So in an effort to keep up with the ever increasing need for more power (and not the "good" kind) i went out an got a new deep cell battery (optima yellow top).

Only problem is when my car was built i went down to a smaller (think lawnmower) battery because the intercooler pipes and computer flanked the stock mounting position and didn't leave enough room for a full battery.

But optima doesn't sell small batteries (that i could find) so i found that it will fit if i turn it sideways. Only issue is, there's no way to secure it this way.

Does anyone know a fairly local shop (to Fall River) that could fab up a new mount for the battery? Not looking for anything spectacular, just something that will allow me to race at the track, and drive without worrying the battery is going to drop out the bottom of the car (exaggerating of course).

Will follow up with pics of what i'm working with tonight when i get home.

Get a generic tray at autozone and just run some bolts down through the sheet metal, then use some battery J bolts and a retainer. Shouldn't cost more than $10

hmmm...i will look into this.

the battery is over the wheel well, so might be tricky bolting it in, but i could probably make something work...

fun part is after i fab this up i need to check if the terminals are touching the insulation under the hood....good times!

A battery can be mounted on a slant correct? The guys said an optima could be mounted on its side, so i figured a slant wouldn't be a huge deal...but i could be wrong...

I wouldn't sweat a slant in an optima. You could always switch to side terminals.

I have a battery box sitting in my shed, not sure if it would be a help to you

what kind of car is this for? Take a pic for me. I can fab something up for you or you can stop by here one day and we can figure something out.

pop it in the trunk

x2

i hate electrical...the thought of running all the wires back there does not appeal to me at all.

i will get some pics up shortly...

its for my 89 Daytona

So, my other thing about putting the battery in the trunk, i've traced some wires back from the battery, and some of them go into connectors and fusable links. I don't know enough about wiring to feel comfortable re-running all those. The alternator wire has a couple of hardlines that go places i'm not even sure of. Basically its a cluster, i was thinking about re-running the wires so i could use and aftermarket alternator, but after looking through the electrical i changed my mind. I'm hoping i can find a way to get the battery in there and strap it down...doesn't have to be pretty...i gave up on having a "show" engine bay a while ago....

With that being said, here are some pics of where i need to affix the battery mount (as low as possible, though it will span the wires on the far left of the pic), the wires in the back (top) of the picture will be inserted in the computer, so they shouldn't be an issue.





and here are a few pics of the original battery mount, which is unfortunately facing the wrong direction....i have considered cutting the mount and rotating it, but i'd need to find a spare one first, don't want to destroy the original just in case.....





Thanks for the input guys...once i get the right belt for the alternator this will be the only thing keeping her off the road...its been 2 months already...where does the time go...

I ve seen relocated overflow/washer units, the open space could be used for the battery as in this pic .... http://www.supermotors.net/registry/media/97368

So here's where i'm at now. Any thoughts on this as a temporary fix til i can get the real mount built?

According to the Optima owners guide you can mount them sideways. So i've come up with this, for the time being til i can have a new battery tray "built". I'm pretty comfortable that once i tie it down it will be fine, but wanted to post it up and see if anyone had any thoughts as to the viability (in the short term of course).

Pics:

umm..like i said you could relocate the overflow tank??????

I will definitely look into it closer, but i'm pretty sure the battery is too tall to squeeze under the metal.

I know it's 'safe', but it makes me giggle, sorry .

Haha, no sweat.

I get a little giggle when i see it myself. Feels real ghetto to me.

But i haven't driven the car in about 2 months thanks to this mess, and i'm basically looking for anything i can do to at least be able to enjoy it a bit.