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Proj. Cosmo
Nate Bowen
Arturo Chia
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Overview:
This procedure is only if you need 1 or 2 outputs for an amp, Haltech, etc., etc.. The normal relocation kit with just the battery will be easier because you only need a fused connector for 2 4 gauge wires. Like a crimp connector with a fuse in the middle. The rest of the how to will be similar. My method also does not fuse the main power cables because they are already fused.
Grocery List
- Gel or Dry cell battery because my method does NOT use a sealed box to vent the gasses produced by regular batteries.
- To make sure you have enough cable purchase 1' 4 gauge ground cable and 15' 4 gauge power cable. I used all power cable because they were out of ground cable but the only difference is the color.
- 1 distribution block. I used a Monster Cable block with 3 4 gauge inputs and 2 fused 8 gauge outputs.
- 4 Monster Cable crimpless connectors. They hook onto the wire with an allen set screw and work very well and come with a clear shrink wrap thingie.
- 1-2 fuses of whatever amprage you need. Mine is kind of uselss because I have a 40A fuse but my Haltech has a fuse block max of 30A so it is kind of a safety net if a large amprage comes flyin in.
- 2 10" bolts (get 2 8" while you are there because I can't remember), 2 pressure washers, 4 big circular washers, 2 nuts.
- Something to hold the top of the battery down. I had a 1/4" aluminum plate sitting around but I suppose you could use the old battery hold down thing from the stock battery if you had nothing but I preferred mine because it distributed the pressure better.
- Various tools: Drill with 9/16" bit or one that is big enough for the bolt to fit through. Wire cutters and strippers. Allen wrench set, I used a bike set and I think it was 4mm. Wrenches to fit the nuts and bolts. I used 14mm and 12mm. Sandpaper or a Dremel tool with grinding bit. Screwdrivers, 1 flat and 1 phillips. Zip ties.
- Floor jack and 2 jack stands.
- Nuts and bolts to hook the connectors up to the battery, or terminals, whatever.
Procedure:
- First take out your old battery:D
- Now pull off the battery plate saving the 10mm bolt nearest the front of the car. I save all the bolts but you will use this one
- Cut the battery terminals off but leave a bit of wire still in it just in case you need to put it back together. You should now have 3 wires. A 4 gauge ground wire, an 8 gauge power wire and a 4 gauge power wire. Strib the ground cable about 1/4" - 1/2" down and then take one of the 4 gauge crimpless connectors and secure it to the ground cable. Take your Dremel or whatever to clean paint off and look down at the bolt location nearest the front of the car where the battery plate used to be hooked up. Sand or grind a small circular area just bigger than the size of the connector so the connector will have a good ground. Now tighten down the connector with the 10mm bolt and use a washer if necessary. You are now done with that cable.
- Now with the power cables in hand, cut down 5 " of the electrical tape so you can pull them apart.
- Now, this part sucks. Period. No ifs ands or buts. The design of the distribution block sucks ass. They have some new design where you strip the wire and then fold it over the connector and then screw it in and in the following steps you will see why it sucks.
- Strip about 1/2" off of each wire. Now grab the dist. block and unscrew 2 of the gold connectors that are in the big block part. You will now place one over each wire you have stripped and then do the following. The idea is that you bend the wires over the end of the connector so it looks like a mushroom. Imagine a glass with a bunch of wet spaghetti in it hanging over the sides. You must make sure there is none getting in the way of the threads or it will not go in. You will have to trim some of the 4 gauge wires because they are so thick you will never get the connector into the block. Once you get them bent over the connector you will need to push it into the block and try to thread it in there so you can tighten it with a wrench. Do this to both power wires.
- Now strip one end of the 15' of power cable and do the same thing you just did with the other power cables. You will see that this is much easier because the wires are very fine and will bend easily.
- Now you have all of the inputs connected and as you can imagine with my design, the main power is not fused because it already has a fuse from the factory.
- Now jack the car up from the rear and place 2 jackstands under the rear subframe mounts.
- Go back up to the engine bay and run the power cable back to the firewall and then down near the fuel filter or where ever you want on the drivers side.
- Now get under the car and run the cable into the first hole on the frame rail and push it all the way back so it comes out the end near the rear subframe.
- You will need to remove the drivers side bin if you are mounting it there or you can remove both if you want the balance of mounting it behind the passenger. Pull out the big grommet because the small one will bunch up when you run the cable through it. Cut a small hole in the big grommet and pull the cable through so there is no slack.
- Place the battery as close to the middle as possible and then mark off 2 holes where the bolts will go. Then whip out your drill and drill the holes. The one on the rear of the chassis will be fine but the one close to the front will run into the subframe. CAUTION! There are FUEL lines under the drivers side so be VERY VERY careful where you drill! In fact, be carefull where EVER you drill.
- You now have the two mounting holes. Next is to drill holes in your securing plate the same, or close to, the width of the holes you just drilled.
- This is a tough step. Grab one bolt, nut, pressure washer, and big washer. Place the big washer on the bolt and then place the bolt through the securing plate and then through the hole. Now secure the bolt from turning with a socket and wrench or something like that, it doesn't have to be very secure, just put some weight on it. Next get under the car with the nut and pressurea washer and look for the bolt. You will most likely see it under the subframe it a VERY hard place to reach. Somehow you will need to get the nut to begin threading. Once it is threaded just a bit you can go to the top and tighten it. Do the same with the other bolt but that one will be MUCH easier because you can access it with no problem.
- Tighten the one closest the front of the car first and then tighten the other one and the battery is secured. It will secure itself using the tar on the bottom of the bin so it will not flop around.
- Strip one end of the 15' of power cable about 1/4" down and attach another crimpless connector to it. Now you can hook it up to the battery with some nuts and bolts.
- Take the 1' of ground cable and attach the last 2 crimpless connectors. You will see 2 small rubber plugs, pull one out. It is already threaded for a bolt so I happen to have one laying around that fit it. Take the grinder or whatever again and clean off another small circle and bolt down one end of the ground cable and then bolt the other end to the negative terminal on the battery.
- Finally, I made a quick battery terminal cover out of electrical tape. It would be nice to fuse the positive side or possibly the negative as well just in case you wanted to disconnect the battery and didn't want to unbolt it.
- Any questions please e-mail me..
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