Battery in the boot?

[tony g]

Whos done it? Any preference in mounting position etc.
I want to keep the engine bay clean and Im putting an expansion bottle where the battery would normally live hence the relocation.
Any tips or pics appreciated

Tony

[cliftyhanger]

I thought about doing this, then changed my mind....typical really.
I would think it would have to go passenger side to avoid the spare wheel (I have a tolly, shorter boot so may not be an issue in a dolly?) plus it would be the opposite side to teh driver, better weight distribution I guess.

I was going to use some 200A cable, possibly thicker, and mount it very carefully. Possibly enclose sections in rubber hose for added protection, but only small bits as I wouldn't want it to retain too much heat. Just a few thoughts, others may have better ideas.

[cleverusername]

Why do it? You're creating a ton of work for yourself for no benefit. Moving the battery will have very little effect on the weight distribution, if anything I would have thought all that extra cable is simply something else to go wrong.

[sprint95m]

Im putting an expansion bottle where the battery would normally live hence the relocation.

I played with that idea briefly but quickly came to the conclusion that it was a bad idea because
ideally the expansion bottle needs to be as high as possible.
Siting it on the NS turret gives the height. Routing the hose around the back of the cylinder head is easy enough.


This is my solution using a Volvo 850 bottle.
Positioning it here means the low level sensor will be activated BEFORE the coolant drops in the engine.



Hope this is food for thought Tony.





Ian.

[Carledo]

I've put the battery, a much bigger (and cheaper) one than standard, in the boot of the Carledo.



But as you can clearly see, it doesn't permit space for a spare wheel as well. Since I never intended to carry a spare anyway (unnecessary weight) I'm not bothered.
The clever thing to do is to fit a tray in the centre, above the axle tunnel. this is the best of all possibilities, it doesn't take up any useful boot space, it doesn't affect the sideways balance of the car, it enables a bigger battery, lets you keep the spare wheel and does slightly improve the front/rear weight distribution. My local factors made me up a nice fat cable to my specified length with connections on each end to my spec for only a few pounds and I mounted it under the floor with plastic lined metal P clips and short self tappers.

Steve

[trackerjack]

I made a platform to sit the battery on when I moved it to the boot.

I needed more room for the air intake and the oil cooler plus the battery was a pathetic tiddly one and in the boot it was in a box.

Sorry no pictures and the car is just a little too far for me to get one.

[tony g]

Cheers guys. The centre mount in the bulkhead end of the boot sounds like a good solution to be able to keep the spare wheel. I can make a tray/box type thing to secure it so that easy enough.
I'll take the seats out and run some welding cable/battery cable to the N/s as suggested and fit a junction box down low on the inner wing to feed the starter from there.
Main reason is to make space and keep a neater engine bay, which I have a thing for lol. Some of the resto/ modded builds on here have forced me into making the engine bay nice

I did consider the Volvo expansion bottle on the n/s wing but my radiator choice (fiesta diesel) leads me to want to fit the bottle high on the o/s wing. I've got an Audi A4 bottle coming my way so I'll see how it lines up.
I have loads of pics to add into a mini resto thread but I'm very slow at getting round to these things so I'll do a pic thread when its nearly done

This all came about because of a run on / hiccup one day and now its turned into an engine rebuild and engine bay refurb .

Thanks for the suggestions

Tony

[Jon Tilson]

Mini's Rover P6's and Land Rover's are all good sources of nice long fat cables with the right ends.

Trip down the local knackers yards should turn up what you need. Its a good idea all round but you will need to rejig some wiring.

Jonners

[tony g]

Mini's Rover P6's and Land Rover's are all good sources of nice long fat cables with the right ends.

Trip down the local knackers yards should turn up what you need. Its a good idea all round but you will need to rejig some wiring.

Jonners

I have a big reel of proper cable and the sparkies at work have terminals and crimping gear so I'll make my own to suit. I'll add some new cable to the alternator too

Cheers

Tony

[tamtrucks]

rubber grommets for the holes you have to cut out,,,or big bang

[Carledo]

Expansion bottle high on o/s/f wing? This is my solution, courtesy of another Volvo, this one a 240!



Even the Volvo bracket works with a little discreet bending. Only downside is it doesn't have a level sensor, which I don't miss, my Vauxhall engine being a bit less sensitive to coolant level!

Steve

[sprint95m]

my radiator choice (fiesta diesel) leads me to want to fit the bottle high on the o/s wing.

Why? What about the air filter?


I did consider using a Ford radiator too but the top LH hose looked likely to be troublesome so I went for a Saab radiator instead.
You should retain the vent from the RH top of the radiator and use the thermostat housing's little tail to connect to the upper on the expansion
bottle.

It is not possible to get an Audi/Seat/VW expansion bottle to sit above an 1850 or Sprint engine on either wing. I have tried.
Also the capacity is small.
A fairly compact design is on a Rover 25.


Hope this is useful food for thought.



Ian.

[tony g]

Cheers ian, I havnt received the Audi bottle yet so I'll look into it when I have it here. Air filter should still have room but I'll check when I get it all together.

cheers

Tony

[tony g]

Just won a Volvo 240 bottle on e bay so waiting for that now Should sit within the strut tower area without encroaching on the air filter area. Audi one could have been used but was a bit too bulbous for my liking.

Tony

[sprint95m]

Just won a Volvo 240 bottle on e bay so waiting for that now Should sit within the strut tower area without encroaching on the air filter area. Audi one could have been used but was a bit too bulbous for my liking.

Tony

But.....as you can see from Steve's photo, the 240 bottle will be sited too low for a slant four if you put it on the OS inner wing,
for it to be truly effective it needs to be higher than the thermostat housing (high point of the engine), especially so given the low
location of the radiator. It is important to retain the radiator vent too.
(Yes I know you can have give in the bottle's hoses enabling you to bleed the system by raising the bottle, but that just seems
an unnecessary scutter for no real gain.)




Ian.