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DIY: Battery relocation to trunk

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Old 04-27-2010, 07:44 PM
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You can get away with running just the power wire from the front to the trunk, and then just ground inside the trunk somewhere instead of running the whole way from the engine, just as long as the old grounds are grounded under the hood. The only thing I would be worried about is something hitting the wires under the car and shorting something out. Could you post some pics?
Old 04-27-2010, 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by syntheticdarkness
You can get away with running just the power wire from the front to the trunk, and then just ground inside the trunk somewhere instead of running the whole way from the engine, just as long as the old grounds are grounded under the hood. The only thing I would be worried about is something hitting the wires under the car and shorting something out. Could you post some pics?
Yes I know you don't have to run the negative cable all way but you can't go wrong with adding a better ground. I didn't run the ground wire for about a year and I noticed some of my sensor readings fluctuated more then normal. Once I added the new ground they were more stable. The wire only weighs 3Lbs and takes 10 extra minutes to run.

Serious under cariage damage would need to occure before damaging the wires at which point shorting out the wires would be the least of your worries. They are tucked up pretty well. I will get some pics up soon.
Old 04-27-2010, 08:44 PM
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Sounds good, can't wait to see your work.
Old 04-28-2010, 11:51 PM
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A few photos. The first one shows the wires being ran up to the starter and main block ground location. The second picture is where the tires enter the trunk floor.
Attached Thumbnails DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-101_0245.jpg   DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-101_0240.jpg  
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Old 04-29-2010, 10:19 PM
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Very tight, I like. There is one thing I would add to that if I did it, it would be a big piece of aluminum trim from lowes for about $10-20. I run over tons of big sticks since the trees where we live are always breaking, and I would wanna make sure that it wouldn't hit the wires, and rip them off etc.... Do you have more pics? Pretty good so far.
Old 04-29-2010, 10:32 PM
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HA! i've always wondered if there was any use for those two empty clips.
Old 04-30-2010, 11:42 PM
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Nice pictures and details guys..im planning on relocating my battery to the trunk very soon. I would like to keep my factory battery cable ends and terminals unmodified..what i have planned is to add a ring terminal to the factory battery terminals and taping them sealed..run the cables the same route as highway8.
Here is a picture of the general idea minus the battery in the picture (i will also run a fuse block in line with the power cable)


Btw: Highway8 do you have a picture of how your battery is mounted?
Old 05-03-2010, 08:35 AM
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why are there two 100amp fuse boxes? don't you just need one coming from the battery main positive in the trunk?
Old 05-03-2010, 08:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Highway8
A few photos. The first one shows the wires being ran up to the starter and main block ground location. The second picture is where the tires enter the trunk floor.
it looks clean, but think about it... you can scrape the area with something very sharp and puncture both the fuel line & the electric line.... i say do what the OP did or guard it with some thick gauge strips of steel or something.
Old 05-03-2010, 09:38 AM
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You can get away with only 1 100amp, but I'm over precautious when I do things. I put them at basically the ends of my wire I ran incase anything happens in the front/back that I can still get to it to cut power, or to jump the car if the battery goes dead lol.

I agree with the under the car method with getting hit being that it's beside a gas line, but as long as you put some kinda of anti-skid plate you should be fine. You can see in my video where I scraped https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-clutch-flywheel-removal-install-video-196478/, and to me I believe I would've hit the wires with that one. There are just some roads where you can't avoid scraping.
Old 08-14-2010, 07:07 AM
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Originally Posted by JantzenRX-8
HA! i've always wondered if there was any use for those two empty clips.
Nitrous and methanol?
Old 08-14-2010, 11:24 AM
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Originally Posted by syntheticdarkness
I agree with the under the car method with getting hit being that it's beside a gas line, but as long as you put some kinda of anti-skid plate you should be fine. You can see in my video where I scraped https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=196478, and to me I believe I would've hit the wires with that one. There are just some roads where you can't avoid scraping.
On really high speed bumps, I scrape but I only scrape the exhaust. The cables are atleast 2-3 inches above the exhaust. In order to scrape the wires there would be body damage. Remember they are in the same location as the fuel lines, which would not be put in a vulnerable location. Lets say by some freak accident you do scrape the power wire, the insulation is pretty thick and not likely to cut all the way through.



Originally Posted by Rote8
Nitrous and methanol?
Thats what zip ties are for. I have my positive cable in the clips but the negitive is only zip tied. When I add a water/meth kit to my trunk zip ties should do the trick.
Old 08-14-2010, 01:21 PM
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I see what your saying. I'm just saying for where I live we sometimes have rocks that fall on the road, or some nice road kill, and mufflers lol, and just don't wanna worry bout stuff like that, plus my nitrous line takes up that spot . If I would've ran it that way, I'd probably be the first person that messed my car up with my luck .

It's still a nice way, don't get me wrong, but like you said the possibility is low since you don't hear anything about people who cut there line running over an object on the road, but there is still that very very small percent, and yes I'm a very paranoid person lol.
Old 08-14-2010, 01:26 PM
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Up to a 2X 2Ga fits in the door sill area...why run it under the car ??

FWIW..I ran high quality 4GA coated wire...and have had zero problems...even with a smallish AGM battery
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Old 08-14-2010, 01:38 PM
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Routing it all on the right side for weight balancing without cutting any holes was especially fun ....
Old 08-14-2010, 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by TeamRX8
Routing it all on the right side for weight balancing without cutting any holes was especially fun ....
Now THAT'S ****... awesome man.
Old 08-14-2010, 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by TeamRX8
Routing it all on the right side for weight balancing without cutting any holes was especially fun ....

What's wrong with a few stinking holes

You autocross guys have too many rules
Old 08-14-2010, 04:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Kane
Now THAT'S ****... awesome man.

Every effort was made to offset the 190 pound retard strapped in on the left side ....
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Old 08-14-2010, 05:09 PM
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Originally Posted by TeamRX8
Every effort was made to offset the 190 pound retard strapped in on the left side ....
My car has a 200LBS loose nut behind the wheel. Trying to modify it to the 180lb version i used to have.
Old 11-20-2010, 06:10 PM
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Well I have finally completed my battery relocation. I also modified the firewall for my K&N typhoon intake. I fabricated a new support from sheet metal to replace the firewall supplied by K&N. The radiator is now totally unrestricted. Much more air flow. The car seems to be running about 5 - 10 degrees cooler than before the relocation. Here are some pics of the final results.

Last edited by terch1; 05-10-2011 at 02:35 PM.
Old 11-25-2010, 07:44 PM
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Here's my battery relocation
custom battery box
0 ga positive and negative wires routed under car
custom battery box lid

sorry for the picture quality taken with my cell phone
Attached Thumbnails DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-battery1.jpg   DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-battery2.jpg   DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-battery3.jpg   DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-battery4.jpg  
Old 11-25-2010, 07:54 PM
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Under the car? I don't think I will understand that one. Although I didn't totally relocate mine, I have one odyssey pc680 under the hood and a kinetik KHC600 that I ran to the trunk. I ran 2g through the car, applied the proper fuses and grouded the kinetik in the trunk. I don't have to worry about a dead battery.
Old 12-04-2010, 01:47 PM
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ON

here are the pics.
keep in mind, my power supply from the rear looks a bit sloppy. I am planning on a CAI sometime in the spring and I want to route it underneath, and would rather not be short.
two because sometimes one tiny battery is risky at 5am in -35C
plus, my lights don't dim with the bass anymore.
Attached Thumbnails DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-frontbatt.jpg   DIY: Battery relocation to trunk-rearbatt.jpg  
Old 12-26-2010, 08:27 PM
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Hey guys.

I'm in the process of moving my battery to the trunk and installing a cut off switch. I'm still hung up on proper fuse use. I like how Terch1 did it but is that just a single fuse? I was thinking multiple were needed but i'm clueless when it comes to this stuff. I'm using 2 ga cable and i want as clean/streamline as possible. If i need multiple fuses i'd like to use a fused distribution block like seikx8 did in post #64 but if i only need one i would like to do what Terch1 did.

And after i figure out what i'm doing where do i buy this stuff? It seems like i cant find one single place that sells everything need (right gauge, fuse size etc). I find myself finding connectors/terminals at one place, fuses at another and distribution blocks at another. It's frustrating.
Old 12-26-2010, 08:53 PM
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Use a 150 amp or so breaker as near the battery as possible...then run the line to the front...I chose along the passenger side rail...you can easily get a 2 GA + in there...and run it up under the passenger kick panel into the engine compartment if you put a small hole behind the washer bottle..get a rubber grommett , and some heat shrinkand it will be good.

I personally would run a -ve back to the battery as well..but that is just me...lots of potential to use under the car to the starter area and the block instead of inside the car

You need to fuse any auxillary feeds that aren't fused by the OEM wiring...so if you go from a fuse block somewhere in the front to each aux power you will be good

I used a shutoff switch as a connector from the big wire to the OEM wiring in the front..it makes an easy way to shut off the power from under the hood
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