Update on moving battery to the back
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
From: Corpus Christi, Texas
Update on moving battery to the back When I moved the battery to the back about 8 months ago, I was impressed with the improvement in cornering and accelerating traction. Others replied that they had little improvement in traction with this change. I was very surprised about this difference in opinion. The traction improvment was really obvious to me and at all speeds where the tires would not squeal on cornering and starting.
Well about a month ago I abandoned the concept of keeping the stock 16" wheels that came with my 1LE. Now with 17" wheels, which I'm sure are typical of nearly everyone here, the car has a hugely better balance between horsepower and stiction on cornering and accelerating.
So, it seems logical to conclude that the battery-in-the-back modification improves traction on 17" setups ONLY at MUCH higher cornering speeds and at much higher rates of acceleration, where there is so much going-on from the driver's point of view, that the improvement in traction is not obvious with a seat of the pants measurement. Better traction results from moving the battery, but you have to be driving hard to use it.
Well about a month ago I abandoned the concept of keeping the stock 16" wheels that came with my 1LE. Now with 17" wheels, which I'm sure are typical of nearly everyone here, the car has a hugely better balance between horsepower and stiction on cornering and accelerating.
So, it seems logical to conclude that the battery-in-the-back modification improves traction on 17" setups ONLY at MUCH higher cornering speeds and at much higher rates of acceleration, where there is so much going-on from the driver's point of view, that the improvement in traction is not obvious with a seat of the pants measurement. Better traction results from moving the battery, but you have to be driving hard to use it.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
From: Corpus Christi, Texas
Re: Update on moving battery to the back The cable is completely encased inside 3/4" "nonmetalic electrical tubing" (blue plastic flex-tube from Home Depot). I used 1/0 welding cable and the connections in the engine compartment are inside grey plastic electrical boxes so it doesn't look too crummy in the front. It takes a lot of trial and error to thread the cables inside the tubing, and get it right to the front so they don't sag below the frame. Right now it is held on the subframe rails with about 10 "150 lb." cable ties but I am going to get a cable tray welded in so it looks right.
The cable went through the back of the body at the left-top-side of the spare tire well, with an offset-type grey-plastic electrical box bolted to the body, so the cable does not get sawed through by vibration over time, and then the cable goes up to the front along the right frame rail and subframe connector. The cable was crammed into a space at the top of the rear wheel well, but I screwed a sheet metal shield over the cable to protect it from stones in the wheel well.
The battery box and top are plastic and sold for boats, from Academy. The box is on the far right of the "t-top well" in the back, so I can put the spare tire back if I want to. The box is bolted to the body, and sits on a small square piece of rubber, cut out of a rubber mud flap, to give a soft conformable mount for the box, which is very lightweight and not-very-solid plastic. The box can be easily notched to allow the thick cables to come straight out the side, toward the spare tire well, where the cables make a small 90 degree turn to go through the body into a very small space, with about 2" of clearance, that exists between 2 fairly solid frame rail-like stuctures on the outside of the passenger compartment. I designed this to minimize the danger from a worst case scenario, to avoid a crash-crush that could sever the positive cable (which gets really ugly if it arcs to the body and ignites any leaking gas). There are undoubtedly other ways to do this though.
The original positive/negative leads in the front are just filed flat (OEM they have little ears to dig into the lead battery posts) and bolted with 3/8" bolts, washers and nuts, then set inside notched out grey plastic electrical boxes, with "blank" (no holes) grey covers.
I bought a new Optima yellow battery.
The battery box is mounted with small holes drilled through the box, the rubber mat underneath the box, and the "t-top" well-floor. The bolts are fine thread 6/24th" and 1 and a 1/2" long. Anything will work. I have long enough arms to reach a screwdriver into the bolts in the well and at the same time hold a wrench on the underside nut. Otherwise you may need a helper to tighten the nuts.
The cable went through the back of the body at the left-top-side of the spare tire well, with an offset-type grey-plastic electrical box bolted to the body, so the cable does not get sawed through by vibration over time, and then the cable goes up to the front along the right frame rail and subframe connector. The cable was crammed into a space at the top of the rear wheel well, but I screwed a sheet metal shield over the cable to protect it from stones in the wheel well.
The battery box and top are plastic and sold for boats, from Academy. The box is on the far right of the "t-top well" in the back, so I can put the spare tire back if I want to. The box is bolted to the body, and sits on a small square piece of rubber, cut out of a rubber mud flap, to give a soft conformable mount for the box, which is very lightweight and not-very-solid plastic. The box can be easily notched to allow the thick cables to come straight out the side, toward the spare tire well, where the cables make a small 90 degree turn to go through the body into a very small space, with about 2" of clearance, that exists between 2 fairly solid frame rail-like stuctures on the outside of the passenger compartment. I designed this to minimize the danger from a worst case scenario, to avoid a crash-crush that could sever the positive cable (which gets really ugly if it arcs to the body and ignites any leaking gas). There are undoubtedly other ways to do this though.
The original positive/negative leads in the front are just filed flat (OEM they have little ears to dig into the lead battery posts) and bolted with 3/8" bolts, washers and nuts, then set inside notched out grey plastic electrical boxes, with "blank" (no holes) grey covers.
I bought a new Optima yellow battery.
The battery box is mounted with small holes drilled through the box, the rubber mat underneath the box, and the "t-top" well-floor. The bolts are fine thread 6/24th" and 1 and a 1/2" long. Anything will work. I have long enough arms to reach a screwdriver into the bolts in the well and at the same time hold a wrench on the underside nut. Otherwise you may need a helper to tighten the nuts.
