[mikesul]

Has anyone moved their battery to the trunk area? Any relocation "kits" available? I would like to open up space under the hood for more air to lower ambient temp. Would also lighten front end weight bias.

 

[cjhutch]

I had a kit from Summit installed in one of my old cars. Didn't take long at all and worked great.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/?keyword=battery relocation&dds=1

 

[pacotaco]

apprently you can get the box from walmart for 15 bucks but i will probably be doing this too

 

[Kandiru]

Oh c'mon that sooo Volvo

 

[pacotaco]

Oh c'mon that sooo Volvo

? why do you say thats so volvo?

 

[mikesul]

I had a kit from Summit installed in one of my old cars. Didn't take long at all and worked great.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/?keyword=battery relocation&dds=1

Thanks,
That's what I had in mind. Sure wish it would fit in the spare tire well, but it's too shallow.

 

[pacotaco]

the smartest place to put it would probably be the right side, and pop the storage cover inside out? thats where im thinking of placing it. you are going to need to drill though the bottom of the car and your going to have to drill your firewall to get the line through.

 

[9-3gotboostAERO]

If you have an auto, no need to drill as its already been done for you where the clutch would go. I was thinking the exact same thing as placement as pacotaco...

wow I really want to do this now but I've been saving up for the 18T turbo...
Decisions decisions

 

[pacotaco]

the only reason i never tapped that is because 1 it is too close to the downpipe for my boost line and 2 because im an idoit but. but i have alot of stuff to come in the future so ill be tappin it soon.

 

[Kandiru]

? why do you say thats so volvo?

Just for accuracy, the battery in my Volvo S60 R was to the rear-left side of the wheel well in the trunk.

Watch out because firefighters and towers have a DOT database with model specific battery disconnect instructions, you may be liable if one of them gets burned. Battery disconnect is usually the first thing for them to do on a non-burning car.

 

[pacotaco]

Just for accuracy, the battery in my Volvo S60 R was to the rear-left side of the wheel well in the trunk.

Watch out because firefighters and towers have a DOT database with model specific battery disconnect instructions, you may be liable if one of them gets burned. Battery disconnect is usually the first thing for them to do on a non-burning car.

i figured an inline battery power cut off might be nice my battery box is gonna be a container for my cryo2 tanks for my ic

 

[mikesul]

I measured the depth of the spare well and it is almost 9". The battery is almost 7" tall. The Summit kit with the 10.5" red battery box could be cut down to 8" and still fit in the spare wheel well. That's the way I'm going to go.

 

[pacotaco]

I measured the depth of the spare well and it is almost 9". The battery is almost 7" tall. The Summit kit with the 10.5" red battery box could be cut down to 8" and still fit in the spare wheel well. That's the way I'm going to go.

i would keep my spare but i guess you might not have one?

 

[mikesul]

Correct, no spare. Lots of room for the battery. I've decided to get a new Optima battery so there won't be any spillage/fumes and it's a little lighter.

 

[Nibiru]

Good Idea

I was thinking of doing this to as the car is front biased on weight. Please post a how to with pics when you decide to do this. I will follow suit..lol.

 

[macustoms]

As this sounds like a great idea has anyone actually compared the weight bio's?

I dont have the information at hand or the time to look into it but.... when I did this on my civic i did it to remove weight from the front and try to get closer to a 50/50 weight distribution. I would be interested in doing this but if and only if I or someone else had a chance to get the thing on a 4 way scale (1 for each tire to measure the difference in weight). Yes it frees up room in the engine bay but in a spot where really nothing is right? I dont know if its even worth it in our cars, I know we are front end heavy but we also have elctrical nightmares for cars. I just replaced my battery as I left my amplifier on one day and completely shot my old one. I thought about getting the optima but unfortunatly they do not make a euro fit for the front of the saab but you can get a universal for the trunk I suppose. Well best of luck with this hope it all works out fine, jsut a heads up the right side does sound best as the left side has all the amplifiers and everything on it.

 

[pacotaco]

seeing as our cars weigh like 3,100-3,700 lbs i dont think moving the battery will make that much of a weight balance difference. but i do know what im going to use that open space for, my cryo2 kit im going to put 1 or 2 20oz co2 bottles in there run the hose through the air duct and down to the intercooler .

 

[mikesul]

For me it's not the weight shifting that's setting me on this path. It's opening up room for more cooling air circulation under the hood. It is just too hot under there in my S FL climate.
I am also adding a small air/water intercooler for the turbo water that goes to the expansion tank. This will help keep radiator temps down some.
Will post pics when I am through.

 

[North Toronto Punter]

"Will post pics when I am through".

And part numbers please!

I've been on the Optima site (summitracing too)... I'm confused by the number of options (yellow top, red top... and the only Saab they listed was 9-7x...for an underhood swap, I guess ).

Understand these batteries are marginally heavier than 'conventional' [stock?]. But reducing the underhood temperature with a slight change in balance trumps any extra lbs as far as I'm concerned (despite not having a Florida sun to contend with!).

 

[mikesul]

I should have some pics by Friday.