Lightweight Battery Install
Objective:
The stock battery was designed to start the car only. It was not meant to be completely drained by running your car stereo with the engine off. It was not designed to support a continuous current draw. Therefore, being the car audio aficionado I am, it was time to ditch the battery. The move was mostly for car audio. I had an Optima in my last car. Great battery for car stereo applications. Faster discharge /recharge than stock. The battery however, is just massive. In order to compliment my system with the optima, the use of caps would still be needed. That would add more unnecessary weight to the car. The stock battery weighs in at 35.4 lbs. The Optima battery weighs in at 40.0 pounds. I was able to find a lightweight battery that acted as a capacitor and battery. That battery is the Batcap 800. This battery only weighs in at 10.8 pounds. Almost 25 pounds lighter than stock. The battery has 800CCA and is rechargeable as well.
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12mm Socket |
Ring terminal Crimpers or Soldering iron Wire/Cable cutters |
Step 1: Remove stock battery
The first step you should do is find the desired location for your gauge. My install location was on top of the steering column. Yours may be wherever you desire. I chose to make my own gauge pod out of PVC. Reasons: Cheap and smaller footprint than the OTC ones. I used double sided tape to mount the pod to the steering column cover. Next locate a place to route your vacuum from the engine bay to your boost gauge. I chose to drill a hole in the firewall. If you are able to locate an existing grommet that has room for your line, by all means, use that. Care must be taken when drilling through the firewall. Check both sides of the firewall before drilling. Identify a part already coming through firewall and use that as your reference of where to drill. I chose to drill near the throttle cable. Easy to get to with a drill and not a whole lot of activity near the location.
Screw/bolt Locations for removing battery
Screw/bolt Locations
for removing battery tray
Close-up of studs
Step 2: Modifying stock battery tray
Place new battery on removed tray to mark mounting locations for tie downs. The stock rods will be used for the new battery. Due to the size of the new battery, their locations will change. To accommodate that, 2 1/4 holes were drilled into tray on both sides of battery. The distance used in these holes will be the same needed for the new tie bar made in the next step. Insert stock rods from bottom and reinstall battery tray. I would recommend putting the nuts back on the rods to keep them from falling out until we are ready to mount the battery.
Step 3: Fabrication of new battery tie down
Battery Tie bar Cut
Battery Tie bar Rounded
Battery Tie bar drilled
Step 4: Terminating battery cables
Battery mounted in its final position
Close-up of newly installed battery