How-To: Relocating Battery to the Trunk

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:10

Posted from a fellow 6er in the forum.

Here is the battery in its stock location:

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:14

Battery removed.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:15

Battery tray removed.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:15

The location in the trunk which to place battery.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:17

All the battery parts laid out.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:20

Mounting the Battery is a little more involved so I'll detail some of that. First off I bought the Summit Racing battery relocation kit and an optima battery. The Summit kit is junk. The battery cables were good the rest is pretty useless. I got a bad feeling when the instruction said to use a piece of plywood so the battery sat at the right height in the box. I ended up just using the battery box and the power and ground cables. The battery box BTW is available at K-mart, Walmart, for ~$12. The rest I made myself. The hold down bracket is made from 2" wide fiberglass channel. If i had it to do over again I would have used aluminum. The fiberglass is a little more flimsy than I would like. Thats what I had handy though.

I ran the ground to the a bumper bolt that was only about 12" from the battery and inside the car so I didn't need to drill a hole for that wire. there is a lot of body sealer here so make sure to clean it well with a wire brush to get a good ground.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:23

The positive cable runs between the carpet and the tail lights to the drivers side then down into the wheel well. There is a large grommet there all ready for some wiring. I slit that grommet and ran my power through that. I then tied it up to the gas tank filler line then over the gas tank. It is important to go OVER the tank. It was a bit harder but keeps the wire away from the rear suspension arm. I then ran the wire along the bottom of the car with the fuel & brake lines. Once to the engine bay it was a clear shot to the starter. the positive wire with the kit just reached. if it was 5" shorter it would have been too short.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:23

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:24

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:24

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:25

At the old battery positive hook up I cut just the ring off of the terminal then heat shrunk over that to keep it from shorting(you can see the ring cut off below).

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:27

I used two 1/2"-13 threaded rods 10" long to anchor to the floor. I drilled two 1/2" holes 8" over from the edge of the spare tire cover. That puts the tie down right between the muffler and the frame rail so you can still get a socket on them. You can see in this pic how I laid a piece of masking tape on the carpet, marked the holes, then punched throught the carpet, then drill the holes.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:29

Then put a nut and washer at one end with a healthy dose of silicone to keep water out. Then slide the battery box with pre drill holes over the threaded rod.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:29

Next step was to spin a nut and washer down from the top to hold the battery box to the floor. The I put in the battery, tie down strap and nutted that all down. TADA all done. Total time to do this was ~4 hours.

**Ruubstr94Ls** · 12-21-03, 20:30

12-21-03, 20:10	#1 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	How-To: Relocating Battery to the Trunk Posted from a fellow 6er in the forum. Here is the battery in its stock location: Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 11-29-07 at 15:30.

12-21-03, 20:14	#2 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Battery removed. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 0:56.

12-21-03, 20:15	#3 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Battery tray removed. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 0:58.

12-21-03, 20:15	#4 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	The location in the trunk which to place battery. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 0:58.

12-21-03, 20:17	#5 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	All the battery parts laid out. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 0:59.

12-21-03, 20:20	#6 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Mounting the Battery is a little more involved so I'll detail some of that. First off I bought the Summit Racing battery relocation kit and an optima battery. The Summit kit is junk. The battery cables were good the rest is pretty useless. I got a bad feeling when the instruction said to use a piece of plywood so the battery sat at the right height in the box. I ended up just using the battery box and the power and ground cables. The battery box BTW is available at K-mart, Walmart, for ~$12. The rest I made myself. The hold down bracket is made from 2" wide fiberglass channel. If i had it to do over again I would have used aluminum. The fiberglass is a little more flimsy than I would like. Thats what I had handy though. I ran the ground to the a bumper bolt that was only about 12" from the battery and inside the car so I didn't need to drill a hole for that wire. there is a lot of body sealer here so make sure to clean it well with a wire brush to get a good ground. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 0:59.

12-21-03, 20:23	#7 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	The positive cable runs between the carpet and the tail lights to the drivers side then down into the wheel well. There is a large grommet there all ready for some wiring. I slit that grommet and ran my power through that. I then tied it up to the gas tank filler line then over the gas tank. It is important to go OVER the tank. It was a bit harder but keeps the wire away from the rear suspension arm. I then ran the wire along the bottom of the car with the fuel & brake lines. Once to the engine bay it was a clear shot to the starter. the positive wire with the kit just reached. if it was 5" shorter it would have been too short. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:00.

12-21-03, 20:23	#8 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:01.

12-21-03, 20:24	#9 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:01.

12-21-03, 20:24	#10 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:03.

12-21-03, 20:25	#11 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	At the old battery positive hook up I cut just the ring off of the terminal then heat shrunk over that to keep it from shorting(you can see the ring cut off below). Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 12-21-03 at 20:45.

12-21-03, 20:27	#12 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	I used two 1/2"-13 threaded rods 10" long to anchor to the floor. I drilled two 1/2" holes 8" over from the edge of the spare tire cover. That puts the tie down right between the muffler and the frame rail so you can still get a socket on them. You can see in this pic how I laid a piece of masking tape on the carpet, marked the holes, then punched throught the carpet, then drill the holes. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:05.

12-21-03, 20:29	#13 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Then put a nut and washer at one end with a healthy dose of silicone to keep water out. Then slide the battery box with pre drill holes over the threaded rod. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:05.

12-21-03, 20:29	#14 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Next step was to spin a nut and washer down from the top to hold the battery box to the floor. The I put in the battery, tie down strap and nutted that all down. TADA all done. Total time to do this was ~4 hours. Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:06.

12-21-03, 20:30	#15 (permalink)
Ruubstr94Ls Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Houston, TX, USA Age: 26 iTrader: (0)	Last edited by Ruubstr94Ls : 1-22-06 at 1:07.