cheapest way to put the battery in the boot?

[pauldoubleyou]

For my Lupo conversion i need to house the battery in the boot. I intend to fabricate a box for it to sit in, however im a tightarse and want to look at wiring. The last time i did it I used a heavy duty set of jump leads and attached my own crimps and terminals.

 

Where is best to get the wire and what sort would be best? The distance is about seven feet.

 

 

[Guest Hooli]

Classic mini in a scrapyard, or XJ40, lots of BMWs. Anything with the battery already back there will have cables big enough to rag out & reuse.

[steveo3002]

scrap bmw will have decent cable 

[DodgeRover]

Mercs also run batteries in the boot with a nice +ve cable

[Mally]

Very cheap on ebay.

Not worth messing about IMO. Unless its almost free.

[cobblers]

You'll need 40mm2 cable really. About £8 a meter off ebay. Terminals for either end are a quid each. Crimp tools are £30-40 but you can do an OK job with a hammer, some angle iron and a 4mm punch.

Don't worry about a box, you don't need to seal it, just secure it and make sure nothing shorts out.

[AlabamaShrimp]

What you converting it into a robot?

[DodgeRover]

Actually I forgot about buying stuff for money. 70 or 80mm square super flexible welding cable is sensible money and the heavy duty ness takes away the potential issues with length of lead.

[cros]

This is the cable from a rover 100 P4 which had a 2.6l engine. Insulation is OK and it has steel outer sheath to enable it to withstand the apocalypse. There is a ring terminal on one end (rubber cover still intact) and a negative battery terminal on the other which unless your Lupo is very odd will need changing. I most likely have a decent + one so if you want it PayPal me 6 quid and I'll bung the lot in a jiffy bag and that will be one less thing cluttering up my workshop.

[alcyonecorporation]

What you converting it into a robot?

 

He wants to make a car faster, love. 

 

 

[AlabamaShrimp]

And how does putting the battery in the back do that?

[tooSavvy]

And how does putting the battery in the back do that?

.... sort of, like, adjusting the drivers seat so your foot can touch the gas pedal ...

 

TS

[captain_70s]

E46 Bimmer has the battery in the boot. I chopped one's battery cable out a wood saw not too long ago for Dolobodgery...

[Guest Hooli]

And how does putting the battery in the back do that?

 

More room in the front to fit a stupidly big engine?

 

Or better balance in bends.

 

 

Or being AS, it's the only place the battery won't fall out of due to rot & if cars start they are always faster than those that don't.

[SiC]

And how does putting the battery in the back do that?

Because where there was battery, is now engine.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Oh, silly me, it'll be retro rides he needs then. Hope it's getting some lowered stance to and of course some crap on a roof rack.

[Uncle Jimmy]

I shall be moving the battery to the rear of the 96 in the course of my resto, not because it's having a bigger willy attached or to make it 'handle' better.

The tray is rusty as Hitler's biscuit tin and in a fucking daft place.

[John F]

I fitted a 500cc bigger engine to my Calibra earlier this year, I didn't immediately lose the capability of using correct English or feel obliged to festoon it with tat

 

Subtle modifications are fine IMO, if done for good reasons.

 

(The Calibra's been lowered 20 mm for the last decade, although you'd probably not notice as it's the standard ride height for a DTM V6 Calibra... but more importantly, a good quality lowering kit was half the price of replacement OEM shocks & springs).

[Guest Hooli]

There are sensible mods & then are typical mods, normally there is very little overlap.

[alcyonecorporation]

Oh, silly me, it'll be retro rides he needs then. Hope it's getting some lowered stance to and of course some crap on a roof rack.

 

[tooSavvy]

^^ ... if you can see all the fingers on the hand then your 'screen resolution/tone balance' is correct...

 

TS

[purplebargeken]

Remove battery from front, carry to rear, place battery on the ground. Open boot. Pick up battery and place in the boot space. Close boot. 

 

Cheap AND easy.

[Guest Hooli]

Remove battery from front, carry to rear, place battery on the ground. Open boot. Pick up battery and place in the boot space. Close boot. 

 

Cheap AND easy.

 

Damnit, that level of sarcasm had only just occurred to me & then I find I'm beaten to it.

[rainagain]

Volvo S60 and s80 had battery in the boot. Normally at least 2.4 engine so battey lead is a good thickness.

[rainagain]

Don't worry about a box, you don't need to seal it, just secure it and make sure nothing shorts out.

I would have thought he would have to make sure any hydrogen from Charging is properly vented? My Volvo had a sealed battery in the boot with a little vent pipe going from the top of the battery to the boot floor and outside

[Guest Hooli]

Indeed. Don't most cars with batteries in the boot have special batteries for exactly that reason?

 

I seem to recall a recent story on here about MX5s & normal batteries being fitted resulting in rusty boots due to this.

[cobblers]

Loads of vehicles run batteries in the cabin outside a box, my VW T25 for example.
They only create hydrogen when being abused (otherwise they'd only last about 2 weeks!) and it's not harmful anyway, unless ignited, but the battery box isn't going to help you there.

 

EDIT:  That stuff about MX5 batteries causing rust is more down to rusty MX5s and their damp, unventilated boot. The very slight amount of acidity caused by an improperly vented battery was just like the straw that broke the camels back really. A battery in a draughty car isn't going to cause any issues.

EDIT 2: My own MX5 had a normal 063 battery in the boot for 5 years. The boot area was the only place that wasn't rusty!

[purplebargeken]

Sorry Hooli 

 

Mustard mitt that I was a bit shocked that no-one had posted this previously. Standards are slipping!!!

[Pillock]

I think my BMW has some sort of drain pipe, but not sure if it's for fumes from the battery or whether it's in case I tip over a 20lt tub of saltwater and it pools around the electrics.

[rainagain]

Loads of vehicles run batteries in the cabin outside a box, my VW T25 for example.

They only create hydrogen when being abused (otherwise they'd only last about 2 weeks!) and it's not harmful anyway, unless ignited, but the battery box isn't going to help you there.

 

EDIT:  That stuff about MX5 batteries causing rust is more down to rusty MX5s and their damp, unventilated boot. The very slight amount of acidity caused by an improperly vented battery was just like the straw that broke the camels back really. A battery in a draughty car isn't going to cause any issues.

EDIT 2: My own MX5 had a normal 063 battery in the boot for 5 years. The boot area was the only place that wasn't rusty!

I don't mean necessarily put it in a box, I would just make sure it's a vented battery and use a vent pipe. It's Paul's choice but that's what I would do personally. As you say it only really gasses when abused but if the alternator did start over charging I'd rather not find out when I opened the boot to check the battery and the boot light switch made a nice spark and ignited the hydrogen.