Moving the battery from the engine to the trunk is something that almost all the Corvair racers do to give at little better balance to the car. Moving 20 pounds of battery off the rear axle and placing it on the front axle helps that 40/60 front/rear weight ratio take a little step toward the more desirable 50/50. For those of us who mostly use our cars to drive to and fro, it gives the added advantage of getting the battery out of the hot engine compartment and hopefully added a year or two to the life of the battery. Years ago I had a voltage regulator problem that I could never solve and there were times when my system was over-charging and the battery was bubbling wonderful smelling fumes. No so bad in the summer but in the winter with the heater blasting away it was very unhealthy, to say the least. Now I don't have to worry!! Well, with a new internal regulated alternator that problem was long ago solved, but still..... Here's an example of a late model coupe.

A Group 51 AGM (absorbtion glass mat) battery was used for this late model application. It fits nicely between the wheel well and the headlight bucket on the right-hand side of the trunk, A bracket was fabricated from 1"X1" aluminum angle and, at least for now, a bungee cord holds the battery down. As you can see, virtually no truck space is used up. Batteries Plus fabricated the positive battery cable from #1 welding cable with really nice crimped ends and measures about 13 feet in length. I didn't weigh anything but I figure the weight saved by going from a smaller battery makes up for the extra weight of the cable. The negative cable is just a standard unit from the auto parts store that is bolted to the subframe below the battery.

The positive cable is routed through a hole drilled in the rear of the trunk floor and snaked down between the gas tank and the "subframe". A nice rubber grommet is used where the cable goes through the floor. The cable then runs on the inside edge of the pinch weld on the right-hand side of the car. This protects the cable pretty well and keeps it out of site. Lots of clamps were used to keep the cable from wandering around.

Extra ground straps were added between the body and the engine. These were purchased at the auto parts store and are about three times wider than the stock ground straps normally used. A #10 wire was run from the battery cable lug on the starter to the "little red thingy" in the engine compartment to provide power for rest of the electrical system.

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