I got my front battery mounting kit from West Coast Fiero last fall, but hadn't bothered installing it over the winter since my Batmobile lives outside for right now.

The kit contains a heavy duty aluminum battery box (with mounting holes already pre-drilled), battery hold down clamp, box mounting hardware (bolts, self-locking nuts, and washers), a plastic tray (that sits in the bottom of the box), and a page of instructions. Here's what I did.

Step 1: Removed the jack and spare tire, then I scattered all my tools around. Oh boy, we get to drag out a saber saw and a 3/8" electric drill. Jacked up the front of the car and used a pair of jack stands. You have to crawl underneath to tighten up the battery box bolts and nuts. Took a pic of the mess.

Step 2: I carefully measured the plastic spare tire well and marked where I needed to cut out the rectangle hole. I discover that a brake line runs on the outside of the well, right where I need to cut. I unclip the brake line and reroute it out of the way. Two brake line hold-down brackets are riveted right where I need to cut (see pic). I have to drill the rivets out and relocate the brackets.

Step 3: I cut a hole with the saber saw and then fit the battery box into the 9-1/2" by 10-1/2" hole (see pic). Everything look good, so I drilled the bolt holes, and bolted the box to the spare tire well. Unfortunately, I ran out of daylight, so I will finish the battery relocation project tomorrow and I will also continue this tech report tomorrow after the job is done.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 05-25-2000).]

batboy, that first picture has me laughing my butt off. I saw the kitty and "sharp gravel"... you're a riot. What are you feeding that cat? Diet time!

I have thought of doing this as well. What has to be done with the brake lines? Do they need to be fastened to the battery box?

[This message has been edited by SCCA FIERO (edited 03-05-2000).]

My nosy cat likes to "help" and for us shade-tree mechanics who have to work out on the gravel driveway, using a piece of old carpet to lay on smooths off some of those pointy rocks. I live in the region that's called the Flint Hills. Trust me, some of those rocks would make good arrowheads.

Yeah, there's enough slack in the brake line that you can carefully reroute it around the back of the box. I drilled four 1/8" holes and pop riveted the two brackets back on. The brake line is out of the way and looks good the way it's running now.

Now if I could just teach Grizzly Kitty to hold the wrench on the topside while I turned a rachet underneath, I'd have it made. I'll finish up the project later today and take a couple more pics.

Cute One Bats,,,,,

Is that the box that puts the battery terminals facing the radiator? If it is make sure you grease them up good. put a little grease into the terminal holes as well. The terminals are going to take allot of dirty/salty water directly on them.

You might even want to consider making some plastic flaps that could hang down over them to deflect the heavy stuff away.

You want to look at the size of the terminal holes carfully as well. Some of the pictures I've seen of a couple of these boxes could be pretty easy to short out. It depends partly on just what battery terminals are on the cables.

The great Batmobile battery relocation adventure, take two! As the great wise Ogre predicted, I shorted the battery trying to put the spare back in. The cable terminals needed to be turned so that they weren't sticking out so much. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I left off last night by just getting the box bolted in, well, except one last bolt. It took the better part of 20 minutes to get the nut started this morning, because it was tucked up behind the steering stabilizer where you can't reach or get a socket into. Finally success.

Step 4: I set an extra battery down into the box and clamped it in using the handy dandy hold down bracket. Then I mocked up some battery cables and took another pic. NOTE: don't position the battery cable terminals like the way I have in the photo. Nope, bad idea!

WARNING! THIS PIC SHOWS THE WRONG STYLE BATTERY

SCCA-Fiero-Dude was asking about the brake line. Here is a pic of what the underneath looks like. See how I rerouted the brake line. A guy could of done it several different ways, but this was fast and easy. The camera angle is bad, but there's more clearance than it appears.

Step 5: I decided to do a trial fit of the spare tire and jack to make sure everything fit ok. Oops, the spare wouldn't go back in. I figured out the battery hold-down stud and clamp were the culprits. I removed this for now and will have to modify it later in order for it to fit correctly. Now the spare slid right in. ZAP! CRACKLE! SPARKS! The spare's steel rim shorted across the battery terminals. I rearranged the terminals, no more fireworks, whew! {wrong battery} I may add some rubber battery terminal protectors like I see on some Japanese cars. Once everything is back together, you can't even tell the battery's under there.

Step 6: This is what I need to do yet to finish the job (other than modifying the battrey hold-down). I'm going to run a 2 gauge welding wire positive battery cable to the starter. This next part might be overkill, but I'm running two 2 gauge negative cables, a long one to the engine block and a short one to the frame. I'm also going to run a fused hot wire from the positive for my sub amp, which I put off wiring up until now because I knew I was moving the battery eventually.

I'm sure glad to get that clunky ol' battery out of the back trunk. It'll be a slight hassle getting to the battery with it being under the spare tire, but it was a hassle even in the factory location under the vent. Not a simple project, but not overly hard either.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 05-25-2000).]

Batboy, looking good man.
Here is a dusty pick of what I did:

I removed the spare tire, welded in some cross beams and laid in some sheet metal.
Then installed an extra five gallon fuel cell. I made a battery tray out of angle iron.
And the sunroof can still fit in its usual location.

batboy--Glad you said something about using the wrong style of battery. I was gonna say something about that. Tell me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the holes in the front of the box/tray match up with the side posts of the battery? (Assuming you use the correct battery ) I figured that this way all of the wires would be neatly tucked away, plus you could get to the terminals (without removing the spare tire) if you needed them.

Spyder, no fair with the fuel cell. My goal was to retain the spare tire and jack. Without the spare, you got lots of room.

Yep, Monkey's right. If you guys look at the third pic, see the large holes in the upper back part of the box. I'm going to get a little bit of vacuum line, split it with a knife and use it as a grommet around the holes. With a side post battery, you can jump start it from the radiator side without having to pull the spare tire out. Cool! I wasn't thinking about it being designed for a side post battery, great idea. Wish I could take credit!

I still have to work out the problem with the hold-down clamp not letting the spare tire slide past it. I've got a couple ideas that might work.

Wow! I've been getting lots of emails from people following my progress. I think it's a worthy mod to do, especially with an engine swap, it's almost mandatory. I'll have close to $150 into the project, but I'm sure it can be done much cheaper. It appears that once you have the idea how to do this mod, a handy man could fabricate some if not all of this setup.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 03-05-2000).]

Bats,

10-14AWG wire is more than enough from the battery to the frame. The original lead is only 16 or 18AWG I think.

Big wire to the block and starter tho are very sound ideas.

I forget what year yours is at the moment. You also need to work out what to do with the thin + lead from the old bat harness. That lead is what runs the whole car in everything but 84. I think I'd run the big lead directly to the starter, and run some high temp jacketed 10-12 gauge wire up to the original thin lead off the battery. The thing to keep in mind is that that thin lead is a fuse link in most years. You Cannot shorten or splice it. If you must alter it you will likely have to replace it.

I wasn't sure just which box you have. some put the terminals under the tire some and put terminals thru the box to the front. I like the latter method least.

The teminals to the front are handy for jumping but the risk of a fire with them is very high if they are not done well. I've yet to see a front terminal box done well.

I've been trying to decide if I wanted to do this. Thanks for posting all your info. It's helped me decide that if I do this I'll likely design my own box, or at the very least make major changes to one I buy.

Ogre, the car is a 85 and I believe the harness junction is on the right side of the engine compartment. This 350 engine is wired like the typical small block Chevy with HEI and a carb, so I was going to run the positive cable to the starter and then run another wire from there up to the main hot wire. Good point about getting a high temp wire for that job. Another good point about choosing the correct side post terminal. With the right terminals, it should work fine as long as there is enough clearance between the terminals and the box and if the battery is mounted firmly in place.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 03-05-2000).]

I like the front mount battery idea too. I see that V-8 Archie has a fibreglas box that he uses and sells. What has held me back on doing this alteration is I don't have any information about whether there needs to be any venting considerations, and is there a danger of corrosion to any of the metal parts in the trunk? An answer to these would help in my decision.

There is very little metal in the front trunk. The spare tire well is completely made of plastic and already has a drain hole in the bottom. The battery box has two large holes for the cables to pass through, so it's vented too. A person could use one of those sealed Optima batteries if you are really concerned with fumes. If done properly, it should work just fine. Several of the Fiero guys and racers have been running front batteries for years.

batboy, that looks really good! moving the battery to the front must balance the weight to the front a little more. moving the battery is a project I'd like to do someday, but I can't imagine someone with a sabersaw cutting away on my baby! I'd probably have a heart attack!!! Any chance you could fly to SC and install it for me? I'd give you a place to stay, I'd even let you drive the turbo!!!!

When it comes to cutting, you measure twice, took a deep breath, and cut once. Those plastic spare tire wells are easy to come by if you do mess one up, or decide at a later date to restore it back to stock. Every parts car has them and almost nobody ever needs one because they don't normally get damaged. Send me a plane ticket via batmail and I'm on my way to SC. Have saber saw, will travel!

I mostly have to agree with Bats, especially if you use a glass box. Very little venting goes on in modern batteries. I'm not entirely sure why but it's allot less. Even in normal "sealed" wet ones. Now you can also get fully sealed jellies that vent even less yet.

If you are worried about venting then remove the rear section of the seal from the top of the front compartment. That should be more than enough.

As for corosion, the acid must get in contact with the oblect it corodes. If it was spraying all over then the whole ass end of the car would be gone. The only way it could posibly ever spray is if the battery is in major trouble.

turbo86se--If you're worried about cutting into your baby, maybe you should buy another part and cut into that. (I know how you feel.) BTW--I have the part you need (just don't tell me that you're gonna cut into it.)

I ordered a pair of heavy duty side post battery terminators, a pair of 2-gauge interlock power rings (for the main cables), and a pair of 8-gauge interlock power rings (one for the amp power cable and the other for a chassis ground) from Crutchfield. Maybe all these Streetwire brand gold terminals and connectors are over-kill, but I want to make sure this setup will work during adverse conditions and will last a long time.

Wow!,great topic,a future "must have" for my car I know.The pictures here take at least a day or two off the time required to complete the project,I always start out by just staring at the situation/parts involved before planning anything.
Let us know how the car handles/rides after this too.

I too have plans to put my battery in the front, and found these posts of great interest. Not only does it put the weight up front where it's needed, but the old plastic battery insulator can be removed to greatly increase the air flow through the right vent!
So far I have found a low profile battery, only 7" total height, with the top terminals sunk below the top of the battery. I've made up a cardboard 'box' replica of the battery so I can move it around easily. I plan to remove the windshield washer bottle and hopefully fit the battery in its place against the right fender. If this all works out, I shall retain my jack and spare, and only have to relocate the washer bottle (which could be any size and fit anywhere in front).
Any one done this?
Also, no one has mentioned how they got the wires to the rear. Under the floor pan (any danger of shorts/fires from this?
Or snake it through the console?
Any idea's
Thanks, DD

I'm running my main battery cables underneath and along side the A/C freon lines. I need to find some of that plastic flexible automotive wire conduit to run the wires through to protect them from the elements.

Ogre said I didn't need a 2 gauge wire to the frame, so I'm running an 8 gauge frame ground instead. I'm sending another 8 gauge wire off the positive terminal that will be fused and provide power for the Rockford-Fosgate sub amp. The two main cables going to the engine block and to the starter will be 2 gauge welding wire. Hope that's clear as mud.

Bat
When I ran the wires for my power winch for my boat trailer I used a length of garden hose worked fine.

Bat's,

I don't know what terminals you are using for the side terminals, but they must be insulated.

They can't be the simple replacement ends that are held on with a couple 7/16 bolts or a screwin compression fitting. If you use those and the battery comes loose even a little bit you'll blow a large hole in the aluminum box.

If you have to use a non insulated terminal make a couple insulator "washers" to go around the battery openings. make them out of some inner tube or low density polyethelene (The stuff they make the lids for deli and soft butter containers out of.) The LDPE will hold up better, and it's usually clearish in color so it will blend in with the aluminum and not look bad.

Ogre's absolutely right about insulating the box cable holes in some manner. If those battery terminals ever come into contact with that aluminum box, there will be big trouble. Maybe that fiberglass V8 Archie's battery kit isn't a bad idea after all. Thanks for looking out for us Ogre.

I ordered all my terminal stuff from Crutchfield, because I got tired of not finding anything decent locally. Here is what I ordered for side post terminator adaptors. I'm hoping these will extend into the radiator compartment a little more than some of the others terminals. A standard side post cable terminal will not work.

Then these power rings bolt to the above terminators. Each of the two battery terminals will have a 2-gauge wire and a 8-gauge wire attached using these power rings. The power rings shown in the pic are the set screw type, I actually ordered the more expensive inter-lock style which are supposed to secure the wire better and have more contact area.

I used a battery relocation kit from Summit, and then used the parts that were needed.
I ran my wire through the front firewall and then through the center console and out the rear firewall. I used silicon caulk to keep it in its place.

With those terminals you should have enough clearance to grommit the holes with some of the plastic stuff used in the electronics industry for grommiting odd shaped holes. looks kind of like the plastic door edge trim that clips on, but it's made for easier bending.

I'd definatly make some sort of washer as well. Id also wrap the finished terminal with self sealing rubber tape, not electrical tape. The self seal will keep water and about everything else out of the eye's attachment to the cables.

I had some questions about my front battery box install, so I reposted the pics.

$150 is way too much for me to spend right now, but who did you buy the box from? I'd like to have the terminals facing in (I'll leave the spare in the garage as I plan to install my amp and CD changer up front). I figured I could get a battery box much, much cheaper. (Shows what I know. ) BB, any chance you could either post or email the dimensions of the box? This way I can go to my local fabricators and see what they would charge.

I would like to have the dimesnions as well. $150 seems a bit steep for my pocketbook but I have a neighbor who does a lot of aluminum work who I might convice to make me one if I can get the dimensions....

A while back, Phil sold me some map pockets dirt cheap. In return, I promised him the all the data on the box. I keep forgetting to photocopy the instruction sheet and he was waiting for his check, so I sent my original to him. I'm sure Phil will be happy to share copies with you if asked. Otherwise, I can get my tape out and measure a few things for you. I agree, you can do this thing much much cheaper than I did. I didn't want to think and to do a lot of fabricating, although it turns out I did have to do a little engineering after all. Plan on spending lots of time on this mod if you're doing it from scratch, but it shouldn't be that tough to actually do.