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Trunk Battery Relocation

9K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  foxcat55 
#1 ·
I have my parts (thanks to Mrs. Claus).
Some of you have expressed interest in seeing this project from start to finish.
I have laid in my wires from rear to front in a rough manner. This is a 20' 1/0 cable and a 20' 4 gauge cable. You can see where my fire extinguisher was and where the new battery will go.
Note that my mentor for this is Roger and it will be close to his 55 install.
Note that my wife ordered black 1/0 cable instead of red for the positive cable.
I will just put red shrink wrap at the ends for that. I bought the cable from All Battery and the battery came from Amazon.
Stay tuned.
John
 

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#4 ·
Looking good John. Nice to see it coming along.

Is your positive cable vinyl battery cable or is it the rubber welding cable?

Mine was welding cable and I bought some 3M red electrical tape and covered the entire length of the cable. It was already red but I wanted to keep protect the rubber from the elements with the vinyl tape. Might have been overkill but I thought it would give it better longevity.
 
#8 ·
You still might consider wrapping it with the 3M red electrical tape but not for the entire length like I did. Maybe the last couple of feet on each end though just for color. Then maybe short stripes in between.
Overkill probably. I'm anal about my wiring though.
 
#12 ·
I'm happy so far with the vinyl wrapped cable. Of course, at this point, I just have laid it along the right frame rail on the way to the starter solenoid.
When I actually start clamping it, I may change my mind.
My plan is to run the 1/0 cable and the 4 gauge cable together down the rail with Adel clamps. I also have a fuel line there with an electric fuel pump about half way down the rail.
Lets see how it goes. It appears very flexible. I know that some guys have run the cable inside the rail but that looks like too much trouble.
John
 
#14 · (Edited)
Fish tape.

I know that some guys have run the cable inside the rail but that looks like too much trouble.
John
Surprisingly, our in-frame rail install went well with the sheathed AWG#1. We used a fish tape from the back bumper area, inside the box frame opening. Of course the tape stopped at a couple of spots along the way, but using long screwdrivers thru nearby factory access holes we were able to free it and get it all the way forward, exiting a hole in the inner frame wall near the starter. When pulling the cable rearward with the fish tape it stopped at the transmission area. We pulled back out and lubed the cable. Electricians use pulling lube, but I put Lubri-Plate on about the first foot of cable and it went thru with a little coaxing. Some may need to pull back-to-front for success. I suspect inside the rail a couple of passages might be triangular in shape instead of wide open.

Agreed, the cable isn't fastened down whilst resting inside the frame rail, but it certainly is protected from trauma.

Inside the driver's side framerail we ran AN -08 braided fuel hose from near the fuel tank to the steering box area. We were thinking crashworthy.
 
#13 ·
I agree. I want the wire where I can see it and know that it's clamped well.
 
#15 ·
Relocation Part 2

Nice day today, so I got into my trunk battery relocate project.
Basically, I put terminal ends on my 1/0 and 4 gauge cable, added plastic cable covering and routed them in. I attached the starter solenoid end. Next is to mount the Blue Sea hub up front and connect the 4 gauge to it.
John
 

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#16 ·
Nice job!!!
 
#20 ·
The Blue Sea Safety Hub 150 is a really nice piece. I put on in my Bel Air when they were still very new to the market.
I recently did a bunch of upgrades on the factory wiring in my '83 El Camino and added one to it.
 
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