So I went to clean up some wiring under the hood and now the batteries in the trunk. Ive looked here and on coolcats and have some questions that I cant find in the other places Ive looked either.
The sealed summit plastic battery box I have I got free with wire and all the goods. The Tbird battery wont fit in the box. Whats a good battery that will crank a 351 w/ 9.1 to 1 compression basically a summer driver. Mild stereo electric fan Msd.
Also I was looking for some pics of mounting location and switch wiring?
Thanks Westie
An Optima battery would be a good choice. You need a battery with at least 500 cca, check out your local parts store and have the battery box measurements. I'd think a group 34 would probably fit and should offer enough power.
I was thinking optima hopefully the price doesn't hurt
I had very good luck with the top quality Wal-Mart battery. I would just find the one that fits in the box.
Is the sealed Summit Battery box legal for track use? I guess they now have a Moroso look alike that is? When I put mine in the Moroso was that only one that was legal.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1230/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MOR-74050/
I had pretty poor luck with the two Optima batteries I have owned and I will not buy them again.
TED
The summit one is what I have. I'm using a Walmart battery now and had no issue's with it. Can I use a wet battery at the track
Do you have a picture I'm on the fence on the location? looking at putting it on the right side on the odd shaped bump. I still have not been under the car or dropped the tank.
Thanks Steve
I put down a piece of plate steel first and bolted this down. Then I bolted the box to this. This allowed it to sit directly on the bump. You also have to set up a rear off switch.
If you plan to race your car I would replace the rear tank as soon as you can; I sure wished I did. At least the stock Turbo Coupe tank is a terrible tank and I had to almost keep it full in order to not run out of fuel on a hard launch.
TED
Nice set up. Ive never thought of a cell. I haven't launched hard I cant hook up with the 225's. Now I know how Ill mount the switch i was going to make a bracket for it I was going to go under the tail light with the rod is that where you went? I haven't ordered the switch yet tossing up on either the flaming river or summit?
It is hard to see but I think you can see where it come out, look at the picture on the trailer. Below the tail light and through the bumper cover. I did not find any place on the rear to mount the switch flat without a long rod except for the license plate area and I did not want it there.
A couple more pictures of the battery box/hold down. I sure it is just one way it can be done. The battery you see in the picture is a Optima copy type battery and it died way before it should have.
Since I did this I pulled the back seat and sealed the trunk with tin also. These projects never end.
When I did mine the summit switch was not available so I had to use the FR, either one costs more than it should. Since they are rated the same I would go with the cheapest. You would think that Summit would pissed off these companies making their own brand and selling it cheaper.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-830051/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLA-FR1003-2/
Here a picture of my Cad-T-Bird at Portland last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoZO6v3v-2g
TED
Nice.
The only difference I see is summit has no sticker saying push off I guess a label maker and I'll save a few bucks for a overflow can. Thanks after looking at your set up I have a better visual in my head I'll go at it this week.
Where can I get wire for a car I went to a place i usually go and they don't want to be bothered with me the little guy any more if I want to spend over a grand they'll put up with me but they said go away with your little $100 order.
I went to a few part stores and the wire packs were to short and the connectors were crimp on and I'm looking for solder type. I went to home cheapo and looked at the wire its gas and oil resistant but the strands are larger than I thought they should be Is 2 gauge auto wire the same as Home cheapo? and can i use it as long as it is gas and oil resistant
You can try a welding shop. You need a copper core and I think the wire in this size at Home Cheapo will be aluminum. But I would just order it out of Summit. I would go with the 1/0 and not the 2.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TAY-21540/
You need a chunk from your starter to solenoid, one for the solenoid to cut off switch, one from Cut off switch to battery. I ran the hot cable right through the inside of the car under the carpet. The ground I just ran up to tin that holds the hood hinge support and it worked great. You also need to run a wire from your alternator all the way back to the battery and should be 8ga or some say 6. The alternator wire needs to run to the other side of the cut off switch in order for the car to die, at least this worked for me.
Anyway you need 6 lug ends for the large cables (kit comes with 2), and two for the alternator wire.
TED
Ive got the battery covered with 1ot welding cable. I need a piece of #6 to ignition and car and a #2 for the alternator. I swapped to a 3g 130 amp alternator and was suggested to use #4 and I thought with bigger distance go up one size?
The wire at Home Depot is copper but not as stranded as much as the welding lead?
The welding wire has more strands and is more flexible
I cant find wire in smaller gauges like the welding leads?
Grounding to the body will work OK in a lot of cases, but ideally you want to ground on the block near the starter if possible. That is the only real big draw that needs the least voltage drop. You can use smaller cable with it grounded that way as well. Lots of ways to skin this critter, though.
I totally agree with Ted on all other points. 6 ga should be plenty from the alternator because it is only charging the battery regulated by the alternator voltage regulator. The only other thing I like to do is to put a 200A fuse on the battery positive lead at the back in case of a short in the long cable. I got my last one at NAPA. Got my light cable at TSC, and the #2 welding cable and all the ends from Fleabay.
You are right you need one more cable from the engine to a ground on the frame in front; forgot about this one, thanks. I ran mine from the front motor mount bolt on the block. Two more ends to buy.
I also think that 6g is plenty for the charging wire and any bigger would be overkill. Also I don't know how you would hook too big of wire to the back of the Alternator?
TED
I'm running a 1/0 from the battery through the kill switch to the solenoid on the starter. The ground from the battery through the floor to the bolt on the kicker shock on the frame and a 2/0 ground wire with a 7/16 bolt in the frame to the block. I want to run a 6 gauge wire from the switched side of the kill switch to the fender wall solenoid to re power the car and ignition and a10 gauge to the starter to trigger the starter. I have 4 gauge I can run from the alt to the battery side of the switch. BUT can I use the copper stranded gas and oil resistant wire in a car?
I did.
Cool thanks
Ditto.
BTW, REALLY nice looking car Ted!
Don't forget to put an inline wafer fuse between the alternator output and the battery. This will pop in case of a crash or overload like the old factory fusable links. For a trunk mount system I usually put one at the rear of the car and one up front to make sure that wire is dead in case of a crash as they are cheap insurance. Sizing the fuse is based on wire diameter and length of the run.
Darren
Ive got a 150amp buss with a nice case like the one from RJM http://rjminjectiontech.com/collections/alternator-accessories-1/products/alternator-charge-cable-kit I made my own for a fraction of the price. Ill put another one in the trunk if its a good idea but I don't understand why it will pop in an accident how will a crash overload a fuse?
I used to work at a car stereo shop and we did this on a regular basis. I do not believe it is required by any sanctioning body but we did have a customer get into a bad wreck, t-boned I believe, and the 1/0 cable got pinched and it popped both fuses. The fuel line split/broke and there was gas everywhere. Not saying it was a life saver or anything but the customer was very thankful and ended up putting another system in the next vehicle at our shop. Ever since then we just made it a standard part of an installation so I use that on my cars.
The other benefit of the wafer fuse is to calculate the load capacity of the cable and use a fuse just under that capacity. If the system put a heavy draw on the cable it will pop the fuse instead of overheating the cable.
Darren
Darren the link I posted is that a wafer fuse. And should I put on on the battery side as well?
Thanks
I finally found the website I had been looking for the last couple of days.
http://madelectrical.com/
I am not saying you have to buy their gear to do the job but if you read what they are saying I think most people could piece this together to meet their needs and it would be safe. If someone is not too electrically inclined then I would suggest buying their gear and doing it right and safe.
Pay specific attention to the part about how hard it is on the on board electronics using a disconnect switch in the trunk if you do not have it mounted correctly. If you do not have the alternator wired back to the battery when the disconnect is used it will cause a voltage spike. This is exactly what killed an after market fuel injection system on a buddy's road race car. We could not figure out what the hell happened until we noticed the ABS module had gone bad as well. John knows an engineer at Ford and explained what had happened. It took the guy about 30 minutes and he let us on to what was happening and suggested taking a look at MAD's wiring diagram. Took a few hours and the problem was fixed but it was costly.
Darren
I cant find anything on a wafer fuse. For now Ill stick with the fuse link battery connector and fuse on the alternator and when I get the coin I like the look of the relay on the hot lead to the starter
Has anyone here relocated there battery to the passenger side?
I believe the four eyes came that way?
Fuses are here:
http://order.waytekwire.com/products2/M50/140/500/200/1/AMG%20Fuse/High%20Amp%20Fuses%20And%20Fuse%20Holder/Circuit%20Protection/
Holders are here:
http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/46039/HIGH%20AMP%20AMG%20FUSE%20HOLDER/
My 83 had the battery on the passenger's side.
Darren
Thats what I got Thanks.