here are some pics of it. I tried to take the terminal off the post and the entire post pulled out of the battery. lol.






It was kinda funny I admit.


So I was thinking, since I have to purchase a new battery, might as well get a decent one and stick the sucker in the trunk. It is a common mod that a lot of people talk about and is not that hard. What the heck?

I already had a 1 ought running to the trunk with a multi fuse block in the bay, heck this will be easy.

So I ran the ought to the inlet side of the block and the top output goes to the main fuse block and the bottom goes to the starter.





Then I cut the alternator wire and but a ring terminal on it and seated it with the starter wire.


I figured that made the bay look a lot cleaner with more room to work.




Now off to the trunk.

I did not want to just mount a battery box in the trunk and be done, ooooohhhh noooo I had to complicate things. lol
I wanted to mount the battery in the spare tire well while keeping my spare tire, jack, jumper cables, extra lugs and lug wrench with torq wrench in the well. I also did not want to raise the false floor at all. This meant I would need a battery no taller than 6" and that I could not use a battey box. The battery would have to be spill proof and non gassing. I looked at a couple different ones Odyssey, Kinetic, XS Power Cell even looked at getting a Die Hard Platinum, I hear they are made by odyssey and are about $50 cheaper. These are all great batterys but non of them are offered in the size I need. So I figured I would check out Optima, well what do you know, the exact battery for our car is the one I go with. The Optima Model D51 is 9" tall by 51/4" thick and 9" wide. This meant I could lay it on its side and it would be perfect.

So now to fab up some way to mount this damn thing.
First I removed the jack, then twisted off that little piece of scrap metal that secures it.
I then marked my center marks and measerd out acordingly. After all the measuring was done I took a couple pieces of ange aluminum and fabbed up some brackets.


I then took a piece of rubber mat, like in the gym or back of a stock trailer, and cut a little piece 10X9. I then cut a slit in it for the center bracket.


I then covored the side pieces with some rubber tape.


Next I cut a pice 4 1/4" by 9 for the back. and set the battery in.
I also cut a piece to bo on the side between the brackets and the wall of the battery.


So now it cant slide forward or back or side to side and is protected by the rubber mat.
Now to put the rear panel back on.


Would you look at that, its perfect.:dance:



But how did I connect it to the ought, you ask.
I ran a short piece of 2 gaug to a distribution block in the trunk. This is where the ought connects from the front. I also used the same grounding point as my amps.







Well that is pretty much it, lay the carpet down, clean up the mess and call it a project finished...

manahoonie

ummmm, i thought car batteries were meant to be upright....

i wouldn't trust it being on it's side just in case of leaks. that will really mess up the trunk. maybe it's just me. maybe it's just not having seen batteries mounted on their sides at all.

jamis33

i think its okay to sit on its side since its an optima drycell. Theres no actual acid to leak out anywhere

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

nice install, and yeah optimas can be mounted upsidedown if you want. nothing to leak and its sealed to begin with.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

^its actually a "dry cell" battery, thats why there are no leaks or spills...origionally used for marine/airplanes (the dry cell technology)

drunkenmagnum

iTrader: (5)

Mines mounted in the trunk too, I like it better there actually. its a little different set up than you though.
Nice install, but you got to paint that spot where it use to sit (havent painted mine either)

DeX

I just bought an Optima last night and I'm wondering if I should just put it under the hood in place of my old one or somewhere else.