CK Battery Relocation

Cleaning up the engine compartment and decided to relocate the battery. I intend on using a dry cell and 00 gauge to run to the front. I plan on running a #8 tap to the dashboard. I had considered a drop down box for the battery but that's not feasible. I even considered having a box made for 2

6V dry cells in series mounted under the car because, well just because...... But I think it will be on the shelf in the trunk. A few questions for those that have relocated their batteries. Best to run the cables on the inside of the frame? Mount the battery on the passenger side in the trunk? If anyone has pics of their installation, I would appreciate a copy of them. Part of the compartment clean up is to relocate the ground from the back of the head, and move it away from the linkage and distributor. Has anyone used a different location to ground a 232? I would like both the engine and the frame grounded directly from the 00. But what about if I ground the frame near the front engine mount and allow the ground strap to ground the engine? Is it feasible to ground the engine using the lower starter mounting bolt location.
Reply to
Gary & Denise McCollum
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Bob Johnstone may pick up and answer this post, but to summarize the 6-volt changes he made on his '55 President- he turned the battery around and used the old ground cable as the negative cable going to the starter solenoid, He then made a 34" cable running from the positive pole of the battery to the lower bolt on the bell housing which holds the starter on. This really made a difference. Last Sunday I heard it crank and it was spinning as fast as a 12-volt starter. Paul Johnson

Reply to
Paul Johnson

I ran 00 cable thru plastic flexible conduit and then thru the frame rail from rear axle hump to engine compartment using factory access holes and ground strap from starter bolt to crossmember bolt.

Gary & Denise McCollum wrote:

Reply to
oldcarfart

I wouldn't run the cable 'inside' the frame rail(s) unless it was shielded better than the rubber covering. There are sharp things in there... Calvin Lowell did a neat shielding thing with his cables run through the frame on his '54 project.. Some pic's of that are up at:

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Reply to
Jeff Rice

check this site out. Call Mark @ mad electrical. He's real helpful and will explain the best/safest way to do it. He relocated the solenoid to the back with the battery and the only time you 00 wire is hot is during startup. He then runs a much smaller wire to pwr the vehicle. He promotes the use of fusible links. He also has a tech guide he sell that we keep you headed in the right direction. Very nice guy and promotes the ROD industry.

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Gary & Denise McCollum wrote:

Reply to
rustynutgarage

Yes, correct. I have to attribute the recommendation for this, to Ray Fichthorn, when we talked about it back in March, during his Tech Seminar. Rebuilding the starter and replacing the ignition switch didn't do very much, to resolve the slow cranking. There was also a problem with having to crank a long time to fill the carb. In the end, I added an electric fuel pump on a dash switch to 'fill er up' before cranking the engine. Letting it pump up, went hand in hand with allowing the Pertronix soak up a bit of charge also. The new ground strap was the ticket to a higher rate of spin. As an aside, I'm wondering about how much of my mileage 'vaporizes' because of this lighter density fuel boiling off. I'll be trying a different jet scheme, in the near future, as well as closing (almost) up the vents on the carb, to see if it helps... BobJ

Reply to
SilverStude

A friend (Doug Parkman, pres PEI Antique Auto Association) relocated a massive 6 volt to a battery tray on driver's side of trunk of his 1955 Commander, along with very heavy guage wire --00, I think. Looks great, works better. I can ask for pictures and his advice if you wish.

Jim Bartley on PEI

Reply to
George

I used 00 battery cables on my '54 Champ. It seemed to help with cold weather starts.

Chip

Reply to
cjdaytonjrnospam

Reply to
midlant

On the passenger side I hope, that is were you want the battery weight. I have used aircraft cable (the cable with the fiberglas insulation) mounted to the outside of the frame using Adel clamps. Yes you could use that existing ground strap for grounding and run a short cable to the frame at the rear. Grounding at the rear does have a problem with keeping the connection clean though. I would not recommend using the starter bolt. Aircraft cable can be pretty stiff in the larger sizes, and you would have a big loop under the car likely.

-- wf,

George wrote:

Reply to
randee

Karl,

That's "skin effect" and is only true for AC, and becomes greater the higher the frequency. DC uses the full cross section of the wire. Fine-stranded wire is more flexible, though. In the case of battery cables, corrosion becomes an issue. I expect fine-stranded wire would degrade faster from corrosion that does coarser-stranded wire; more surface area available to the atmosphere and other corrosive agents (like road salt or battery acid.)

Gord Richmond

Reply to
Gordon Richmond

Reply to
John Poulos

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