Battery upgrade options

[SubGothius]

Since my Zag needs a new battery, I've been considering getting a bigger one and remote-mounting it in the trunk; seems an all-positive (no pun intended ;) ) proposition to me -- greater power-storage capacity, slightly lowered centre of gravity, freer space underhood, etc. For anyone who's already done this in their Beta coupe or spider/Zagato, have you any tips to share? In particular, I'm wondering about the best way to route the positive lead back to the front -- i.e., along the underside vs. thru the interior, where/how to feed it thru the body where necessary, etc.

[Pope1]

Tye,

I'm not well up on this one andI have doubts about whether the benefits would make it worthwhile. In addition, I'd prefer to have the battery as far away from the gas tank as possible especially on our old cars with the potential for leaking tanks.

If I had to do it, I would be inclined to run the cable inside as long as it was one long straight cable with no joins. On a LHD car, that would mean running it under the carpet straight down the driver's side along the edge of the sill rather than the centre. Through the bulkhead into the engine bay into the same area where the battery is normally found.

[Will]

Don't forget a battery also has the potential for leaking, for rusting your trunk due to evaporation of the acid, and batteries generate hydrogen gas as a byproduct, maybe not so great in an enclosed area.
That said, many FIAT spiders used trunk mounted batteries.

I agree with Pope that down the sill is probably your best bet, use #4 wire and the solder-type connectors (they are hollow copper, you pour them with lead).

It would also be a real good idea IMO to add a disconnect in the passenger compartment- mine is a Longacre that I got from ioportracing.com for about $25. It's the 4-pole model, you also wire it to your alternator field winding so it cuts ALL the power when you switch it off. If you use a battery disconnect that does not have this feature, your engine continues to run quite happily on the alternator!

I don't know how much benefit you'll get from moving the battery in a '79 Zagato. It's a great idea in a later one, say a '82 FI, because the battery is in the way of the distributor and the air flow meter. At any rate, you'll probably want to pick up a plastic battery box from your local marine supply or ATV store, about $15. Or you could change the type of battery- I went with an Optima in my car to try to solve some of the above problems.


My.02

[KeppelmanJ]

I don't see the point here either. I have done this on a racing Fulvia to try to equalize the 2:1 front/back weight imbalance that car has tho in that case I only moved the battery to the back seat bed. I haven't ever seen figures (but would like to) on the Beta's tire weights, but I doubt from driving mine that it has the same problem. The cost will be quite an increase in battery cable weight, running the positive cable all the way forward from the trunk.

John Keppelman

[A1.6HPE]

Hello Tye,
I'm with the majority on this one - don't bother. I just wired up a friend's competition Delta and put the battery at the rear. The competition regulations require a sealed box to hold the battery so that takes care of worries about leaks and shorts. However the weight of the cable is not insignificant! I used "heavy duty" battery cable in order to minimise the voltage drop when engine is being cranked and also to ensure that the full alternator charge gets back to the battery.
My experience of running cables from the cabin of my HPE into the engine bay leads me to believe that you would need to drill a large hole to accomodate the cable and a grommet, there are none available.
The standard arrangement is very tidy with the alternator, battery and starter all being at the front of the engine, running a thick cable all the way round is an extra inconvenience and potential for trouble.
To paraphrase an acronym - KISS, keep it standard stupid (with apologies!).

Best regards, Leo

[Will]

There is one other factor;

The later Betas (and perhaps as early as '79 as well, I don't know) use an unusual size group battery. It is shorter than most of the readily available replacements (I think the ones people commonly think are the correct replacements are Group 65's). Anyway- WRONG!!
If you drop one of these puppies in, smoke will pour out from under the hood, I melted both battery connectors to SLAG in my '82 Zag by accidentally doing this- I was just comparing the footprint of the battery, forgetting about the height!!!

If you move the battery to the trunk, you can use anything you want, which might allow the use of a better battery (e.g. Optima) or a lighter racing battery that might more than make up for the extra four lbs of wire. But I would do it in conjunction with a disconnect, just because a disconnect is so handy that EVERYONE should have one. I have two, one that disconnects just the battery (at the battery compartment) and a 4-pole in the cabin. Because I can easily switch off the battery, i don't find myself doing stupid things like welding my wrench to my alternator post like I hear about so often with these cars.

[sickchilly]

I have to agree as well as I also own a FIAT 124 Spider of which the later models all have batteries in their trunks. If you've ever seen that big thick cable snaking all the way fore/aft, you'd quickly say "why bother". Some things really deserve the "if it ain't broke..." treatment. Competition is obviously a great reason to do this, but on a sporty driver, no way.

[sickchilly]

Better battery, Will? Optima red top fits fine... on it's side! :wink:

I love the Optimas in my I-cars, BTW. (Ignore the pic of it on my web site. I know it's standing up in that pic because that was before I closed the hood! It's now on its side and has been for more than 6 mos. without issue.)

[SubGothius]

Yeh, upgrading to a better battery was the prime appeal for me, since I'm buying a new one anywho. I was considering a drycell model (no fumes nor leakage to worry about ;) ) like an Optima, but they don't come in a Group 42 compatible size -- actually, their 25/75 and 25/35 seem closeish (7-5/8" tall) for actual underhood clearance, might work okay with some sort of insulating cap and/or using the side terminals to prevent hood contact (my hood also still has the oily rag of factory soundproofing on it, too). As long as I was ponying up for a good battery and might need to remote mount it for clearance anyway, I wondered about going bigger while I was at it.

For Optima competitors, Odyssey (http://odysseyfactory.com/) and Stinger (http://www.stingerelectronics.com/web/prods/batteries.asp) both come in a compatible size (their PC925MJ and SPV44, respectively), but both of those are actually a bit runty vs. a standard Group 42 size, so was wondering if the added cost (esp. for the Stinger!) would even be worthwhile to fit underhood if I could go larger in the trunk.

Thx for the feedback anyway! 8)

Late-breaking: ohh, an Optima on its siiide, now that's an idea... Why, I could even do that with an Odyssey PC1200MJ... I'd also thought of wiring up two Odyssey PC980MJs in parallel, which would still fit vertically or sidewise as well! ;) 8) Hard to compare specs, tho' -- the ones posted seem vague or incomparable... :?