Projects Battery location in a fat ford

So in the 41 I want to keep the battery under the hood. I am worried however, about the heat from the headers of the SBC being too much. I have the battery tray out now and trying to decide where to relocate it. I have heard of putting it inside the front fender well on the p***enger side, anyone else done this, or have pics? I want to avoid a trunk mount and hundreds of dollars in copper to make that long run.
Any pics and advice on keeping the battery under the hood in a 41-48 ford would be appreciated!

As a side note: I have everything else pretty much done. Brake lines, master cylinder, disc all the way around, th350 fit up, bones split etc. I'm on track to be on the road by July. Now this doesn't include all the interior and gl***work, but she will be running, driving, and stopping.

 

Could put it on the inside of the firewall behind the glove box?

never really liked the under the fender mount and the stock location is about impossible to get the motor in/out with out removing the stand/ shelf all together. I’m curious if you could use a smaller optima type battery and mount it higher in the firewall?

 

How close is the stock location to the headers? (a pic would help). In our neck of the woods (I'm not too far from you but can't get there because of the landslide on I-5) the ambient temp doesn't get too high, so I don't think your under hood temp would kill the battery too soon. A little less lifetime vs pain-in-the-*** accessibility is a good trade off in my book. (under fender location is unprotected from road rash)
Good luck!

 

On my avatar, after I installed the Olds 303, it was apparent there was no room for the battery in its stock position.
I used a smaller battery (grp 26) and created a new mount for it (added some sheet metal in front of it for some protection) inside the p***enger side fender well.
In its new location, it's not ideal, if you need to jump it, keep a battery tender on it, or charge it.
So, I bought one of those universal remote charging post, and put it inside the engine compartment, and created a hinged cover to hide it.

 

Mine's hung on the firewall in the engine compartment. One of these days if I can scare up enough ambition I'll move it to the trunk. I didn't mount it there, the builder did but it's been fine for 9+ years. I did rework the tray for a proper hold-down and to level it. Mount is super-simple; it's hung off the lip where the cowl and firewall are joined. Two 1/4" holes through the lip, two 1/4-20 bolts and nuts and you're done. No holes through the firewall into the interior.

 

Louvers,
effective and kool

 

If you got a price quote from a welding supply for "hundreds of dollars in copper", either 1/0 or 2/0 cable, avoid
that place like the plague. 25 feet of 1/0, $129 + free shipping.

 

Last 3 cars I built batteries were in the back, # 6 welding cable 12 feet long. Cost about $1.25 ft. Cables never even got warm. Current build is my 10.5-1 compression hemi starts instantly. I have 12 1/2 ft of #6 cable I'll sell for $20 plus the ride. I used 1/0 on one build and it seemed like over kill.

 

can see where concern of OP about possible expense of battery relocation to trunk by looking at kits listed on sites like summitracing.com

 

Under the hood is never going to be a low temp scenario. Keep it lower and it's too close to the headers; raise it up and the heat rises and hangs around the battery. I personally don't have batteries under the hood in any of my old cars. The cost of trunk mounting is cheaper than the cost of a battery, so all mine go in the trunk with a 2/0 battery cable to the front.

 

Yep, 1/0 is probably overkill but, I had about 600 feet of welding lead laying around doing nothing.

 

I’ll get in on this, the battery in my 40 pu is under the p*** side of the seat, not crazy about it but it works. Now my 40 wagon has the battery mounted under the p*** front fender. If I could find another place I would move it. You need to remove the front tire to get it out. Bad enough in your own garage, just think about it like in a motel parking lot.

 

On my '40 pickup, since I didn't have a trunk, I made a platform for the battery to sit on, bolted to the firewall. It has a leg that mounts to the frame rail, and with fenderwell headers, the under hood heat should be less.

 

#6 isn't even as big as what most OEMs use when the battery is in the engine compartment. It will work... under ideal conditions. But have a low battery, slightly dirty connection somewhere, heat-soaked starter or any of the other myriad starting issues that can occur and it will be seriously inadequate.

A typical series-wound 'vintage' starter will draw about 250 amps spinning an 'average' V8, producing roughly 4 hp. If you're using a modern permanent-magnet, geared starter that number can go down but can still easily be 150 amps. A 12' length of #6 will drop about 1.5V at 250 amps. For contrast, a 1/0 installed in its place will only drop about .35V, a reduction of 75%. Add in the voltage drop across the battery under this size load (another 1.5V) and you can pretty quickly see enough drop to where some ignitions won't have enough voltage to operate. Another issue is motors will draw more current trying to produce that same power when voltage drops. That 'extra' 1.5V drop in the wire can increase motor draw by up to 35 amp, causing yet more drop. It becomes a vicious circle.

The single most common wiring mistake made is by guys wiring their cars is using too-small wire for the load and length of the wire. The aftermarket harness vendors are a**** the worst offenders.

 

Have done maybe 8-10 40's with battery under p*** fender. Have never had an issue. 39 woody shown-gonna do a 40 woody soon. Getting ready to do another one.

 

Marty, does that require some inner fender well remodel?

 

Thanks for all the responses! After reading into these I will possibly consider a trunk mount. I really would like to avoid it though honestly. I like the firewall mount idea. I just want the trunk to be the trunk, where the suitcases and cooler goes on road trips,I prefer to not have a battery back there. Once I get the engine back in I'll decide which way to go.

 

No, here is a shot with the inner fender in place.

 

This is not a terrible deal for a trunk kit. If the gauge size is acceptable of course. I'm usually opposed to trunk mounter batteries, but sometimes they are a good solution.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...MIr_2ygqGk_gIVGymzAB0LYwY0EAQYASABEgIEefD_BwE

 

I think that “under hood” worries some. I’ve never had an issue with a battery under he hood, other than the look it has.
But I’m not “pop the hood up” guy.

 

A 48 to 52 F1 pu bat box and stand will work done this there is one for sale on the Hamb parts for sale .

 

If a person doesn't have access to a crimping tool, and everything needed to install a battery in the rear, the Summit kit isn't too bad. But the price can be easily beaten if you buy the lugs, and cable, and have a crimping tool to ***emble it yourself. The #1 cable size to me is a bare minimum, and 1/0 or 2/0 is much better.
I can buy 1/0 in a 25' length for $32 and free shipping. Lugs are about $1 each, and heat shrink I have plenty of. A guy can easily beat Summit's price by about 1/3rd of theirs.

 

Is your 25' length of 1/0 cable aluminum, copper coated aluminum or copper? 1/0 copper, which is the only thing I would consider in this application, runs right at $3.40 a foot plus shipping from Wire & Cable Your Way. My local welding supply is charging over $5.00 per foot. I didn't see anything on Amazon in that length and gauge for under $100.

 

I've got the battery in my 47 coupe in the trunk, still plenty of room left for luggage, tools, spare tire, etc. And it's under a carpeted cover so you don't see a battery when the lid is open. It will fit under the hood, but I'd rather have it out of sight. There's not much worse then having one of those Optima batteries sitting up there high and proud. But that's just me, some people like 'em.

 

Copper fine strand. The only thing that should ever be used for batteries, regardless of where they're located is copper fine strand. It has the highest amperage rating of any electrical cable.
I'd have to check the latest price as this was 2019 when I bought the last cable for my coupe.

 

That rating needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. It will still have the same voltage drop as its co****r-stranded brother for a given size/length/load. Voltage drop is strictly a function of cross-sectional area of the conductor and the material it's made of, the number of strands doesn't matter. So don't think you can subs***ute a smaller size using that higher rating unless the circuit can tolerate the higher drop, and in most cases for us it's a bad thing.

That cable has two reasons for existing. One, it's much more flexible than 'standard' cable. If you used standard cable for welding lead, it would be like wrestling a large snake all day and won't politely lay flat on the floor. It's sometimes used on machinery where you have a high-current circuit to feed a moving part. Think of it as a large-capacity extension cord, able to take movement without breaking.

Second, it's much more 'inert' when high loads are applied. Just like an air or water hose that get stiffer and tries to 'straiten' out when pressure is applied, a cable will do the same thing under a large transitory load. You can sometime observe this on battery cables when starting the motor as a slight movement. But in extreme cases, the cable can actually thrash just like a fire hose. This cable will have much less of that effect. Think cabling grounding a lightning rods system. I've installed most of this type cable over the years for this specific purpose.

 

I disagree. The cross sectional rating is higher for fine strand wire because within the size of the conductor the larger diameter strands, with fewer conductors have large gaps between strands. So finer strand wires get a denser conductor, and cross section is denser also.
If this wasn't true, then a standard 2/0 co**** strand conductor would have the same amperage rating as a fine strand welding, or battery cable. The fine strand cable in 2/0 is several times higher rating than the typical 2/0 conductors used in commercial wiring.
I agree about voltage drop, and that's why I prefer 1/0 or 2/0 cable.

 

I have had the battery in my 1946 Woodie with a SBC in the stock location, under the hood, for over 55000 miles with zero problems. Got eight years out of the first battery and the one in the car now has been there for 7 years. Why re-invent the wheel if you don't need to?

 

The battery in our 40 is in the p***enger fender well. It's a little bit difficult to hook a charger or jumper cables, but not impossible. Have to remove the wheel to change the battery.

 

I dunno about a fat Ford, but a fat lady keeps the batteries in our junk drawer....