Version6

So my FC went down again, I'm certain its because the Positive cable to the starter is badly corroded and figure its a good excuse to do a battery relocation while in the parking lot at work. So I spent last night searching through the forums, on my phone, for info and found a lot of conflicting and useless info. Plus all of the "guides" I saw simply have you bolt up to the old cables via a junction block, which would do me no good if the cables are bad.


What I plan on doing:
I'd like to stick the battery directly in the rear, maybe slightly offset to the passenger side, and ground it off to the floor of the trunk (or elsewhere). The positive cable will first run to the spare tire/license plate area, which is where I'll have the kill switch hooked up should I decide to participate in SCCA events. From there it will follow along the passenger side and go to a bulkhead style connector which will be going through one of the holes where the AC used to be, it will then route over the transmission and go to the starter.


What I need to know:
How do I hook the alternator up? None of the guides even bothered with this.

What kind/gauge cable? This is where I see a lot of conflicting info, some people say welding cable, some say stereo cable, others say cable from Lowe's. Some say 2 gauge, others say 4... etc

What about powering the rest of the car such as the underhood fusebox? Click to see wtf I am talking about I don't have a decent wiring diagram to follow and this is the first time I've messed with electrical components on this scale.

Can I use a salvage yard Fuse box for the battery? What size fuse should I use? I know it's a good idea to run a fuse or circuit breaker as close to the battery as possible, but could I re-purpose a fuse box from a salvage yard? If so what size fuse should I run?

Anything else I should know?

SirCygnus

iTrader: (1)

my biggest advice is to tear into the charging harness and the starter harness. once you get an idea of how those are connected and routed, then you use a guide to figure out what gauge wires is appropriate for the ammount of amperage over a specific length of wire.

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

well there are a couple of ways to do it, so you're going to see a little variation, but here's the lazy way, its what i did.

i left the stock charging harness alone, and ran the new cable right to the same place on the starter that the stock cable goes to. so in effect nothing else needs to be done, and you only need to insulate the stock + terminal, or you can run dual batteries.

if you DO replace the stock cable, your new one needs to duplicate the routing of the original

since the new cable routing is longer, you should run a battery cable that is at least as big as stock.

hollowfikation

iTrader: (1)

+1 once you understand how the starting/charging system works and how it is routed, it will make a lot more sense to you. It is a very easy job. Only advice I can offer is, make sure it's a clean install and you do it the right way. You'll avoid future problems this way. Clean grounding points, properly routed wires, decent battery terminals. Also if you are using a flooded battery, you will need to vent it. I recommend a sealed agm battery and a decent mount box. Personally I think 4 gauge is more than enough for you. Stock cables are 8 gauge. If you have a sound system or a ton of aftermarket electronics, you could go 2 gauge, but even then 4 gauge is plenty.