engine and drivetrain I would like it if more than 1 person answered this Question

[Guest Anonymous]

Why do so many people wish to relocate their battery to the trunk of their car? Is it so their is more room in the engine bay???

[cowlum]

I did it to create more space, redistrabute weight and I like the look.

[gpetrus]

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With an s14 there is no room for it.

[robspeed]

I did it to create more space, redistrabute weight and I like the look.

i did it for the first and second reasons....

[Inka]

I did it because I was trying to impress chicks.

[m20ohtwo]

Most cars are nose heavy. Relocating the heavy battery helps traction and promotes more balanced handling. Most engine swaps (M20 and S14) require it for space reasons.

[TMK-001]

I did it because I was trying to impress chicks.

Me too. I relocated mine to under the seat - Zenon style! - so then I dont lose any boot space either! I am ill and the ladies they all "OMG! That car is soooo cool! But where is the battery!?!"

Muhahaha. I guess they will never know. (well unless they read this, then they will be on to me...)

[Guest Anonymous]

Lets take the 02 onto a set of virtual scales and see how this effects the weight and handling of the car. We take our avg lead acid 40lb battery and our avg 2200lb car. if we have 53% front weight with 47 % rear. That works out to be 1166lbs on the front wheels and 1034lbs on the rear wheels. By moving 40lbs from the front to the back. We redistribute the weight of the car. We now have 1126lbs up front and 1074lbs rear. 51.8% front and 48.2% rear. A 1.2% shift in weight balance. The Negative is that you have to add about 10-20lbs of relocating equipment to the car so there's a fire hazzard (stringing 0-4 gauge wire is never fun espically if it dead shorts along the way) and you have the problem of our fragile gastanks in roundies and the possiblity of a battery comming loose right around a gas tank in the event of a rear end collision. That is unless you buy that expensive battery box holder instead of the cheap plastic one.

I personally think a lightweight battery such as a hawker or braile auto is a better investment. When buying a relocating kit it works out to be the same price approximately. You shave 40-50lbs (battery+ relocating kit weight) off the car. Now you don't get as good of a weight balance as before. Only .7% shift this time but you also don't get any of the fire hazzard or any of the safety issues and you gain all the room. So dropping weight + better weight balance + safer = always good combo

[Guest Anonymous]

Greetings,

I haven't relocated my battery, but if I did other reasons for so doing would be to situate an oil cooler along the radiator support and improve airflow over the same. Many people also appreciate slightly better access to the oil filter afforded by relocation of battery. The weight distribution arguement has already been offered up. Hope this helps...

M.K.

[RIMSPOKE]

I DIDN'T RELOCATE MINE ! WELL I DID SORT OF .

MY 2002 WAS A '74 tii . IT IS NOW A ti SPEC CAR WITH DUAL SIDEDRAUGHTS AND A MODIFIED 2000cs AIRCAN .

SINCE I HAVE THE HUGE 4 OUTLET AIRCAN UNDER THE HOOD , IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER TO PUT THE BATTERY IN THE TRUNK BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO LOOSE THE TRUNK SPACE .

I RELOCATED MY BATTERY STRAIGHT DOWN .

IT IS SITTING ON THE FRAME RAIL THAT USED TO HOLD THE

BUMPER SHOCK FOR THE '74 SAFETY BUMPER .

( I HAVE ALSO CONVERTED THE CAR TO EURO STYLE BUMPERS BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY )

THERE IS LITTLE MORE THAN 1/4" CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE TOP OF

THE BATTERY AND THE BOTTOM OF THE AIRCAN BUT IT FITS .

[c.d.iesel]

weight/balance

ease of motor service

batt. not exposed to vibration and heat

stays warmer in the insulated trunk during winter

and Martha says "it's a good thang"

[MichaelP]

To add to Old Guy's comments about weight distribution, there's also the concept of 'polar moment.' Think back to high school physics, the ball on a string, centripetal force and inertia.

Now, think about where the battery is: ahead of the front wheels. That battery is a 40 pound ball on the end of a string. Newton's first law of motion says that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

So, for your 02 vis-a-vis your hood mounted battery, this means: imagine you're driving straight ahead and then you turn the wheel suddenly. The weight of the front of the car resists turning and wants to keep moving in a straight line (ball on a string). Then while you're in the turn, you straighten the wheel in an attempt to go straight ahead. Again, the weight of the front end (transferred to the tires) will resist changing direction. This is Newton's First Law applied. Your turning the wheel is the 'unbalanced force' that is acting upon the character of the car's motion.

The object in the car's handling is to reduce the resistance to changing direction, which is accomplished by balancing the weight to all 4 wheels as close to the center of the car as possible. This is why mid-engine cars handle so well. But we don't have a mid-engine car.

In fact, we have a car with a 40 pound battery as far away from the center of the car as it could possibly be, out in front of the front wheels. This is Bad. Imagine (hypothetically) if we nailed the battery to a end of 12 foot long 2x12 and then screwed that to the nose of the 02. Then, picture what would happen if, travelling at 60 mph, you turned the wheel hard. Assuming the 40 pound battery didn't snap off the 2x12, it would act as a huge pendulum, transferring tremendous resistance (exponential to its 40 lbs, actually) to the wheels to prevent the front end from turning. This resistance is called Polar Moment.

Now imagine that effect on a smaller scale, as it is in your 02. It suggests that getting that lead ballast out of the nose of your car would reduce its polar moment and thus resistance to unbalanced forces acting on it (like turning). Therefore, moving that weight closer to the center of the car, such as over the rear wheels, would improve its handling.

And the chicks dig it, too.

If you're still with me, read Old Guy's post again.

[Paul7002]

3) All the cool kids are doing it

[meyekel]

especially if you have a tii. Ever try and change the oil filter on a tii? a simple 3 minute job turns into an afternoon project.

[brad_c-ville_VA]

well, since Michael and oldguy already gave the physics lecture...i'm going to agree with meyekel and say it makes oil changin' a breeze on an already easy to change engine.