Putting the battery in the hatch of your car, who has done it?

FESTER665

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Okay, so as some of you know I'm going to be smoothing the engine bay on my car this winter and think that I'll be best served to put the battery in the hatch of the car instead of leaving it under the hood of a nicely smoothed out engine bay.

So I'm been doing a bunch of digging around on the subject and of course because photobucket sucks ass a TON of pictures are now no longer available.

What Ive read so far has people doing it two ways, routing the power wire up to the solenoid up front or putting the solenoid in the rear of the car. The thought process behind putting the solenoid in the rear is that the wire that's hot all the time is then short going from the battery to the solenoid.

I plan on using wire I get from work though which is made for locomotives (I'm thinking 1/0 wire with a 2000v insulation on it) which I would think I'd be fine leaving "hot" all the time going to the solenoid up front. Would I be okay to route this inside the car, or would everyone say the best way is to leave it outside the car?

I know I have to use a sealed battery box that is vented to atmosphere, but other than that I see a million people doing it a bunch of different ways.

I also think I need to put in an on/off switch which I definitely want to hide behind the plate in back, and then if needed at a track or something I can take the plate off.

There has to be some items in the car though that should remain hot at all times, so I'm assuming those just get wired to the hot side of the disconnect switch?

Any issue with electronics with the switch turning on and off?

Finally, what can I do to make sure it's safe like if I get rear ended or something? A fuse or circuit breaker inline in case it shorts out or something like that?
 

RICH17

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Threw battery in the back of the Lumina and used a car audio ANL fuse right by the battery to kill any hot power in case something happened.


Somewthing cool on [MENTION=391]jbigalow[/MENTION] 's car is that he has a push in battery cut off switch just behind the plate and the plate is mounted on a hinge. So push it the plate and it kills power. But its not visible at all.
 

FESTER665

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Threw battery in the back of the Lumina and used a car audio ANL fuse right by the battery to kill any hot power in case something happened.


Somewthing cool on @jbigalow 's car is that he has a push in battery cut off switch just behind the plate and the plate is mounted on a hinge. So push it the plate and it kills power. But its not visible at all.

That was my plan.....

He's right in Streamwood too isnt he? Maybe I should go take a look and see how he did everything....
 

Intel

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Does the kill switch need to meet any form of rules? Most people put in kill switches incorrectly to where the car can keep on running off the alternator if you kill it at higher rpm. I am in a meeting but will find my links/writeup for a kill switch.

The other concern is the surge wrecking your electronics which the nicer ones resolve that with a large resistor on one of the legs.

Could go to a sealed lightweight battery to save some weight and not deal with acid flying around.

Mount that box better then you think as they will tear out a weak floorboard pretty quick in a crash.
 

FESTER665

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Was just thinking a plain 'ol rotary switch behind the plate:

710-74108.jpg
 

Bob Kazamakis

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Fords have a separate starter solenoid right? I’d put it by the battery. You’d save weight as well. 1/0 wire is heavy shit (as you know). I plan on using remote studs under the hood on my Buick to make wiring up accessories and everything easier too. Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009SCSXVO/?tag=tcg21-20
 

FESTER665

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Fords have a separate starter solenoid right? I’d put it by the battery. You’d save weight as well. 1/0 wire is heavy shit (as you know). I plan on using remote studs under the hood on my Buick to make wiring up accessories and everything easier too. Something like this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009SCSXVO/?tag=tcg21-20

Yeah, the solenoid looks like this and is usually on the fender apron under the hood:

pic5.jpg


When most people smooth their engine bays, they simply flip it to the other side under the fender to hide it so all the wires still reach it...
maxresdefault.jpg


So even if I put the solenoid in back, I would need to extend all the other wires going to it, and still run a 1/0 from it to the starter so there's no real savings in wire weight, I guess some people think it's just safer because the wire going from the battery to the solenoid is shorter so the wire thats always hot is shorter.
 

Mr. SBF

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I put my switch is behind the license plate as I didn't want people to be able mess with me by turn it off if I was somewhere with the car. I just used spacers as seen in the picture and longer bolts. Which allows you to be able to reach behind and turn the on/off. While running at the track I keep the plate off in case something happened would be easy for anyone to spot the switch and turn it off plus less hassle with tech. I run 1/0 wire inside under/along the interior quarter panel hot to the solenoid up front which is hidden under the frame rail.
 

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FESTER665

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I put my switch is behind the license plate as I didn't want people to be able mess with me by turn it off if I was somewhere with the car. I just used spacers as seen in the picture and longer bolts. Which allows you to be able to reach behind and turn the on/off. While running at the track I keep the plate off in case something happened would be easy for anyone to spot the switch and turn it off plus less hassle with tech. I run 1/0 wire inside under/along the interior quarter panel hot to the solenoid up front which is hidden under the frame rail.

PERFECT.

Any breakers or fuses anywhere to protect from a short or anything?

Also, do you need the sealed box vented to atmosphere if you have a sealed battery like an Optima?
 

Mr. SBF

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I like the solenoid under the frame rail because I use it to run my timing light off of it and it is much easier to just go under the car(well actually I know the car so well I can just do it from the engine bay) vs. going up into the fender like pictured above but both are good solutions for cleaning up the cluttered wiring.
 

Mr. SBF

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PERFECT.

Any breakers or fuses anywhere to protect from a short or anything?

Also, do you need the sealed box vented to atmosphere if you have a sealed battery like an Optima?

No fuses in between there but for everything else I run electrically I have fuses for each. Actually double fuses with how I ran my on/off switches for everything. I run Optima yellow top you need to have sealed box or tech will make you run a hatch separation/partitions panel thingy because it's a hatch. My ven't tube is useless I put it there to please tech. They Don't check it hardcore and a lot of times I leave the battery box cover off during tech and when racing they've never said anything at GLD or Byron.
 

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Mr. SBF

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Bolt/rivet in Engine bay panels I made for the green one vs. Filling and welding. Turned out well and was way less work... :rofl: Other picture is one of my other foxes that I filled the holes and welded in new metal in at the firewall on the passenger side where the heater box was for a cleaner look and fender aprons and ect. It is definitely time consuming doing it that way... I have another fox that's halfway done just like the last picture that I will finish over winter.

Got that fancy chrome Meziere waterpump that will be for sale soon as I will be going to a remote water pump/motor plate to be able to run my fancy Danny Bee belt drive :pimp: and my Aeromotive sumped tank is for sale to go to a fuel cell... if anyones interested.
 

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