battery relocation

["Neil Cotie (EED)" <Neil.Cotie@domain.elided>]

Hi all,
Ian asked about battery relocation.
A few notes from my experience on my 74 GTV (bertone):

With generous assistance (in the form of a pattern) from Paul Garossino I copied an OEM battery mount for the Bertones with air conditioning.  The weld-in mount installs in the right hand side of the trunk up against the fender, with the lip overhanging the spare tyre well.  The mount has a welded-on nut to secure a ground cable, on the rear side of the mount.  The battery is secured to the mount using the stock angle and threaded steel rods. 

While "scavenging" a GTV carcass with factory air conditioning perhaps ten years ago, I noted that the factory solution was to route the positive cable (I suspect there was no full-length ground cable) as follows:
	- from the starter terminal down the firewall, following the route of the hard fuel lines, using dedicated metal tabs, until the rear seat area,
	- into the passenger cabin via the floor pan of the right hand side rear seat bottom.  There's a round hole with two flat sides which is normally sealed off with a rubber grommet.  The cable came through that hole with a rubber grommet sealing the hole.
	- underneath the seat cushion, the cable then went over to the inboard side of the rear wheel well. It went up the angle that is formed by the wheel well and the flat rear bulkhead, and through the quarter-circle opening that leads into the trunk, then to the battery.

I chose NOT to follow this route because of the lack of dedicated tabs under the car.  Instead of taking the cable out of the car via the bottom of the rear seat, the cables continue inside the car (under the carpets and in slots in the sound-deadening material) until the front firewall.  Then they go out through the front firewall, above the (right hand) passenger's feet via original holes in the firewall.  The cables are secured in the holes using two-part threaded plastic-bodied bulkhead grommets from Eastwood in the US.  The plastic bodies screw together from opposite sides of the bulkhead and compress a rubber seal which conforms to the cable.  The cables are right there for the starter connection.

As you've guessed, I did use a double ground cable, one bolted to the battery platform and one going forward through the bulkhead which is bolted to one of the side bolts (not the shoulder bolt) of the starter, at the bellhousing.

I would definitely NOT recommend anybody hanging their battery cables from the hard fuel lines. Hanging the cables from the fuel lines is inviting a fuel line failure to visit you. IMHO.

If you want to keep the cables under the car please use rubber-lined P-clips screwed or bolted through the floor, and make sure to seal the holes with your non-hardening body sealer of choice, e.g. 3M Strip Caulk.  An alternative if planned during a restoration is of course to weld on metal tabs like the factory did.  

Cheers,
Neil
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