I don't agree with even one of these justifications.

There is no complexity in running the positive cable to the OEM mounting point because there is already both a route from the cabin through the driver fender and an existing wire harness to route it along. There is no cutting and there is a 2" grommeted hole to feed the cable through to the cabin. It is by definition a safe route because it is good enough for OEM wiring - there is nothing to rub on that is not already protected by an OEM grommet. If one were to use the door sill as an in-cabin wire route, the entire route to the bins would be along OEM tracks.

An extra three or four feet of cable is $12 bucks or so I can't see any real cost argument either.

There is also the serviceability argument: the engine bay location allows for easy checking of the connections.

The primary argument for in-cabin wire routing is safety. Even with all the care you have taken in your install, you are running live battery cable next to a fuel line at one point.

And the wire is between a car and the ground if you hit a bad curb. or a road hazard of any kind.

I just purchased a Westco battery for my 99 Miata and the old OEM Miata battery still has some life in it. Would I be able to use the OEM battery in the OP's guide? It seems that the OEM battery is a bit bigger than the Westco I replaced it. I can actually fit the OEM battery inside the passenger bin and close it without problems so that's at least a bit hopeful.

the biggest fitment issue you'll face is how the bin gets narrower as it goes down. if the battery is too wide, it'll sit higher in the bin (unless you cut out a portion of the bin, of course) so you'll have to make a taller "bracket" for the battery to sit on. because it'll be taller, you'll have to make sure the lid will be able to close over the top. just make sure the lid can close even if there is anything that will sit on top of the battery (wires, connections, or whatever else).

:icon_tup:

I'll consider relocating my +cable.
Beware of high temps in the tranny tunnel though. There is a reason there are heat shields in there. It gets HOT. Check the temp rating on the plastic cable hangers you used.

And although I agree with the argument about running fuel and spark next to each other, the fear of damaging underbody essentials during an offroad incident may be exagerated. Playing devils advocate, if the impact is hard enough to split a fuel line, then brake lines are also in jeopardy. Somehow we don't consider relocating brake lines to a less vulnerable position even though they are equally important. A ruptured brake line from impact with a road object can lead to brake failure and very bad things happening there after.

On a side note I use SS hardware EVERYWHERE - no rust :)

Nice writeup BTW - where were you when I did my install? ;)

Regards,
Crispy

Where was I? I was a couple of years behind you Crispy. Thanks to you and others for innovating so the rest of us can learn and enhance to fit our needs where we can.

I'll take the info offered under advisement.

Fwiw, I also sprayed undercoating on any area that I drilled into to help avoid rust and such.

Cheers.

hey moconnor, the link in the 1st post don't work, can you fix it please?

Posts are only editable for 20 minutes after posting. The new link is here.

sorry, but that sent me here: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/

^that's with firefox browser, and internet explorer sent me to the right one I think, but I got a "page cannot be displayed" error page.

http://%22http//www.stanford.edu/~sunid/battery/

okay, it worked when I took off the mess before the www part. thanks for the link.

I just wanted to reitterate how good of a writeup this was. I just finished my relocation project using this as a guide and it turned out beautifully... I used all Stinger products with the digital HPM battery terminals. It looks so very clean. I just have a few small things left to do to make it look even better. I think I am going to make a plexiglass cover for the bin that the battery is in that will hide everything but allow the battery volts to be read on the battery terminal. When I get it all done I will post some pics... Thanks again for taking the time to do this writeup.

Yep. The only difference is I ran the cable down the drivers side rail and under the bins vs down the middle hump.
It looks fantastic, I used the stinger hardware as well. Great writ up and parts source!

Thanks again MOCONNER.

^Yeah I tried to do that but the wire didnt fit very cleanly so I had to run it down the center hump.. But it all turned out great!

It worked perfect for me...Did you use the 0 gauge wire from HiFi? There was even a space to run the wire through the frame...

I couldn't get the 0-gauge wire to fit along the door sill. Did you run it under the carpet or under the plastic cover?

FWIW, my Mini and BMW both use 2 gauge for the trunk mounted battery wiring.

I had plenty of issues trying to get 0 gauge wire routed. Could just be me though since others had great success. :)

You needed to go lower with the wire. You could actually run it up against and through the frame. I wrapped a piece of rubber tube around the wire were it went through the frame.

If you are willing to drill a hole in the firewall above the gas pedal mount (easy to do) you can run it up under the dash, between where the plastic radio surround section of the dash and carpet meet in front of the shifter, down the side of the center console and into the rear bench. I did it this way and it worked out very well.

Battery Relocation Update
 

I recently redid my battery relocation while doing a computer system and auxiliary injection system install. I was never very happy with the big ass 0-gauge positive cable I used in the initial install because it required some circuitous routing - so I redid it with 4-gauge cable. The updated write up is here.

https://www.stanford.edu/~sunid/batt...ryTopView2.jpg

I hope to have a write up of the auxiliary injection install soon (though there is a preliminary write up here).

looks great. very clean install.

I love that install. I used to to make mine.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/...39a8301e66.jpg

.awesome. I need to do mine as well but i don't know what connectors to get. what did you buy? do you have a list of parts?

I just added a list to the end of the writeup.

Pretty cool. Looks like you had more room to work with using that battery.