Battery removal to boot or behind seat ?
Discussion
I’m after your opinions based on experience of having either moved the battery to behind the seat, or into the boot.
There are a lot of threads on here but most of these were undertaken a few years ago and people may have changed back or would have done things differently a second time around.
I am contemplating moving the battery to gain more room, and make it easier to access the battery for the odd occasion it goes flat -normally left for too long without taking it for a run, (parked on the street) or I leave the lights on.
Most seemed to have moved to the boot but some have used a single Odyssey battery behind the seat which I am very interested in. The battery brain will likely be used with whatever setup.
There are a lot of threads on here but most of these were undertaken a few years ago and people may have changed back or would have done things differently a second time around.
I am contemplating moving the battery to gain more room, and make it easier to access the battery for the odd occasion it goes flat -normally left for too long without taking it for a run, (parked on the street) or I leave the lights on.
Most seemed to have moved to the boot but some have used a single Odyssey battery behind the seat which I am very interested in. The battery brain will likely be used with whatever setup.
I got my battery moved to behind the seat and use an Odyssey battery from Demon Tweaks . Never had a problem in I guess 5 years now and still on the same battery . I've got the fuse box behind the passenger seat aswell . I have an Andersen connector under the passenger side dash and battery isolator key . Once I had to plug my Power Pack because of a low battery .. my fault for not keeping it charged on Accumate.
Editted ... 3 1/2 years https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Editted ... 3 1/2 years https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by glow worm on Monday 18th December 17:07
Have a rummage through this Griff owners blog:
https://matthewpoxon.wordpress.com/
Third item down on right hand list is how Matt arranged to have his battery relocated to behind the seats. It is a neat solution and something I am considering for my Chimaera.
https://matthewpoxon.wordpress.com/
Third item down on right hand list is how Matt arranged to have his battery relocated to behind the seats. It is a neat solution and something I am considering for my Chimaera.
My battery was moved to the boot during a body-off chasis refurb a couple of years ago. Main objectives were greater leg room for leggy passengers and better access when disconnecting or changing the battery. Both objectives very well achieved and I've never found any downsides. 
(Do make sure the cable you use is thick enough for the extra length required.) D&C Trim supplied a new passenger footwell mat of the same length as the driver's side. Result. Job done!
(Do make sure the cable you use is thick enough for the extra length required.) D&C Trim supplied a new passenger footwell mat of the same length as the driver's side. Result. Job done!I’ve been modifying the battery box to allow a battery to be fitted and removed without the need to remove bolts from under the car. I wasn’t worried about extra legroom as the mrs is only 5ft 2” but I’ve had the flat battery issue a couple of times and the unconventional way of factory battery removal is a bit naff to say the least. My car is a Griff which I believe has a slightly narrower footwell but the principle is the same
Lots of ways to improve on standard though
Lots of ways to improve on standard though
This must all stem from the Tuscan race cars, bare with me!
As our Chassis is loosely based on the S chassis and the racecar Tuscan chassis is a direct link I’m assuming the battery was put there for best centre of gravity and weight low down and helping to bring your crossweight over towards the centre from the right as you have a heavy driver de balancing the car.
Essentually less corner weighting or even having to add ballast,,, what most people think is a bad idea I happen to dig
It’s something you see in racing all the time so it must have traction
For a road car you’d think it makes little difference where the battery is but which front wheel locks first when doing brake tests.
Removing what is a considerable amount of weight from directly behind the left front wheel will make this problem worse,,,, but only in an emergency so you’ll be ok if your not in an emergency.
It was very good thinking from Tvr imho
I happen to think battery in the boot is a bad idea entirely, on top of a fuel tank that has little or no rear crash protection is a bomb waiting to happen. Anywhere in the boot thisbecomes very vulnerable, ok someone hits you and splits the tank it’s likely to catch fire as it drips onto the exhaust but adding the possibility of sparks really adds to the odds of fire. You’ll be unconscious if someone hits you that hard if your lucky. The average Audi driver sits around 25 ft from my boot on a regular basis,,, I have thought this through
And it looks s
t
Keep a good battery charged it should last years in these cars so why have it in the boot at all.
Behind the passenger seat would be my favoured position or a smaller gel type battery in the usual place allowing for another few inches leg room.
All in my humble opinion
As our Chassis is loosely based on the S chassis and the racecar Tuscan chassis is a direct link I’m assuming the battery was put there for best centre of gravity and weight low down and helping to bring your crossweight over towards the centre from the right as you have a heavy driver de balancing the car.
Essentually less corner weighting or even having to add ballast,,, what most people think is a bad idea I happen to dig
It’s something you see in racing all the time so it must have traction
For a road car you’d think it makes little difference where the battery is but which front wheel locks first when doing brake tests.
Removing what is a considerable amount of weight from directly behind the left front wheel will make this problem worse,,,, but only in an emergency so you’ll be ok if your not in an emergency.
It was very good thinking from Tvr imho
I happen to think battery in the boot is a bad idea entirely, on top of a fuel tank that has little or no rear crash protection is a bomb waiting to happen. Anywhere in the boot thisbecomes very vulnerable, ok someone hits you and splits the tank it’s likely to catch fire as it drips onto the exhaust but adding the possibility of sparks really adds to the odds of fire. You’ll be unconscious if someone hits you that hard if your lucky. The average Audi driver sits around 25 ft from my boot on a regular basis,,, I have thought this through
And it looks s
t Keep a good battery charged it should last years in these cars so why have it in the boot at all.
Behind the passenger seat would be my favoured position or a smaller gel type battery in the usual place allowing for another few inches leg room.
All in my humble opinion
wuckfitracing said:
Put mine in the boot, above the fuel tank( I like to life on the edge. my old MX5 had it in the boot too and at no point did I die).
Edited by wuckfitracing on Monday 18th December 19:57
Doom monger so I am,,,
But you raced off road Landrover type vehicles and often on two wheels or non at all if my memory serves me
Most Mazda mx5 I know of have the battery where mine is,,, Tom Roach’s car for instance and he wins for fun.
I’ve driven two Tvr with battery in the boot and I couldn’t detect any difference from mine anyway
so the weight thing can only really matter at 11/10 ths On the road with d
heads up your chuff, that’s my problem with it but hey live dangerously and scare yourself at least once a day Just had mine done and picked it up today. Done as part of a overhaul following an electrical meltdown that nealry involved a Fire.
In my opinion such a mess of jammed wires in the footwell , that nearly resulted in a complete fire.
Anyway dan Taylor at Taylor tvr has moved the fuseboard to behind passenger seat and battery to boot. Very pleased with the result and being 6’3” I can sit in passenger side comfortably for the first time in 18 years of ownership. Also had a load of other stuff done as part of an overhaul - new carpets as they were rubies by smoke, plus service, new dash and alloy refurb
Can’t recomend Dan enough!
In my opinion such a mess of jammed wires in the footwell , that nearly resulted in a complete fire.
Anyway dan Taylor at Taylor tvr has moved the fuseboard to behind passenger seat and battery to boot. Very pleased with the result and being 6’3” I can sit in passenger side comfortably for the first time in 18 years of ownership. Also had a load of other stuff done as part of an overhaul - new carpets as they were rubies by smoke, plus service, new dash and alloy refurb
Can’t recomend Dan enough!
Classic Chim said:
Removing what is a considerable amount of weight from directly behind the left front wheel will make this problem worse,,,, but only in an emergency so you’ll be ok if your not in an emergency.
Surely a negligible weight compared to the huge variances in driver/passenger weight and obviously with a Griff you also need to factor in the drivers medallion T1 PCS said:
Just had mine done and picked it up today. Done as part of a overhaul following an electrical meltdown that nealry involved a Fire.
In my opinion such a mess of jammed wires in the footwell , that nearly resulted in a complete fire.
Anyway dan Taylor at Taylor tvr has moved the fuseboard to behind passenger seat and battery to boot. Very pleased with the result and being 6’3” I can sit in passenger side comfortably for the first time in 18 years of ownership. Also had a load of other stuff done as part of an overhaul - new carpets as they were rubies by smoke, plus service, new dash and alloy refurb
Can’t recomend Dan enough!
Dan's the man! In my opinion such a mess of jammed wires in the footwell , that nearly resulted in a complete fire.
Anyway dan Taylor at Taylor tvr has moved the fuseboard to behind passenger seat and battery to boot. Very pleased with the result and being 6’3” I can sit in passenger side comfortably for the first time in 18 years of ownership. Also had a load of other stuff done as part of an overhaul - new carpets as they were rubies by smoke, plus service, new dash and alloy refurb
Can’t recomend Dan enough!
Did mine too.Smaller battery (currently Odyssey PC 950, almost 3 kgs lighter than PC 925 but a different shape that necessitates widening the early type battery box by 1 cm) in the original position, fuel ECU bolted to underside dash, wiring tidied with the two 'flying' relays in a small panel next to the fuesboard.
Creates about 2-3" of additional passenger legroom (i.e. I'm 6'2.5" with long legs and can almost stretch out in the passenger seat). No splicing and soldering wires (the wirinbg loom does have a fair bit of excess length, but not enough to put the fuse panel behind the passenger seat without overstretching things). Non-spillable battery a must when placing a battery in the cabin IMO, so I'd strongly reocmmend upgrading the battery to a gel or AGM battery in any case. Weight saving compared to a typical early battery is about 5 kg (more for later cars with the 072-type battery).
Don't like boot mounting at all. Right behind the fuel tank, there's nothing but fibreglass and the typical scenario in a rear end smash is the boot being taken clean off.
I like to concentrate as much weight as possible within the wheelbase, anyway. There's a fair number of 'default' mods that make the car worse dynamically, and while you might not notice the effects in general day-to-day operation that doesn't mean they're not there. And there's the cumulative effect of several of these less than well thought out mods/conversions put together. Personally, I'd rather work the other way in small steps that might not be signicant on their own, but all add up to make a noticeable difference.
Creates about 2-3" of additional passenger legroom (i.e. I'm 6'2.5" with long legs and can almost stretch out in the passenger seat). No splicing and soldering wires (the wirinbg loom does have a fair bit of excess length, but not enough to put the fuse panel behind the passenger seat without overstretching things). Non-spillable battery a must when placing a battery in the cabin IMO, so I'd strongly reocmmend upgrading the battery to a gel or AGM battery in any case. Weight saving compared to a typical early battery is about 5 kg (more for later cars with the 072-type battery).
Don't like boot mounting at all. Right behind the fuel tank, there's nothing but fibreglass and the typical scenario in a rear end smash is the boot being taken clean off.
I like to concentrate as much weight as possible within the wheelbase, anyway. There's a fair number of 'default' mods that make the car worse dynamically, and while you might not notice the effects in general day-to-day operation that doesn't mean they're not there. And there's the cumulative effect of several of these less than well thought out mods/conversions put together. Personally, I'd rather work the other way in small steps that might not be signicant on their own, but all add up to make a noticeable difference.
Classic Chim said:
wuckfitracing said:
Put mine in the boot, above the fuel tank( I like to life on the edge. my old MX5 had it in the boot too and at no point did I die).
Edited by wuckfitracing on Monday 18th December 19:57
Doom monger so I am,,,
But you raced off road Landrover type vehicles and often on two wheels or non at all if my memory serves me
Most Mazda mx5 I know of have the battery where mine is,,, Tom Roach’s car for instance and he wins for fun.
I’ve driven two Tvr with battery in the boot and I couldn’t detect any difference from mine anyway
so the weight thing can only really matter at 11/10 ths On the road with d
heads up your chuff, that’s my problem with it but hey live dangerously and scare yourself at least once a day Here I am with the battery under my seat, trying to see if it will kill me in a different postion. Scottish Borders Hillrally 2017.
I've got one of these behind each seat with carpet over the top, been in 3 years no issues so far
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|[url][img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/FDjcOn9G.jpg[/img[url][img][urlEdited by eff eff on Tuesday 19th December 14:29
[url][img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/FDjcOn9G.jpg[/imgEdited by eff eff on Tuesday 19th December 14:35
phillpot said:
Classic Chim said:
Removing what is a considerable amount of weight from directly behind the left front wheel will make this problem worse,,,, but only in an emergency so you’ll be ok if your not in an emergency.
Surely a negligible weight compared to the huge variances in driver/passenger weight and obviously with a Griff you also need to factor in the drivers medallion 
wuckfitracing said:
Yes I do a little offroad.
Here I am with the battery under my seat, trying to see if it will kill me in a different postion. Scottish Borders Hillrally 2017.
Awesome, what a picture. Here I am with the battery under my seat, trying to see if it will kill me in a different postion. Scottish Borders Hillrally 2017.
Exactly, under your ass, perfect centre of gravity, where’s the fuel cell on that outrageous beast above.
That looks like a cool track, you must be a tough b
d for all them bumps and jumps so I’ll just agree with anything you say Is it a V8 in there, Low gearing Extreme fun Respect
Look at them rocks lining the course, need your wits about you in that game
RobXjcoupe said:
I’ve been modifying the battery box to allow a battery to be fitted and removed without the need to remove bolts from under the car. I wasn’t worried about extra legroom as the mrs is only 5ft 2” but I’ve had the flat battery issue a couple of times and the unconventional way of factory battery removal is a bit naff to say the least. My car is a Griff which I believe has a slightly narrower footwell but the principle is the same
Lots of ways to improve on standard though
I went a similar route with my Chim.Lots of ways to improve on standard though
The fuse box has been re-located to behind the passenger seat to sort out the birds nest of wires in the footwell, and the existing battery tray has been modified so that the front of it is now hinged- allowing easier access should I need to take the battery out. Also had an Anderson jump-start connector wired into the engine bay for emergencies.
I liked this route as it meant being able to retain a big traditional battery and I wasn't keen on the idea of moving it to the boot. I have a CTEK trickle charger/conditioner that I switch on over night once a week for peace of mind and it keeps everything rosy.
Extra leg room wasn't an issue though as my girlfriend was spec'd to fit the car
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