Battery relocation

I think a vented box is required and you can get a cheap kit from Summit. I'm going to be doing this as well, but want something that looks nicer than the cheap kit.

Are you building it with track use in mind where you have to meet NHRA rules or just as a general relocation for a street car? I did my relocation on the cheap using junkyard cables from cars with factory rear mounted batteries(Lincoln LS) and simply modified the stock battery tray. Positive runs from the battery to starter then starter to fuse box and negative is bolted to a convenient grounding bolt right by the new location. I use an AGM battery so I don’t see the need for a ventilated box or firewall and I didn’t wire up a kill switch so it’s not exactly tech legal. But I wanted a trunk mounted battery and its benefits and I got it,

Either way I see no need to have the fuse/relay panels relocated to the back unless you’re rewiring from scratch.

It's not a dedicated track car but it may see one from time to time and I don't want something like this to be grounds to get tossed. I've already got plenty of 2/0 welding cable for this. I plan to pull from the stock underhood box (if it stays in factory place, idk) to a 300a ANL then thru the car to another 300a ANL fuse and then to the battery. I would pull to the starter from the back, but the firewall hole from my previous car audio install is drilled on the driver side so I'll just go that route.

I'm going to also upgrade the fuel pump wiring to 10ga and add a relay/fuse for that and I figured right by the bettery in the trunk would make sense versus somewhere up front.

Did you route down the pass side, and go thru the firewall there?
EDIT: I guess the starter is just on the other side of the floor there.

Mine will cross over at the back seat and go thru the driver's side firewall to the main box. I'll go from the underhood box to the starter with 2/0.

I'm trying to figure out a good place to mount the fuses and relay. I'll also have the audio wiring for a monoblock and 4 channel. The subwoofer box takes the entire height up to the deck and leaves about 2" of width between the shocks. Maybe I should use something like THIS.

when did the quality dip happen? I’m on my second red top from 2018 and it’s still strong. The prices are stupid though

I have always heard Optimas they took a quality dive when they starting making them in Mexico. Quick Google looks like that was 2007.
Personally I had a yellow top I bought in 2010 last better part of a Decade.

It's hard to see but there are 2 bolts that go through grommets through the floor

XR7-4.6 said:

when did the quality dip happen? I’m on my second red top from 2018 and it’s still strong. The prices are stupid though

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Quality became hit or miss when the company was sold and production moved to Mexico years ago. Prices went up at the same time.

XR7-4.6 said:

when did the quality dip happen? I’m on my second red top from 2018 and it’s still strong. The prices are stupid though

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I quit buying them years ago. Right when they got sold off. The price started going up and the quality down.

Ditto. I used to run them in everything. They were really great batteries in the early 2000’s.

I also wanted to shove my battery in the back. I have zero gauge amplifier cable already running to the back there, all I wanted to use was a curcit breaker next to the battery and ground it somewhere gloss to the frame rail. I have distribution post to connect the original battery cables up front to the new power cables running back. I have these

My opinion. Do not put the battery in the trunk unless its for a front end weight reduction drag car.
Plus for a drag car you need a battery cut off switch, and it gets complicated if your alternator still works.

I put it in the trunk to take weight out of the nose for corner carving.

If it were a drag car I wouldn't put it in the trunk, the NHRA rules are too draconian and stupid to bother following

It going in the trunk because the turbo will live (roughly) in it's place up front. It's not a dedicated drag car - may never see a drag strip honestly. This is more of a fun driver that I may shoot around at an auto-x event every now-and-then or whatever. I'm not putting in a rear firewall for sure. I hadn't planned on a cut-off either. I had an alternator built and it benched at 277+ amps so I'm good there also.

97 30th said:

I quit buying them years ago. Right when they got sold off. The price started going up and the quality down.

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racecougar said:

Ditto. I used to run them in everything. They were really great batteries in the early 2000’s.

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So I’ve been using the sucky ones all this time? 😆

FWIW I got my first in 2010, the first one got discharged to probably 9ish volts during the prolonged engine swap and it soldiered on for about 6 months thereafter until it went totally kaput in summer 2018. Current one has been good(knock on wood) so I might be lucky.

Honestly i’d probably have moved back to a lead/acid in a vented custom box if not for mounting the tray a little too tight into the trunk corner where the rounded edges of the Optima just barely clear the black trim piece, I just didn’t have time to reconfigure all that. You guys may have lit a fire under my butt to make that a new project.