Do I need a battery tray to relocate the battery to the trunk? Planning on building a plywood box to fiberglass over for it to sit in anyway... Does the battery tray do anything but keep it from moving around?
Under the hood, the battery tray makes a shelf to secure the battery to. Otherwise the inner fender does not have enough size or strength to hold and support the weight of it. In the trunk, get one of those battery boxes made for a boat. They have straps and brackets that will allow you to secure the battery properly. If not secured, that heavy thing can do a lot of damage slamming around during hard cornering and braking. Also the box prevents contact with the battery posts by other stuff in the trunk yet still allows any gasses to vent safely.
Thanks! I was thinking of making a plywood box for it to sit in and attaching the hold down to the bottom of the box. Didn't know if maybe the tray it sat in had to be plastic for some reason. I'll be laying a piece of carpeted plywood down as the floor of my trunk. I figured I'd secure the plywood batter box to that. Even with the plastic battery box I'd have to do a plywood box around it to fiberglass it in the shape I want.... Can you explain the venting gases alittle for me? I planned to have a latched and hinged top for the box, but didn't consider gases/venting and such.
Most lead / acid batteries give off explosive hydrogen gas while in use and charging. There are sealed batteries that minimize this, but batteries should always have air movement around them to prevent any build up of gases. Talk to a battery dealer and tell them what you want to do. They will suggest the correct battery for an enclosure.
Plywood isn't going to be strong enough to hold the battery hold downs in place even in a minor collision. I would want plastic to contain any acid leakage and prevent trunk contents from coming in contact with acid. Battery acid destroyed the inner fender under the battery tray in my Mav and it ate holes in the floor under the rear seat of my wife's car when the side post came loose. IMO, whatever the hold downs (nylon strap or bolts) are fastened to should be steel. My boat battery box was only fastened down by some plastic (nylon?) clips that the strap ran thru. Don't think those are adequate for a car battery. You don't want a charged battery flying around in the trunk making contact with the metal surfaces.
IF you want a nice big vented battery go to the wreckers and get a good battery out of the trunk of an LX body Chrysler. Sealed and vented through a hose set up factory. An affordable option for trunk batteries.
Thanks for all the input guys! Looks like I'll have to do a standard battery relocation with all the do-dads and just build a cosmetic enclosure around that
my in trunk setup...bolts through the trunk pan...non-vented battery. don't forget to put the shock on the trunk lid while you're in there...
http://www.optimabatteries.com/us/en/support/faqs/#fitment But I think most, if not all, people who trunk mount an Optima do not have any problems... Optima says its batteries should only vent if overcharged or used in extremely hot environments. I think Optima saying that the batteries require venting is for covering those scenarios.
This is what I did with mine after having it in the trunk and dealing with hard starting due to the long distance the power had to travel. I built a new tray out of 1/8" aluminum sheet and angle, supported by a single stainless 1/2" threaded rod thru the inner fender. The inside edge of the 1/8" plate is bolted to the inner fender too. I used welding lead cable in the trunk mount, but still had hard to start (usually when hot) problems, no matter how well you tie it down in the trunk, there's always the risk of it flying loose in a rear collision. At a minimum, it should be set in a metal box that's securely bolted to the floor and the battery held down with bolts. Plastic battery boxes such as you use in a boat just don't cut it in a collision.
Yes and no. Like everything else in life, there is cheap junk at the discount store that offers no protection. Like you might use in a really small boat. Then there are really good impact resistant boxes that are for larger boats. The well made ones are more than adequate protection and they use stainless steel brackets for mounting and straps made like seatbelts.
Haha I really want those shocks on my hood! I'd hate to have to buy a new battery to do this... mine is a pretty nice one and almost brand new. Looks like I'll be going metal box to hold it in there (test my welding skills). I can probably just fiberglass over the metal... Would I need a plastic battery tray inside the metal box? So the plan would be.... -2 gauge cables running from the battery to the engine compartment (read a bunch that people who grounded in the trunk had problems starting for some reason...) -Metal box to hold battery bolted to the car, not the plywood floor -Battery hold down bolted to the actual car, not the box -Vented battery (the one thing I really don't want to have to do...) -And if I want I can do the same on the other side to have 2 batteries in the future. Just have to run them parallel. Did I miss anything or get anything wrong? Wanna do this before I run all my wiring for the interior/stereo and put new carpet down. My back seat is gone now too, so that should help. Think I'll put my auxiliary fuse boxes in the trunk too, and just run all my wires to the back of the car. If I do this later, I'll have to pull up the carpet and re-run all my wires.... Thanks for all the info guys!
X2 on the hood shocks. But for the battery, do it right the first time. I went through cheap plastic boxes, and they just did not cut it. A nice aluminum box, with a breather tube, was not very expensive. I have no idea what that sticky note means...
More recent picture (today!) Battery is out because rider mower won't start, so I borrowed the optima to start it. It was a no go. Time for the dump, for that rusty old mower. This box will only fit an optima or smaller than stock battery. $116 for entire setup from JEGS part number 555-10240. That was the price several years ago when I bought it.
so your answer to his question..."Do I need a battery tray to relocate the battery to the trunk?"...is put it under the hood...
