Battery Relocation how-to, need input/polishing
Jul 14, 2004, 09:47 PM
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Battery Relocation how-to, need input/polishing
Alright, bare with me as this is my first writeup.
Park the car, preferably in the shade, and open the hood and trunk. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes because you're going to have your hands right next to the IC piping, engine, and transmission. After it's cooled down, it should look something like this, except with less dirt.
Start by removing the negative lead from the battery with a 10mm wrench, then do the same
for the positive lead. Now loosen the 2 nuts on the battery tie-down until about and half inch of rod is showing. You should be able to push down and remove the hooks from the stock battery tray, leaving you with this:
I believe, if memory serves, that the bolt closest to the firewall is a 10mm, the bottom 2 are 14mm, as are the ones that anchor them against the wheelwell directly under the power distribution block. Now remove the stock plastic tray and put it aside. You will see 2 yellowish brackets anchored to several wiring looms under it. I forgot to take a picture of this, but basically you press down on the clasp, then lift up. There was one that was a bit more difficult, as it was a round pin, so a friend comes in handy in times like this. Same thing, push the pin down, and slide the bracket up, and it slides off. You should be left with this:
Next comes the fun part, tearing apart your interior. Start off by opening your glove box, on the upper left hand corner, there is a rectangular plastic peice, remove it by pushing it towards you, and it should snap off. On your right hand side, push the glovebox in, releasing the catch. The glove box needs to be put nearly upside down to remove it from the hinges, but it should just slide off. Put it off to the side. Now look a bit down and to your left, at the bottom "kicker" panel. There is a plastic knob in the upper furthest corner, remove it and put it aside. Now on the passenger side doorframe, on the bottom, simple grab the plastic strip in the middle, where it meets the carpet, and lift up. It's held on by 4 plastic push-in clips. Groan in dismay as you realize one or two stayed in the car, but we'll get to that later. It should look like this, except no wire yet.
Now remove the passenger "kicker" panel by pulling it towards the right side, and set it asside. Now the middle panel's a bit harder to do the first time. Open the back passenger door and let's get started.:
Grab it at the bottom, and lift while pushing it towards the seat. Kind of like "peeling" it off. Once you've worked your way to the top, simply push it towards the back of the car, and remove it, taking care not to hit the seatbelt mechanisms. Put it aside and and remove the backseat by pulling the 2 release handles. They are located at the "middle" of each seat. Put seat aside. Now remove the rear middle plastic on the doorsill the same way.
YAY, isn't this fun? Now back to the hard parts :/
Go back to the engine compartment, and on the furthest passenger side you should see this:
Push the grommet IN, and try to have someone catch it, as there are many wiring looms for it to get caught on. Once you have the grommet in your hand, use a razor blade to start "digging" a hole in the middle. I ended up using 2 gauge welding wire, because I had some laying around (from my welder, who generously decided to give up a few feet of it's grounding wire in the name of this writeup). Don't completely hollow out the grommet, you want it so tight you think you won't be able to get it on, put the grommet aside. Now on to the wiring part. :P
This is the part I forgot to take pictures of. I went to autozone at this time, and bought 2 terminals that have a "crimp" on them to take raw wire. Here's a pic of them installed..
I also bought 2 2gauge copper lugs, the kind you crimp on and they have a hoop on top, someone please tell me their name? I used a razor blade to cut off 3/4" off the top of the welding wire, and twisted it tight, then slipped on the lug. Now here's the creative part.
I don't own a crimper that can handle 2 gauge wire, so I used the next best thing, 2 punches and a 3-pound beater. I used a pointed 1/8" diameter punch, and a 1" wide flat punch. I started with the flat punch, and punched maybe 1/8" from the very back of the lug, where the tip of the wire would be, then worked my way back. Once it's securely on there, put 2 or 3 relatively deep 1/8" pointed punches along the body to make sure it's on there.
Do NOT strip the other side yet. Slide the grommet on the crimped side, flat side facing the crimp. Push the wire through the hole we uncovered on the passenger side firewall, it's a pain to do, but once you get it on the other side far enough in you can grab it, it goes in well. Feed it down completely under the dash, along the doorsills, BETWEEN the seatbelt anchor and the part you grab, then next to the rear doorsill, then on the back seat. Leave it there. Now you have to guesstimate how much wire you still want inside the engine compartment. I left just enough that it's not under pressure, as seen here:
Pull the wire from the inside, and when the grommet hits, it should be tight enough to sit itself in the hole with no outside intervention. Ziptie the cable to the strut bar, routing it to the drivers side. Now locate the stock positive battery terminal. It's a 12mm 6point nut. After some tugging, I was able to remove it by holding it in one hand, and using the wrench in the other, but I'd guestimate the braking-loose torque at about 40ft/lb, which is kind of hard to do when you have no leverage holding the damn thing in your hand. If you can't do it, put the battery back in, slide it on the terminal, break the bolt loose, then take the battery back out. Now completely remove the nut, there are 2 wires bolted to the underside, and the battery terminal which holds the bolt in place. Here comes the fun part, powertools! I used a set of vice grips to hold the terminal in place, and used my trusty 4.5" angle grinder with a cut-off disk to slice it in half. I'm sure it would be easy to remove the bolt with pliers, but we're men (mostly), and showering myself in sparks of molten metal makes me feel tingly down there. *cough*
Get the bolt, watch out, it's pretty hot... wuss... and head back to the car. Put the bolt through the first 2 terminals, then to the pretty 2 gauge terminal, and tighten it down. It should look like this:
The reason I kept the stock terminal was due to the fact it has a 100A (I think) fuse from the battery to the alternator.
Notice the sexy bolt :brows:
Your engine compartment should now look like this, minus the dirt
Back to routing the wire:
Push the end through about 2-3 inches, then go to the trunk..
Almost there! yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyy. *regains composure*
Place the battery where you see fit, I decided to put it on the corrugated part of the trunk with just enough room to lift the spare tire cardboardholderthingy off without any problem. Grab the stock battery hold down and j-hooks and put them on the battery. Put a dab of hot-glue on the j-hooks and push them against the trunk.. done..
wait..
Notice where the hooks sit, and mark their locations. I ended up using a 1/4" drillbit for the final hole, but did a pilot hole with a 1/8". I DID end up having to widen up the holes a bit, but it's easy to do by rotating the drill in the hole at an angle. Where I ended up drilling, so happens I hit the middle of a crossbeam on the unibody, but the other is in plain sight, as seen here:
Why it's important to start with a pilot bit:
Park the car, preferably in the shade, and open the hood and trunk. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes because you're going to have your hands right next to the IC piping, engine, and transmission. After it's cooled down, it should look something like this, except with less dirt.
Start by removing the negative lead from the battery with a 10mm wrench, then do the same
for the positive lead. Now loosen the 2 nuts on the battery tie-down until about and half inch of rod is showing. You should be able to push down and remove the hooks from the stock battery tray, leaving you with this:
I believe, if memory serves, that the bolt closest to the firewall is a 10mm, the bottom 2 are 14mm, as are the ones that anchor them against the wheelwell directly under the power distribution block. Now remove the stock plastic tray and put it aside. You will see 2 yellowish brackets anchored to several wiring looms under it. I forgot to take a picture of this, but basically you press down on the clasp, then lift up. There was one that was a bit more difficult, as it was a round pin, so a friend comes in handy in times like this. Same thing, push the pin down, and slide the bracket up, and it slides off. You should be left with this:
Next comes the fun part, tearing apart your interior. Start off by opening your glove box, on the upper left hand corner, there is a rectangular plastic peice, remove it by pushing it towards you, and it should snap off. On your right hand side, push the glovebox in, releasing the catch. The glove box needs to be put nearly upside down to remove it from the hinges, but it should just slide off. Put it off to the side. Now look a bit down and to your left, at the bottom "kicker" panel. There is a plastic knob in the upper furthest corner, remove it and put it aside. Now on the passenger side doorframe, on the bottom, simple grab the plastic strip in the middle, where it meets the carpet, and lift up. It's held on by 4 plastic push-in clips. Groan in dismay as you realize one or two stayed in the car, but we'll get to that later. It should look like this, except no wire yet.
Now remove the passenger "kicker" panel by pulling it towards the right side, and set it asside. Now the middle panel's a bit harder to do the first time. Open the back passenger door and let's get started.:
Grab it at the bottom, and lift while pushing it towards the seat. Kind of like "peeling" it off. Once you've worked your way to the top, simply push it towards the back of the car, and remove it, taking care not to hit the seatbelt mechanisms. Put it aside and and remove the backseat by pulling the 2 release handles. They are located at the "middle" of each seat. Put seat aside. Now remove the rear middle plastic on the doorsill the same way.
YAY, isn't this fun? Now back to the hard parts :/
Go back to the engine compartment, and on the furthest passenger side you should see this:
Push the grommet IN, and try to have someone catch it, as there are many wiring looms for it to get caught on. Once you have the grommet in your hand, use a razor blade to start "digging" a hole in the middle. I ended up using 2 gauge welding wire, because I had some laying around (from my welder, who generously decided to give up a few feet of it's grounding wire in the name of this writeup). Don't completely hollow out the grommet, you want it so tight you think you won't be able to get it on, put the grommet aside. Now on to the wiring part. :P
This is the part I forgot to take pictures of. I went to autozone at this time, and bought 2 terminals that have a "crimp" on them to take raw wire. Here's a pic of them installed..
I also bought 2 2gauge copper lugs, the kind you crimp on and they have a hoop on top, someone please tell me their name? I used a razor blade to cut off 3/4" off the top of the welding wire, and twisted it tight, then slipped on the lug. Now here's the creative part.
I don't own a crimper that can handle 2 gauge wire, so I used the next best thing, 2 punches and a 3-pound beater. I used a pointed 1/8" diameter punch, and a 1" wide flat punch. I started with the flat punch, and punched maybe 1/8" from the very back of the lug, where the tip of the wire would be, then worked my way back. Once it's securely on there, put 2 or 3 relatively deep 1/8" pointed punches along the body to make sure it's on there.
Do NOT strip the other side yet. Slide the grommet on the crimped side, flat side facing the crimp. Push the wire through the hole we uncovered on the passenger side firewall, it's a pain to do, but once you get it on the other side far enough in you can grab it, it goes in well. Feed it down completely under the dash, along the doorsills, BETWEEN the seatbelt anchor and the part you grab, then next to the rear doorsill, then on the back seat. Leave it there. Now you have to guesstimate how much wire you still want inside the engine compartment. I left just enough that it's not under pressure, as seen here:
Pull the wire from the inside, and when the grommet hits, it should be tight enough to sit itself in the hole with no outside intervention. Ziptie the cable to the strut bar, routing it to the drivers side. Now locate the stock positive battery terminal. It's a 12mm 6point nut. After some tugging, I was able to remove it by holding it in one hand, and using the wrench in the other, but I'd guestimate the braking-loose torque at about 40ft/lb, which is kind of hard to do when you have no leverage holding the damn thing in your hand. If you can't do it, put the battery back in, slide it on the terminal, break the bolt loose, then take the battery back out. Now completely remove the nut, there are 2 wires bolted to the underside, and the battery terminal which holds the bolt in place. Here comes the fun part, powertools! I used a set of vice grips to hold the terminal in place, and used my trusty 4.5" angle grinder with a cut-off disk to slice it in half. I'm sure it would be easy to remove the bolt with pliers, but we're men (mostly), and showering myself in sparks of molten metal makes me feel tingly down there. *cough*
Get the bolt, watch out, it's pretty hot... wuss... and head back to the car. Put the bolt through the first 2 terminals, then to the pretty 2 gauge terminal, and tighten it down. It should look like this:
The reason I kept the stock terminal was due to the fact it has a 100A (I think) fuse from the battery to the alternator.
Notice the sexy bolt :brows:
Your engine compartment should now look like this, minus the dirt
Back to routing the wire:
Push the end through about 2-3 inches, then go to the trunk..
Almost there! yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyy. *regains composure*
Place the battery where you see fit, I decided to put it on the corrugated part of the trunk with just enough room to lift the spare tire cardboardholderthingy off without any problem. Grab the stock battery hold down and j-hooks and put them on the battery. Put a dab of hot-glue on the j-hooks and push them against the trunk.. done..
wait..
Notice where the hooks sit, and mark their locations. I ended up using a 1/4" drillbit for the final hole, but did a pilot hole with a 1/8". I DID end up having to widen up the holes a bit, but it's easy to do by rotating the drill in the hole at an angle. Where I ended up drilling, so happens I hit the middle of a crossbeam on the unibody, but the other is in plain sight, as seen here:
Why it's important to start with a pilot bit:
Last edited by areet; Oct 18, 2004 at 06:47 PM.
Jul 14, 2004, 09:50 PM
#2
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I forgot to mention, when I did this, total cost was $11.02 , muhahaha.
I'll finish the writeup tommorow, lemme know what you guys think.
I'll finish the writeup tommorow, lemme know what you guys think.
Last edited by areet; Jul 26, 2004 at 02:06 PM.
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Oct 18, 2004, 04:23 PM
#12
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I just got a new host and am trying to repost it, but for some reason when I edit my post I can't see the links to the pictures, i.e., img]http://www.path.to/pictures/picture.jpg[/img
It would be alot easier to edit the post that way, anyone know how to view the post including text formatting?
It would be alot easier to edit the post that way, anyone know how to view the post including text formatting?
.
