camaroguy21

I would like to relocate my battery to the spare tire well. What all is necessary to accomplish this? I know BMR sells a relocation tray for this but a $90 tag is a bit high in my opinion. Do any other companies sell relocation trays? What battery are you running? What wiring will I need and how much of it? How did you guys route your wiring- through the interior or under the car? Any pics of installs? Thanks for your input and time, Josh.

camaroguy21

Anyone?

izcain

Are you looking for something that is going to be track legal or just for normal driving?

camaroguy21

Thanks for the reply. I'm just looking for something for every day driving. I wouldn't mind knowing the difference from a track legal setup though. Just in case I get an urge to race against my friend's Cobra some day.

izcain

Yea the track legal setup will require you to have a sealed battery box w/ straps and a drain tube for if the battery has spillage or bursts. If it was myself I would fallow the guidelines just to make it legal even since there is a possibility that you may want to run the car at the track. Also they require you to install a disconnect into the back of the car if you have a rear mounted battery. They do all this because the battery will be inside the drivers compartment since we don't have a trunk like other cars. Hope this helps some.

Nightcruzer

I used the BMR tray and wired it up exactly as recommended by MAD Electrical, who is quoted in every car mag out there. I have attached pics of the install. The 1/0 cable is very heavy and expensive.
I used approxiamtely:
15 feet of 1/0 red (connect remote starter solenoid to original solenoid)
2 feet of 1/0 silver (1 foot from battery to ground, 1 foot from engine to body)
10 feet of 10 guage (to connect ignition start wire to remote solenoid)
5 1/0 copper lugs
remote starter solenoid
2 power distribution junctions (one under hood, one under dash)
2 battery terminals
20 feet of 8 guage (rewire alternator and under dash power supplies as per Mad electrical)
1 12 gauge fusible link
lots of 8 gauge ring terminals
Can't remember off hand anything else



. I had left over of everything, but not much

Nightcruzer

wiring diagrams


All wires route inside the car behind the sail panels, under the carpet trim along the door, under the kick panel. I drilled a hole in the firewall, used a thick rubber grommet, ran out to the engine compartment to the starter.
The 1/0 starter cable is only "live" during cranking almost eliminating any chance of a short causing a fire.

The first diagram is the "trunk" area.
The second diagram is under hood area.

camaroguy21

Thanks for the posts Nightcruzer. I had gone ahead and installed mine a couple months back, but never posted pics. I went with an optima red top battery and a battery tray I found on E-Bay. I'll try and get you some pics later this week. -Josh

Gallileo60

Do you like it???? AND would you do it again????? Tell ANY handling difference??? How are hot starts???? Been thinking about a little better weight distribution myself...Thanks, Tom

Nightcruzer

I haven't done any "spirited" driving since the relocation, so I don't feel any difference. I'm glad I did it because 1) it completely opens up the look of the engine area 2) we know moving any weight from the front to the rear of a thirdgen is a good thing and 3) I actually learned a little something doing this project.
Starts are solid. That I definitely notice. The 1/0 gauge coming from the rear provides a more powerful start than the 2 gauge stock up front.
Hot start problems are non existant because of the remote starter solenoid being in the rear area as per MAD Electrical set up.

Gallileo60

Thanks for your reply...That just makes me want to do it myself.....If you have a picture of the engine bay, I would sure like to see it.....Anything I can do to clean up the look a bit more makes me happy....Thanks again, Tom