engine and drivetrain Trunk battery relocation questions

[golfyellowrob]

Alright so, I have searched high and low for a super clear directions on how to route the cables and I understand it for the most part except for the specifics. I run the pos. cable from trunk to drivers engine bay and to the.... And what goes on between the alt and starter? What do I have to ground? Besides the bat in the trunk? I am extremely electricity challenged!

Thanks for any help, I'm really trying to figure this out. Also, there is a small wire plugged into the underside of my intake, and an other wire that comes from the same area and goes towards the starter. Does that hook up to anything? Or are there just 2 hookups to the starter?

Thanks.

Rob

[golfyellowrob]

That is a picture of the loose wire

[harry6422]

Hi Rob, I just finished my battery relocation on my 75 restoration, I f you can send me your email address I will try and get some pictures taken in the next couple of days and send them. I used a E30 battery cable ,fire wall junction box and junction box to starter cable .

Harry

[TimSullivan]

Battery, Alternator and you should have another red wire that came off the battery for feed to fuse box. All of those should go on starter. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

[TimSullivan]

Battery, Alternator and you should have another red wire that came off the battery for feed to fuse box. All of those should go on starter. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

[bnam]

Battery+ive to starter solenoid.

Battery -ive to a ground location in the trunk -- you'll need to make one

Engine block (near the the bracket that is in front of the starter) to the ground point that is next to the relays on the driver side inner fender.

There should be a red wire that connects from starter solenoid to the alternator.

There should be another red wire that connects from the same location on the alternator to the wiring harness.

In my car I have yet another that runs from this location to the Air con relay on the pass side fender.

There should be a ground wire between the alternator and the engine block at the alternator mount.

Byas

Alright so, I have searched high and low for a super clear directions on how to route the cables and I understand it for the most part except for the specifics. I run the pos. cable from trunk to drivers engine bay and to the.... And what goes on between the alt and starter? What do I have to ground? Besides the bat in the trunk? I am extremely electricity challenged!

Thanks for any help, I'm really trying to figure this out. Also, there is a small wire plugged into the underside of my intake, and an other wire that comes from the same area and goes towards the starter. Does that hook up to anything? Or are there just 2 hookups to the starter?

Thanks.

Rob

[BillWilliams]

Ensure you size your ground wires correctly.

[68Roundie]

still a little unsure myself. I'm not going to try it until I get my truck back on the road, just in case I really screw something up.

[M3M3]

think simple.....the pos wire from the battery in the trunk goes to....the same place the positive wire from the battery in the eng compt went to....duplicate what you had and all will be fine.

you are just changing the location of the bat, not the wiring.

[Paul7002]

I agree with my fellow Virginian - just duplicate what you already have in terms of what wires go where.

I will offer suggestion that you go to your local welding supply house for big honkin cables. The welding cable is heavy yet supple - much more flexible than most battery cable stuff I've seen. See if they have some cable ends/lugs they can sell you too.

Also, the seat belt boss in the middle behind the rear seat makes a good ground location

[austinmf]

Did you run the wire inside the car or underneath?

[eugene_'02]

I ran mine inside along the passenger side where the OE fuel feed was since I am in the process of switching to EFI and ran two hardlines under the car for fuel. I used a 0g cable because I had it from a parts car, TEP sells their kits with 4g cable which is what I'll be using on the turbo car. That stuff is fairly inexpensive at $1.80/ft, 0g is a lot more. I ran mine to a bulkhead connecter which I put next to the heater box so I have a direct connection to the battery from inside the car for accessories. In the engine bay, the other side of the bulkhead connecter goes to a distribution block to make adding accessories easier.

To the OP, I have an E30 battery cable FS, the only thing missing is 1" off the battery side. All you'd need is one of those $3 universal battery cable ends. $10 for it if you want it.

[austinmf]

where and how did you do the ground? great idea on the fuel line!

What are you doing EFI?

[eugene_'02]

I haven't done the ground yet, but it will be bolted to the trunk floor, probably the same bolt as my battery tie down so I don't have to drill another hole.

I'm doing MSII, the car is a few weeks at least from running. I just started the wiring and basically am rebuilding the car from the ground up so it's not just a MS conversion. Unfortunately my project blog disappeared along with my old username(manimal). Hopefully steve can find it.

[mike472]

I haven't done the ground yet, but it will be bolted to the trunk floor, probably the same bolt as my battery tie down so I don't have to drill another hole.

I'm doing MSII, the car is a few weeks at least from running. I just started the wiring and basically am rebuilding the car from the ground up so it's not just a MS conversion. Unfortunately my project blog disappeared along with my old username(manimal). Hopefully steve can find it.

Manimal,

I have an MS3 setup with two Odyssey PC680 batteries under the passenger side rear seat. A stock E30 battery cable setup will reach from here all the way up to the sheet metal next to the radiator. I used an unused knockout originally meant for A/C hose in the passenger footwell and ran my battery cable along the tunnel side away from the fuel line which I am now using as a return. I terminated it with a nice little distribution block that is actually a battery clamp made with four taps that will take a 1/0, a 4 gauge and 2 #8 gauge wires. It has a nice plastic cover that goes over it to prevent shorts and an LED voltage readout when the key is on. The Megamanual suggests using a 12 volt source as close to the battery as possible to eliminate possible noise interference with some of the sensors from the alternator. The E30 harness is nice because it has a seperate power wire that is ideal to use as a power source for your MS ECU. It runs the length of the battery cable keeping your power source far away from the alternator. In the picture I have the battery cable going through the unused hole in the firewall and I had to punch an 1 1/4" hole next to it for the MS cable and MAP tube. You can find a lot of useful wiring products on wiringproducts.com with a few nice choices for terminal block and fuse panels for extra circuits. I thought this one was nice since it clamps right on the the E30 battery cable termination. I just cut the clamp off the starter cable an used the #4 connector on the clamp. The others will take your the rest of your extra circuits. I was able to use each #8 screw terminal for two #14 sized wires. I used the 1/0 wire terminal for the alternator wire and the starter cable leaving me 3 extra terminals. I used one for the Hi beams and another for my Driving lights. If you use this type of distribution block, tin your wire ends with solder. It makes for a better connection with screw terminals giving the screw something to dig into instead of squashing the wire strands flat. I am using one of the seatbelt bolts in the floor under the rear seat for a ground with a #4 cable after properly grinding the metal clean.

http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d234_power_distribution_blocks.html

Mike Katsoris