I'm getting a red top optima battery, and i've seen them mounted in the fenders, does anybody know how to do this? or does anybody have a link or pics or something thanx
moving it to the trunk might "distribute weight" more evenly but ive heard it really makes hardly any difference.
leave it in the engine bay, it's never a good idea to put a lead acid battery near sheetmetal bodywork. sure don't look accessible either... and if I had an optima I would be proud to display it.
actaully, relocating the battery makes quite a bit of difference. you are taking 50lbs off the front, and adding 50lbs to the rear. It makes about 2% difference in the overall weight distribution.
Optimas are completely sealed (they claim to be "unspillable"), so they can be mounted in the trunk without worrying about leaking onto the carpet, etc. Plus you'd want to put it in a battery box, or at least a tray, and stap it down anyways. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the battery be closer to the sheetmetal of the fenders in it's factory location, and farther away if you put it in the corner of the trunk?
Cause I saw some mustang with an optima battery mounted sideways in the fender area, and i thought it looked damn cool... anyways why i dont wanna move my battery to my trunk is because my trunk is tiny as hell, and i barely have enough room back there as it is... (amp, wires, speakers, tools ect...)
In order to do this, you will need to remove or relocate the washer fluid resivoir, cut a battery sized hole in your inner fender, and fabricate a bracket to hold the battery.
yes you're wrong. I meant don't put the thing inside the fender. The trunk metal is certainly much more durable. I still wouldn't stick a battery in there, because that's my interior, and just because you got an optima now doesn't guarantee that there won't be a leaky **** battery in 5 years. instead, you should leave the battery up front, and slap a couple 45kg tractor counterweights out back to balance things out.
What in tarnation... That looks cool, but it seems like it would make the battery very vulnerable if the fender got hit. Trunkmount it, Old-skoool style, think Thunderbolt. Kooool, Daddy-O.
That is one nice idea until you have a DEER hit your car (because we would never hit a deer on puropse, the evil creatures.) Get a manufactured battery box mount it in the rear, dump the factory speaker boxes and get custom enclosures made for the trunk/hatch. I can see the relocation argument for racing only. If this is a DD dont worry about it until you have the engine in peak running condition and then relocate it at that time.
optima's are a sealed gel battery...the acid is made into a gell... no fumes...if you keep the charge voltage to under 15 volts... oh and about hittimg the deer...if you leave it in the stock location it's just as likely to get demolished there too... safest place to mount it is in the truck... with the optima you don't have to vent it...so all you need to do is get a mount and strap it in...then run the cables of course....but i like it in the fenderwell... looks like a ton of work though..
