How to hide a battery...
In the craziness of this season, I buried the lead on my best story. Battery technology has come a long way, as I described in my last post. One shining example is the Optima battery. This engineering triumph, features Absorbent Glass Mat, technology. In other words, fiberglass is used to hold the electrolyte where it will do the most good.
Thankfully, as if God himself had guided them (OK, maybe that's strong but it is an amazing coincidence), a 12V Optima battery fits in the bracket where an original 6V MGB battery used to sit. This means that one can remove the conventional 12V battery from the trunk, a common location after converting an MG to a single 12V battery. By the way, the trunk of an MG is not large so removing a car battery from it is a big win!
I was able to remove almost 3 feet of battery cable and cut out the nasty splice that was necessary to extend the cable into the trunk. I added a ground cable to the top of the battery box. I left the past terminal caps on and used the side "GM" parts for the new connections. I fabricated a plastic bracket and used threaded rod to clamp the battery to one side of the battery box. This has survived 3 autocrosses and about 1000 miles so far. I was very proud when the safety inspector at the last autocross asked where the battery was. "Why, it's in the battery box! Where else would it be?".
Thankfully, as if God himself had guided them (OK, maybe that's strong but it is an amazing coincidence), a 12V Optima battery fits in the bracket where an original 6V MGB battery used to sit. This means that one can remove the conventional 12V battery from the trunk, a common location after converting an MG to a single 12V battery. By the way, the trunk of an MG is not large so removing a car battery from it is a big win!
I was able to remove almost 3 feet of battery cable and cut out the nasty splice that was necessary to extend the cable into the trunk. I added a ground cable to the top of the battery box. I left the past terminal caps on and used the side "GM" parts for the new connections. I fabricated a plastic bracket and used threaded rod to clamp the battery to one side of the battery box. This has survived 3 autocrosses and about 1000 miles so far. I was very proud when the safety inspector at the last autocross asked where the battery was. "Why, it's in the battery box! Where else would it be?".
Comments
Post a Comment