Project Silver, PIC HEAVY

[ScubaSteve]

crimped one of the terminals on, also to see if it worked ok, seems good

 

[slayllian]

cant beat a good strut brace! :grin:

 

[ScubaSteve]

made a very small start on battery, drilled hole, and grommit

cable threaded through, test

left a couple of inchs of wire in there incase it rains

 

[ScubaSteve]

done a bit more tonight

pulled the cable through and drilled some holes for the self tappers for the p clips

screwed down

continued the theme up back

drilled holes for bracket

then set about applying the foam padding to the bracket

all done

battery in bracket

bolted to floor

small rough idea of what it will sit like with earth etc

routed some holes through the plastic fuse box under bonnet

and thats where it sits for now as rain stopped play

 

[ScubaSteve]

little bit more done

finished the earth part

crimped up battery terminal ends + heatshrinked

routed back to a seat mount point

the whole earth

crimped up battery terminal end of live

heatshrink

both ready to accept the battery

 

[ScubaSteve]

Right then you lovely people and this is all done

the day started off by this turning up at my house

ummed and arrhd a bit about where to put it, got in the car, got out, then got back in again. Eventually decided on seeing if i could mount it in the (fake) cf panel where the cigarette lighter goes.

This took a bit of messing around and thought but i managed to get there in the end and IMO is in the perfect spot almost looks oem.

So, fed the live up behind the dash cut it and crimped connections for the isolator

Heatshrink

After i figured out a way, the isolator switch mounted in the panel;

Then i finished up the wiring for the rest of the isolator to cut the ignition aswell, no pics of this im afraid as i was on a mission and didnt have time

All back together view from the outside

key out

So that was all good, finished off routing the wire to the front

Need some more p clips to finish off properly but its ok for now, also you will see i need to do something with the oem earths, atm I have just bolted then together and recrimp the main one to the old battery. It works but i need to put it somewhere out the way, will figure it out tomorrow.

Drilled and bolted down the junction box, crimped the terminals and heat shrink

After all this I only had this much wire left over at the end

Moment of truth, battery mounted in and wired up

Key out of isolator, car power dead..check.

Key in isolator, things start to happen..check.

Turn ignition and car starts, happy days

I think owning this key makes you cool

 

[ScubaSteve]

around 9kgs heavier :lol:

 

[ScubaSteve]

removed the central locking motors, here is the one coming out the boot, which needed the bumper removing to get to the screws

removed with its loom

Also painted the bolts on the isolator black

 

[Tom B]

Bolts look miles better black on the isolator, was bit of an eye-saw at first lol but all fits in now! Rest of the car looks really good too! I'm very jealous! :lol:

 

[ScubaSteve]

car weighs 901kgs, not bad considering it has stereo etc still in

1036 standard weight btw

 

[PumaNoob]

Steve, i assume you are planning on keeping the car stereo, alarm, fans, lights ect, did you do any research into that battery, if the 15amps will be enough to sustain the services? Im looking at getting one as a space/weight saving measure, but im not planning on getting rid of any of the luxuries in my car, the altenator should sustain everything when driving, but im unsure with low revs, idle, and of course with the ignition off. The batteries are made for track cars, with none of the electrical goodies i want to keep, and on searching on the internet, people seem to be saying the 25amp and bigger are the way forward. wouldnt mind your imput and research findings to help me make the decision!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Well alarm, central locking etc is removed and have isolator switch isolates battery when car switched off, so only draw is when car is running which will be enough to sustain anything extra. This battery won't work though if you want to retain everything unless you isolate when not in use the battery will be flat within about 3 days. Isolating renders the central locking and alarm useless. Also you lose clock and radio settings each time so do not buy unless you want to fit an isolating switch with those consequences

 

[PumaNoob]

Hmmm, that was my worry!! Thanks for the info, an isolator isn't an option for me, the reason for the bigger engine, was so i could get the same bhp per tonne, but keep the comforts, i dont want a track car, i already have my green puma that i can make into a track car, driving around in a stripped out car as a daily driver is a little uncomfortable and the last time i left my stripped out puma by a mates house, it got reported as stolen and police tried to come and take it away!!

Ill have to re think then, what about a bigger amp battery, perhaps a 25amp?

 

[ScubaSteve]

TBH im not sure what difference the ampage makes to how you are meant to handle the battery. Possibly just that you can pull more "cranking" voltage from it.

Reading the literature that came with mine, which seemed to apply to 15, 25, and 30 varients, was that none of them are designed for "hotel" slow discharging. Although it didnt specifically say you nede to isolate it, it did state that if you are using it ona vehicle that continues to drain when switched off you may need to manually trickle charge it before use.

The problem is once the battery is slow discharged it can become unrecovarable and isnt covered under the warranty

 

[Voa]

I agree with pumanoob dude I was advised on getting a 25 and higher battery..........

You also need to "trickle" charge these batteries using the cteks or one of the intelligent battery chargers which basically conditions the battery. I use a ctek on my standard battery usually plug it on once a week you don't have to disconnect the battery while doing this.

i think dms or whoever makes the varley ones do a specialised charger.....

 

[ScubaSteve]

you dont need to trickle charge the battery if you are isolating it after using it.

The key is isolating the battery, thats where the problem lies, if the car is running it will run all the extras as per when you jump start the car with a flat battery, everything works fine

as said, you also dont need a 25 if you arent worried about losing all the extras, which i wasnt

I wouldnt fit one of these batterys on a standard road car

 

[Voa]

How does it work with the ecu i would be worried cutting my engine as I do as I have the car in peices in the garage and each time I reconnect the ecu starts that damn relearning process? Or does inly happen when you disconnect the battery for x amout of time?

 

[Voa]

I have an isolator switch but don't use it when not using the car and the car is in the garage? I just trickly charge it every so often?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Relearning process is imo a bit of a myth or anything the ecu does is pretty minor, but if there is any truth in it, then its probably a good thing if anything as its starting fresh each time and not running as per old adaptation values

 

[ScubaSteve]

I have an isolator switch but don't use it when not using the car and the car is in the garage? I just trickly charge it every so often?

yeah that sounds sensible if you arent isolating it you probably will need to rickle charge it every now and again