DIY: Battery Relocation! S13 Coupe.

[onosqv]

My Reason:Ok, there's been lots of discussion on how/what to do when relocating batteries. These are spread among a gagillion threads & w/ no pictures or diy as I've seen. Soooo, I decided to take pics when I did it a few weeks back (everything still works, YAY!). Also, having it run inside the engine bay & a hole a I drilled w/ no grommet where it could spark and blow me up was not a fun idea - and thanks to everyone who told me it was an unsafe idea, hahaha.

Benefits:Obviously, for most ppl doing this mod: to run turbo piping. Also, better weight distribution, cleaner engine bay, etc.

Parts:1) Relocation Tray - from http://www.papajim.net - these are for the dry cell type batteries where you don't need a full enclosure, please use the correct kind if your battery is otherwise. I bought 4 m10 bolts w/ 4 m10 nuts, 1 m8 bolt & nut to hold this bad boy down to the chassis.

2) Wiring & Circuit Breakers - I'd like to thank John Gonzalez from Fusion Electronics for the wiring I requested even though he'd probably never find this forum - inadvertantly partially sponsoring my turbo project . I had a 0 gauge amp wiring kit - very flexible good stuff - about 10-15 feet - better to buy extra that you can cut. 140amp or 200amp circuit breakers depending on your toys. And several 0 gauge connectors. Also some wiring protection sheathing, electical tape, zip ties, etc.

3) Crimping Tools & cutting tools. I used a dremel w/ sanding disk to cut the wiring. Razor blade to cut the sheathing. Vise Grip, a tiny "hand press" that was used to hold in the dremel, and some punches and hammers for crimping. i.e. use your favorite method. I found that slipping the wire through the connector and "wrapping" some of it around the connector helped a lot w/ keeping it in place.

Preparation: Remove the battery.Take out the passenger side interior trim (makes it much easier, trust me). Or driver's side if you wish to do it this way - I will be referring to passenger side entire install because that's the way I chose to do it.Remove rear seats & trunk trim.Remove Fender.

Engine Bay:This is ONE way to do this, many other ways/configs. I hooked up the alternator & battery line on one side of the circuit breaker, and the accessories on the other side - this will allow me to isolate the electronics from the power sources.



Run Wire Along Fender:This part was done as part of the "rerun the stock harness above the chassis line w/ zip ties" thing you do to lower your car more and not eat through your harness. Makes for a super clean install - I don't know how this affects stock fenders, but my wide fenders fit it just dandy! May take you some pesuasion on stock fenders.



Slip Wire Through Stock Harness Hole:I cut up the stock harness grommet a bit w/ a tiny drill & screwdriver - it's tight so it will still keep most air out, hehe.



Slip it Down the Hole and Run by ECU:Some ppl have qualms with this (me being one of them) that it will affect the ECU by introducing noise. I have been running this for a month or so now w/ no problems. Also, I stuck it a little further away from the ECU just in case.



Run Wire into Door Jamb:There is a stock hole you can slip the wire into here. I used the protective sheathing to keep the wire from rubbing against the chassis and shorting out.



Pull Wire out the Other Side:Yup, more stock hole goodness.



Run Wire Along Rear Interior Trim by Rear Seat:You can use the stock holes yet again - hope you took out the trim like I said!



Run Wire in Trunk:Here is where more possibilities exist. Mine is done ONE way of a gagillion. I basically run the wire to a circuit breaker. The other side connects to the battery. The ground I used connects to a wire wheeled/sanded down part where the spare tire goes. I have lots of other stuff going on, so a spare tire isn't really usable anymore (plus I'm 5-lug & zbrakes).

The relocation tray itself is held down by 4 m10 bolts, 3 of which have nuts on them w/ blue thread sealer, 1 doesn't because of the place I drilled it, but helps keep everything stable. Because I'm paranoid, I also drilled a 2nd m8 bolt on the side of the tray through the fender area. The tray is directly behind the strut tower, and there is plenty of room to drill, just be careful about the fuel pump hoses, gas tank is a good few inches away .

The minimal requirement from the NHRA is 3 m8 bolts, just for reference.





You are DONE!:If you did it my way, it is now VERY easy to shut off power to your car to work on simple things - just power off the Circuit Breaker in the trunk.

Future Improvements:I plan on relocating the Engine Bay part higher up closer toward the coolant area for a cleaner, "safer" install, & allow me to run intercooler pipes easier.

Also, possibly adding a circuit breaker to the Negative side should help if a short (*knock on wood) happens. I'm not sure how much this will help, and I hope I never have to find out.

Hope that helps some ppl out there. Good LUCK!

[cdlong]

good stuff. what's all that crazy crap in your trunk?

any farther back pics? it looks a little different than when it left the MTV studios.

[jamied311]

yea... thanks for that write up... im gonna do that to my hatch(fastback) this weekend.

[9240sx]

Whats with all those wires in the trunk?

[onosqv]

I have more wiring than the average bear, lots and lots of electronics and gadjets . That's stripped down, too. No pictures of the entire car yet because it's not complete.

[Florida240sx]

Nice but don't understand all your wires in your trunk runnign from your circuit breaker.Although assume it's for all your amps,HU, fog lights etc/whatever? But what did you do with the stock ground in the engine bay? And how do you have your positive?To me it looks liek it is sittign in the tray..Which I thought is grounded.So unless you got somehting protecting that circuit......Circuit breakers are onyl there incase oyu get a voltage spike right?So that hopefully it'll fry the breaker before all your toys?

[onosqv]

Stock ground on Engine bay got grounded to the Chassis.

The trunk wiring is kind of "apart" and not everything is connected in there as you can tell.

The goodies/electronics have their own fuses, as you can see from the 2 fuse boxes above the circuit breaker.

The positive is not pictured at all. It is a separate terminal w/ 0 gauge wire that will connect from the battery to the C/B. The Ground will connect from the Battery to the Spare Tire spot.

As I said, this is not the absolute optimal setup, but works for what I want and for my purposes. There's a couple other wires not hooked up in my diagram, but I figured it wouldn't be important for you guys since we all run different electronics.

In any case, the C/B in the trunk allows me to isolate the battery from everything else. From there, I have to worry about the alternator & everything else, which there is a fuse block for.

Yes, circuit breakers are just very very large fuse which is resettable - i.e. no more replacing fuses every time something happens.

[dfw240_EE]

Some ppl have qualms with this (me being one of them) that it will affect the ECU by introducing noise. I have been running this for a month or so now w/ no problems. Also, I stuck it a little further away from the ECU just in case.

That is a DC line, so it Shouldn't introduce noise. However, you are right, with that much current there is no guarantee.

[slidingstill]

Hi I'm not very versed in using this site, I was wondering where the images are that you took of the setup? I can't seem to find any pictures you speak of. Thanks.

[costa_rican13]

Whats with all those wires in the trunk?

they're for his electric supercharger! and p/s pump! lol jk OP

[SketchyRollin564]

Hi I'm not very versed in using this site, I was wondering where the images are that you took of the setup? I can't seem to find any pictures you speak of. Thanks.

its an old a** thread from 5 years ago, so the pictures probably got deleted

but heres another one with some pictures
http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/low-bu ... ation.html