Hey,
I'm thinking about moving my battery to the trunk and have two questions. 1) I'm planning on getting a trunk mount battery kit which one is best? Or, can I "build" one just as good myself? This is for a street driver. 2) Is there a best location to mount it? Any difference going for handling vs. acceleration?

You can Fabricate your own fairly cheaply using angle iron. I have used welding cable for the lines. Its cheaper than the kit.

Be careful drilling/punching holes through the trunk floor, the gas tank is real close to it. I just used a universal battery plate and hold down with a non-gassing Optima battery.

putting the battery in the trunk makes hardly any difference at all. except know you have battery cables running the full length of the car. Imho its not worth it

<font face="Arial,Verdana" size="2">putting the battery in the trunk makes hardly any difference at all.</font>It's a difference I'll take. Moving 40lbs (43lbs, actually) from in front of the front wheels, to behind the rear wheels on a nose-heavy car is not insignificant, IMO.

And, only the hot cable runs the length of the car.

Todd

If you're in a hurry, get the kit from Summit. If you want to get your own kit, do the following:

-battery box from Walmart - $10
-battery hold down kit - $10 max
-welding cable (used welder cable is cheaper). Need 20'. Also get 6 crimp on terminals (0/0 guage...if the welding place can crimp them on, ask if you can come back with the wire cut to length first). Maybe some heatshrink if you want.
-rubber grommets that fit the cable (radio shack, prolly $4)
-remote solenoid. You can get an actual 'FORD' namebrand, or a special one that's used as an isolator. The Summit one is ok and works, its what I have.

You'll need a ground strap from the block to the subframe, one from the battery to the rear subframe (unless you pull another full length from the battery to the block for the neg/ground).

Pretty simple install. Some run the cable UNDER the car, some inside it. Just depends on what you wanna do. http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/smile.gif

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73 LT 454 and a small touch of giggles....hee hee hee. More good parts are lining up the shelves.....
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84 4x4 Suburban 'rust bucket'

<font face="Arial,Verdana" size="2">You'll need a ground strap from the block to the subframe</font>It's a better idea to go to the firewall with the ground strap. The body is electrically common with the rear.

Make sure you ground to bare metal everywhere. And make sure you use a decent sized ground strap. I use a 4 gage piece.

Tom's use of the Optima non-gasser is a great idea, too. When my battery goes, I'm switching.

Todd

Thanks for the replies. The one about the non gas battery was really useful. Made me feel like a dolt because I would have been driving down the road sniffing HCl fumes. OK, I'm clear on what to do. Is it better for traction to put it over on the passenger side and is it better to have it nearer the seat or taillights.