Putting battery in trunk...

[Ian]

I was looking at Jegs.com website and they have the box, cables, etc. to mount your battery in the trunk of your car. I know that this is designed to help balance the weight of your car and the parts are not very expensive.

I wonder if it is more beneficial if you autocross, as opposed to everyday street driving. That being said, I think BMW has the battery in the trunk of their cars as standard. So, maybe there is some basic benefit for even the average driving experience. My questions are:

1. Do you think this is worth it?

2. If you have done it, how long did it take you?

3. In what way have you noticed a difference, if any, in the driving experience of your car?

Thanks

[~Spadwaller~]

I think its great if you want to lighten your car by means of your wallet.

[Ford_Fixorrepairdaily]

My cousin moved his battery to the trunk in his car, because he wanted to free up some space. He was planning on fatter turbo.

I think the later model bmws still have their batterys located in the trunk. Not to sure. Bmw must have a good reason for doing that though.

[DatSRBoi]

Isnt it my understanding that the longer the current has to travel the weaker it gets? maybe BMW had good batteries since they are having it sit that far from the positive intervals....

And if we do that to our solara wouldnt it weaken the power performance? I know it would benefit the subs and amp but it would weakend the motors ground and charge points right?

[jeffrey_o]

Isnt it my understanding that the longer the current has to travel the weaker it gets? maybe BMW had good batteries since they are having it sit that far from the positive intervals....

And if we do that to our solara wouldnt it weaken the power performance? I know it would benefit the subs and amp but it would weakend the motors ground and charge points right?

To answer question #1, yes. It does weaken the current, but it's not too bad, I wouldn't expect much of an issue. You should have enough power (unless your battery is real low) to fire all your ignition components perfectly.

To answer question #2. No, it wouldn't weaken your car at all. If anything, the weight distribution will be better and you will corner stronger.

I have done this on a few cars. Don't expect gains in the 1/4 mile, but if you're autocrossing, it's a good idea. Also some tracks require your battery in the trunk. Happy hunting!

[SPF 0]

I think it'd be helpful to know what the front/back weight ratio is as the stock Solara sits.

I'm personally wondering with a car as heavy as the Solara is, will moving the battery back be enough of a weight shift to have any real effect?

IIRC, BMWs, at least at one point in time, had the battery under the back seat.

[jhenty]

i was thinking about doing this just to free up room in the engine bay. The kits to do it are like $50 on ebay and it seems simple enough to install. I figure if i ever do a turbo project I'll need to do it anyways, or I could just relocate the air filter where the battey would be and build an "ice box" for it.

[SPF 0]

If nothing else, assuming you retain battery terminals up front, it should make giving/receiving a jump start that much easier. So even if you don't go ahead with the turbo project, you still have a practical application for this.

[pythonjosh]

I think you should just do this custom, it's cheaper that way. Would be cool to run some 0ga wire for the (+), or 4ga should suffice. And add plenty of ground wires for the (-) terminal. More grounding provides better current, which would help out a lot since you are lengthening the distance from the battery to the engine. The more grounds the merrier. Even the grounding kits on ebay are good because they add like 8 more grounds. Another way to make up for the possible currency weakness is to get a gel battery with over 200cca's. My Optima Yellow Top is excellent and I recommend it to everybody. I've been thinking about doing this my car, but 0ga wire is like $2+/ft and you'll be needing ~15ft or so. Or is the 4ga $2/ft? Anyways, that gauge wire can get expensive, check ebay for that too.

[jhenty]

this guy sells many of them :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... _Stores_IT


just view the other auctions to see more.

[pythonjosh]

That's not bad, I'd go for a thicker gauge positive tho. But it comes with all the necessities.

[Turbosolara]

if you dont go road race or you dont have turbo, there is no gain for you. the benefit jsut shift the weight to the back and also free up more space in the engine bay.

[jeffrey_o]

Add Auto-X to the list. It's more helpful for auto cross than it is for road racing.

[gman]

The benefit for daily driver would be:
better braking- more weight reward means less dive
better handling-by principle here-most fwd cars are around 60/40. Anything closer to 50/50 is better for handling. To free up space is the best reason to do it. It allowed me to make room for the oil filter relocation kit. Oil changes are cleaner and easier. I also ran an inline oil cooler with it. Ultimately the driving advantages are slight but psychologically worth it.

Gerard

[pythonjosh]

hey gman, what brand oil filter relocator do you have? Where and how much too. Tired of messy oil changes