Relocating the Battery...Questions

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64physhy

64physhy

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I'm relocating my battery to the trunk ('74 Duster)and have a couple questions.
1. Where on the battery box should the vent tube go? High, low, or does it matter?
2. Ground; I know normally, you would ground to the frame, but since it's uni-body, couldn't I just ground it anywhere on the body? I was thinking of grounding it to the vertical support toward the rear where the jack stows.
3. Routing of Positive cable; I'm also going to be mounting a kill switch on the bumper. From there, should I route the cable under the car inside the frame rail, outside the frame rail, or should I route it inside the car and go through the firewall?

Thanks in advance for recommendations, and pics would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
 
well my dad ran it inside the car under the carpet so it wouldnt get chewed on by rodents and have bare wires showing and short out ETC
 
I can see it both ways as far as routing inside or outside. Inside, if something does rub and you get a short, you risk catching the interior or the car on fire. If it's routed outside, it's less protected, but if something does rub through and short, it's probably not going to burn the whole car up.
 
Gonna get a bit scientific on you regarding the vent tube. Batteries emit hydrogen gas which was what obliterated the Hindenburg in 1937. This usually happens when batteries get overcharged. Since hydrogen gas is a really simple element (and rises, unlike carbon monoxide which sinks), I'd put it up high on the battery box.
 
your more likely to get it messed up on the outside though as its exposed to the elemtns you could hit a bump and it com loose and its just hanging there our it gets caught up and touches the exhaust and melts. you know these things. id say its safer to just run it in the inside under the carpet.
 
I routed mine under the car along frame connectors with rubber insulated grommets(screwed down).I also grounded out to the floor in the trunk(nut and bolted.Hope this helps.
 
I would ground to frame rail b/c the panel seams weren't the best back in the day, the frame is your best guaranteed ground path.

Modern cars w/ trunk-mounted batteries all run the cable inside the car. Especially if it's a street car I'd keep the wire off of the bottom of the car.

Vent tube should probably go at the top based on the Hydrogen logic but if you bought a relocation kit it would probably tell you.
 
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