I’m in the process of relocating my battery to my trunk and have a few questions. I read Steve’s teg-tips but I seek a little clarification.
Connecting the power cable in the engine bay. This part is unclear and the pictures in the teg-tips are quite small and don’t look the same as they do in my car.
In this pic you can see where the stock positive lead goes from the battery to the car.
In this pic you can see that the cable then goes into the fuse box.
While in this pic you can see that another cable from this junction heads down under the engine bay.
Now I’m curious what is the best way to clear out the stock $hit and connect my new power cable. I believe Steve just kept the original stock power lead (just like in the picture) and attached his new 2 gauge power supply right to it. Is that correct? Is that the best way? In Steve’s pic there is some orange wiring harness there and his air intake covers up the area that is visible in my pictures.
Is it neccessary to use 2 gauge? 4 gauge is much thicker than stock. I’m curious what people w/ a background in electronics think about this. Stock seems about 6 or 8 guage but obviously it is only 1 foot long. While my power supply is going to be almost 20’ long.
I don’t know about battery relocation in our cars but I do know about wiring. Generally speaking 2 gauge is better because if your car doesn’t wan’t to start some morning you can crank the starter longer w/ 2 gauge than with 4 gauge before failure. If your car starts real fast and never has a problem and you know not to crank it over very long than the thinner wire isn’t a problem. My general rule in wiring is when in doubt go bigger. Try to keep the wire as short as possible. I’ve seen quite a few people relocate batteries in classic cars but haven’t see the same done in one of ours. I would feel pretty safe with 4 gauge.
BTW i’ve see main starter wires after someone over cranked their car with all the jacketing melted off. The starter is super high current draw.
I had to pull the wire that “disappears” due to bad grounds when I did my engine swap. You will have to pull the battery tray and battery tray support to get it out. The battery tray is held in with 3 12mm bolts (I think) and the battery support is held in with 2 12mm (Again I think, they may be 14mm).
The wire itself grounds right in one spot right under the battery tray support, and the other spot is where the clutch cable mounts to the transmission. If you take out the battery tray and battery tray support, everything can be clearly seen. While I had mine out I stripped it, applied rust inhibitor, and painted it gloss black.
I had to pull the wire that “disappears” due to bad grounds when I did my engine swap. You will have to pull the battery tray and battery tray support to get it out. The battery tray is held in with 3 12mm bolts (I think) and the battery support is held in with 2 12mm (Again I think, they may be 14mm).
The wire itself grounds right in one spot right under the battery tray support, and the other spot is where the clutch cable mounts to the transmission. If you take out the battery tray and battery tray support, everything can be clearly seen. While I had mine out I stripped it, applied rust inhibitor, and painted it gloss black.
HTH [/B]
I have the negative lead completely out. I’ve taken out the battery tray and the tray support. Looks really empty now! My main concern is with the positive lead. I’m looking for a way to cleanly connect my new 2gauge positive lead to the car in the engine bay.
Leif…yes Steve connected the stock positive lead to the 2 gauge that ran to the trunk. He bought a new battery connection and attatched it to the end of the 2 gauge then ran a large bolt thru both of the battery connections and tightened it down…wrapped it in electrical tape to keep it from grounding out on anything and then zap strapped it to something (can’t remember what). Does that make a little more sense then the teg tips?? lol
Originally posted by Gigarange Leif…yes Steve connected the stock positive lead to the 2 gauge that ran to the trunk. He bought a new battery connection and attatched it to the end of the 2 gauge then ran a large bolt thru both of the battery connections and tightened it down…wrapped it in electrical tape to keep it from grounding out on anything and then zap strapped it to something (can’t remember what). Does that make a little more sense then the teg tips?? lol
Cool, that’s what I gathered but I just wanted to make sure. I’m searching for the cleanest solution to these tasks. Actually, I’m almost done! It’s quite time consuming due to rerouting all the power for the stereo.
i think stock may be 4 or 8ga. it just looks smaller because it uses thicker cores (stiffer) than stranded wires for audio. the only difference is the flexibility for audio installing. ie the electrical cable in your house is 10ga, but looks like a 14ga audio cable.
as far as running 2ga, its cuz youre running a much longer cable to the back. as distance increases, you need a thicker wire. 4ga is sufficient, but 2ga would be safer if your system is 500w+
Leif,
I appolagize for my tardiness. I think one of the solutions your looking for is called a distribution block. One type is a machined piece of Aluminum or Copper with different gauge wire inlets on each side and has a large hex head bolt that keeps the wires tight and tied together. It is used in both stereo installs and commercial electrical applications. I’ve seen them at Home Dept (you own your own home and if your anything like me Home Depot = “home away from home”) , professional electrical supply stores or high end stereo shops. The one thing you want to stay away from are “fuse equipped blocks”. The amount of power required to start your car is more than enough to blow out stereo intended fuses; don’t waste your money. Some blocks will have a flat side so that you can mount them on the firewall or afix them somewhere in the interior. If your going with Steve’s suggestions of running the power cable under the door sills on its way back to the trunk keep the block away from the ECU, it gets hot, so use LOTS of electrical tape. Let me know if you can’t find one, I could probably locate one for you.
hth,
J.
Again, I appolagize for being late to the party
If you are considering a real competition spl stereo system and many future power upgrades, I would suggest going with the thickest guage wire you can work with. Some shops have had very good success using 0 awg welding wire (this is overkill unless you are pushing 1kw or more but it’s food for thought nonetheless).
I assume you are relocating the battery to increase room under the hood? If not, you’d be better off keeping the battery under the hood and using an isolator to connect a gel cell in the trunk. If you are using a stock battery in the trunk, make sure you have figured out a good way to vent it. If you aren’t using a gel cell, I think Moroso makes a good vented box but you’ll have to drill a hole or relocate one.
As far as connections go, the advice about using a dist. block is good. The advice, however, about using an unfused dist. block or a power run without protection is not a long term idea that will ensure a safe install. You must have some kind of breaker or fusable link on that power run to ensure there won’t be a fire if there’s a collision (if I misunderstood your reasoning, I appologize). If you wanted a very clean install, a good idea would be to completely disconnect the stock battery cable from under the hood and then get an industrial power connector (like the connectors used to supply power to Raymond Reach trucks, etc). You could run the feed from the fuse box to the main run to the trunk with a 12" or shorter fused connection and then run the long run from there. If you have a servicable or detatchable connection at both the front and rear, it will make troubleshooting and future upgrades much easier. Also, I would keep a 6’ run with the industrial molex connector and a blank pigtail in the car. If you need to give someone a boost, you’ll be the hero on the block when you pull up, pop the hatch, plug in the cable and get your friend back in business (also… if you use an isolator and keep the batt. up front also, you can almost eliminate the chances of yourself getting stranded with no power).
I’ll see if I can find a pic of that connector… I can get a part# if you want – the shop around the corner from me uses the all the time.
Neex: I might be mis-understanding your reasoning, but I was just tring to keep things simple for Leif. I was suggesting a fuse-less block because I tend to blow the fuses, regardless of size. I’ve never seen a reason for having one, and its not like there is a fuse inline from the factory, and its not like hes changing that path.
J.
This battery relocation is primarily for weight distribution. I have a decent sized strereo but don’t plan on building it up. I will likely downsize it one day.
I bought a distribution block but found simpler and lighter solution. I’ll post pics tonight.
I have another question now though. The relocation is complete and the runs fine. I was not able to find a hole in the firewall on the passenger side so I ran my 2gauge cable through an existing hole on the driver side. The downside of this is that it requires a couple extra feet of cable and it runs the power cable right behind my stereo and over some stereo related signal cables. I’m getting very bad engine noise through my speakers now. If I could simply route the power cable through a hole in the fire-wall on the passenger side I believe my problems would be solved. Steve’s teg-tips show an existing hole on the passenger side in his sedan. I didn’t see one in my 2dr. Did I just miss it?
Leif,
Glad to hear it all worked out. 2ga is big, but there is a hole directly below the fuel filter that shoud be big enough to accomodate the wire. This hole is where the drain tube is for the AC system and where the condensation builds under the car. I’l send you a pic if you can’t find it.
Let me know,
J.
So I don’t understand about this, I don’t work on my car too much, no time and no knowledge and all… But for the new power cable, do you simply run it underneath the car?? Or inside the car under the floormat?
I’m afraid of screwing up and fawk up my car
I heard about battery relocation kit, what are they??
Originally posted by .J. Leif,
Glad to hear it all worked out. 2ga is big, but there is a hole directly below the fuel filter that shoud be big enough to accomodate the wire. This hole is where the drain tube is for the AC system and where the condensation builds under the car. I’l send you a pic if you can’t find it.
Let me know,
J.
J.
I know where that hole is that you speak of but since I still have my AC it’s occupied w/ the drain hose. The other hole that is about 6-7 inches higher on the firewall, where the AC lines enter the car, may have space to fit an extra 2 gauge cable. But it is quite high up under the AC/heater equipment and I don’t believe it is accessible from inside the car w/ out removing the AC unit.
Soooo… what do you think about drilling an additional hole just to the right of the AC drain line (right meaning towards the passenger side of the car)? I can’t see any obstructions in that location.
Oh, BTW Jason, where is your battery? Is it relocated to the trunk? Any pics of your set-up? I’m trying to keep this clean and simple. I know yours would have been very neat:)
Okay, I’m 100% done, no more engine noise. I re-routed the cable through the passenger side fire-wall. I had to drill of course since all my factory holes were filled w/ AC stuff. Here are the pics:
Here is the clamp I used to hold my new 2 gauge to my factory positive leads.
Here’s what it looks like wrapped in electrical tape.
Here’s my cap install in the trunk w/ power leads heading into the car to power my alarm and other amp.
This is where it goes through the firewall, it is next to the AC drain tube:
For the time being here is where the battery sits in the trunk. I’m trying to find a sealed battery box currently
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