Hey guys - Just wanted to throw in my two cents about my experience transporting my battery to the rear. For starters, I have to grind-off scale and por-15 rustproof the entire area near the stock battery tray to prevent further damage from of the metal. That part aside, here are the steps I've gone through as part of my rear battery mount.

Goto Walmart and pickup some 2-gauge jumper cables for a truck. Goto lowes and buy some copper lug clamps. I needed: 1x2-gauge lug, 2x4-gauge lugs, and 1x6-gauge lug. Just buy a pack of each. I bought some aluminum flat-stock, which I bolted to a plastic battery tray in the passengers side bin. Ground the battery to the chassis in the back and run one wire to the under the carpet alongside the drivers kick panel. Pass underneath the brake master/booster through the firewall. Make sure to tape the cable and great-stuff foam the opening to prevent chafing. Use wire-wraps and wire-clamps to secure everything. Go on ebay and look for a BMW Positive Junction Distribution Block from a M3. Crimp all the cables and reground the negative terminal to the metal. Check the pictures before asking me any questions please.


Granted, I did happen to be switching from a standard to turbo brake booster, so this might be a bit harder for someone with their brake booster intact.... haha. Ahh well...


David Brown

 

asdf

 

more

 

Please don't forget a fuseable link once you've relocated the battery.

 

Hi Marek - Could you elaborate?

 

Where's the ^@#(%^(*@% FUSE or CIRCUIT BREAKER in case of a short?
You ever seen wires that thick short out?
Can you say electrical fire?!?!?

Please don't post such dangerous things to do if you have no clue what you are doing!


-Ted

 

+1
And use grommets or bulkhead connectors instead of "great stuff" POS spray foam. All E36 and E46 BMW's had the battery in the trunk.

 

Dude, in his second post he said to add a fusable link... Reading helps...

 

No he didn't. Marek wrote it... Reading helps...

 

Where's your circuit breaker?

Using the BMW distribution panel is quite a good idea though. Most of the aftermarket panels suck which only leaves fabrication as the option. Nice to know there is a good OEM panel that can be found at the wreckers.

Those copper lugs are designed to be soldered, not crimped. So unless you used the proper crimping tool you're going to have issues in the future. If you are going to crimp, pack the lugs with dielectric grease first.

 

i'll take a picture of it - i just used a simple fuse holder for car stereo application mounted near the battery - super easy

 

yea

 

i'm sorry but this is looks like a total hack job to me other than the nice bmw distribution block

jumper cable wires are garbage, i'd much rather go to my local stereo shop and buy good wire there,

in picture imp_0923 why did you run the wire up over everything, it even goes inbetween your spark plug wires.

 

Aaron-

Are these the breakers you are using?

http://www.wiringproducts.com/index1.html ---->circuit breakers---->high amp waterproof breakers

I looked through your build thread but couldn't find where you posted it.

 

it is a hack job
but now you know about the bmw distribution block that costs under $10

 

Also, I'm not going to bother taking a snapshot of the fused link.

You wigged out over something you weren't certain about.

I had my friend who is an electrician come over and look at it after I did it and he said I wasted my time. My father who was a naval electrician said I wasted my time. The local speedshop said I wasted my time. I agreed that I wasted my time, took the link out, and gave it back to my friend who had extra car stereo stuff lying around.

Say whatever you want.

 

IIRC he used a Bussman 100 amp breaker. Quite a few auto parts stores carry them for around $25.

 

How's it a waste of time? Wire gets hot, fire starts and battery explodes within some time.

My dads seen battery's explode, it isnt pretty according to him.

 

if you really had an electrician of any sort look at what you did they would have slapped you.

you used uber cheap wire. FAIL
where is the wire wrap you spoke of???
you used some sort of (spray foam? instead of grommets you. FAIL
bought clamps that needed to be soldered but instead you smashed them. FAIL

your car is now 99% less reliable and most likely going to have some major electrical problems in the near future

this thread is an excellent example of what not to do

 

good work findin that D-block, i was gonna make make my own, this is much easier.

 

my 5 year old sister could do a better job geez
this is what it should look like when your finished
used a taylor battery relocation kit. buss 100 amp fuse(another location) couple pieces of ply custom bracketing for the bottom piece of ply. the top piece with the carpet is squeezed and beaten with a hammer slightly to get it to fit.
next step is a bmw service terminal for the engine bay.

 

yeah that is pretty nice looking
if i had more cash i'd do it nicely, but i don't have that option now
the car will be fine and instead of hating you should just enjoy the bmw distro block i found for this group here

 

Yes, I used the 150A Bussman breakers with manual reset.

All of those people have no idea what they are talking about and you should immediately stop taking advice from them. Without any protection, that long cable run from the battery to the engine bay is a hazard. If it were to chafe on the body and short, it would melt and catch fire. In extreme cases, the battery now sitting beside you could boil and burst. A breaker removes this issue.

A fusable link is a poor choice as if it pops, you are stuck at the side of the road. A circuit breaker is a better solution.

 

Are you planning on venting the gases from that oem-style battery or will you be going to a gel-type batt or Optima?

 

Rude people on this forum,couple of small changes(solder the lugs, add a grommet and a proper circuit breaker) and the relocation is golden. Thanks for sharing the distrubution block find.