Hi. I was reading the thread on welding cable.. I was going to put the battery in the trunk of my 37 Ford Tudor. I bought 50' of welding cable from a store that sells welders. I bought the largest size they had there. I bout a 50' run of #4 welding cable.. Turns out that it is to small.. So maybe I can change the location. Has anyone mounted there battery under the front fender?? Seems like a good location. I made a new firewall and there is no spot on it for the battery. I would like to know if there is a kit, or any information on how to fab. up a battery box mounted to the frame rail.. Thanks.. Al
Al, There is nothing wrong with using welding cable for the battery leads. Your design of putting the battery in the trunk is fine. Either double up on the cable or return it and buy some #2 cable. You will be fine.
Batteries have been put there before. If you choose to put it there you will need to fab. everything to fit the space you have. You will need to protect the battery from rocks, water, road kill and anything else that comes off the tire and could hit it. Also don't forget to leave a breather hole for fumes to escape through Also I don't know where the welder cable idea came from but I got asorted lengths of battery cable from my local NAPA store. Enough to go from the back of the car to the kill switch then from the kill switch to the starter. Good luck. Martyn Singlefingerspeedshop.com
Al, I have a 38 deluxe coupe, with the battery under the right front fender it works great, I fabbed up a stainless battery tray and put remote terminals in case I'd have to jump another car or charge mine. The only thing I would do differently is make the tray or buy one that drops down for battery replacement. Right now I have to remove front tire, kind of a PITA. Anyway good luck. Jon
don't see why welding cable won't work. we run a rear battery set up in both drag cars and in the hotrod with a one wire alternator and 8 ga. wire. have you had your alternator checked out.
Brain has a good point, double up the cable, trucks do it. might look funny, but it will work and is alot cheaper than buying more.
I just bought the Alt. 73 Amp. 38jon. Do you have a picture of it, or tell me how it was done kind of?? As far as the cable goes.. I bought it last year. I don't have the sales receipt. the largest they had was the # 4. I would kind of like to put it under the fender.. I have a slantback, and there isn't that much space to start with..
If possible, I always mount my battery in the front wheel well. Real close to the front and not necessary to run long cables. Also, you can get at the battery if it goes dead. I'm finishing up a 38 Chevy coupe right now and that's where I put it. I make my own mount with a drop down box for even easier access.
I run a rear mounted battery in my rpu,with no problems. I just use the frame for the ground.Thats how Freightliner does a lot of ther trucks. My old company,which i no longer work for had i would guessa 100 trucks this way,They did run 2#2 cables to sylinoid. You can double up the positive cable,you have. JOBOB
If I did double up the wires.. Is there a special lug that I would have to use??, and how do I conect them?? I already saw on that cable tread NOT to solder them in, because it makes it brittle. I have never done this before, but I am learning..
I've been running OPTIMUM type (sealed) battery in trunk inside a Marine plastic case with lid on right side tight up against back of GLIDE seat unit since 1995 & works great!! And yes, I also used welding leads for both positive & ground. I ran pos. lead (12in.) direct to shut off switch under p***enger seat, adding more welding lead to starter motor (3ft.), then smaller ga. wire to ENOS unit on floor board under seat, with all fused openings. Using about 15 inches of lead to frame for a good solid ground.
I put my '37 Plymouth's in the trunk using battery cable for the positive, and the ground to the frame, works fine. Somebody does sell a battery box for inside the rear of the front fender, but as 38jon says, you have to remove the wheel to get at it.
And,unless it's really accessible, I'd follow up on those remote battery posts.Get good ones-like the ones Ron Francis or someone else sells. Your car will never need a jump on a warm,sunny day. The battery in my A coupe is inside the frame in front of the rear axles and very inaccessible so the remote posts are a definite. I also use them to run the charger that keeps things ready when I'm not running the car all winter.
MY '33 battery mounted under p*** frt fender adjacent to the starter. You can't see with car on the ground. From the rear From the front (you can see slide mount) and its shielded from the front.
Jaguar XK-series cars in the 50s had the batteries mounted behind the front wheels in a compartment with a door attached by ****erfly-head Dzus fasteners. One 6V battery on each side wired in series to make 12V.
Thanks.. IU went to the mr.40's site.. dbradly. I like the way yours is setup. When I was thinking of building one. I thought of using some sort of bracket that hung over the rail, and is bolted threw. On the bottom flange I would make a steel frame out of angle iron.
I put mine between the platform over the spare and the right side, inside a Moroso box (which got covered in the front later). Never regreted it. Gary
I found a mount at speedway motors.. It is a bolt in.. I am learning to weld, but I wouldn't trust it yet for something this important. Think it would work?? I would have to bend some sheetmetal around it, and probably on top though.. I can do that..
Hey Al mine looks almost like that and it is bolted on to the side of the frame with four 3/8 bolts, then made a inner fender/splash shield something like Drake sells to protect the battery and a place to put the remote terminals. I put about 5000 miles a year on car it now has 20000 miles and no problems yet.
Now I here about the remote terminals. Would i also get them from Speedway?? As far as the side, and maybe a top, or some kind of deflector.. I can make them.. I have a sheetmetal brake..
............ i made one like that for my 55..it drops down to change the battery...mounted it in the frame 3 years ago..still there ..so yes it will work..
Ok.. I saw the remote terminals. Where would you put them?? I figure that a good sized cable would also go to them as well.. I do have a 6 point grounding system. It is basicly a bunch of 8 gauge wires that go from a ground plate to various spots where you want a good ground. Used alot on the imports.. I think I will order that tray from Speedway tomorrow. Then put a ad on Craigslist for 50' of #4 flexable welding cable..
I'd put them someplace where they are not really obvious, yet you can reach them for jumping without much trouble or groveling in the mud. On my A, they're just inboard of the running board,but I'm only running cycle fenders up front, so that was the only real place to put them. I also made a plate that includes a keyed switch in line with the positive cable for security. if you use one of these switches, I think Speedway's has a big,red toy-looking key, make sure it's in the POSITIVE wire. You never wand to interrupt your ground.
I prefer to put the battery under the wheel right across from the starter. The shorter the lines the less resistance you get in the starting process. Your car will fire real fast the shorter the lines. With today's long lasting batteries you won't have to open the battery box that often. There's a a lot of batteries boxes on the market from Summit or Jegs. Your just have to make a bracket to hold the box. Put in remote jumpers and a cut off switch near by and it'll work great. Who wants a big ugly battery box in the trunk? CRUISER
I'll have to think of a spot to put the remotes. Wouldn't that be extending the cables by having remotes?? Or is that just another cable running to the battery posts?? For security.. I was thinkin of putting a valve inline with the gas line.. Hide the valve just so you can get to the handle. Turn the line off.. You might be able to start it, but as soon as the gas is out of the line, and the carb bowl.. It stops..
Al here is a picture of where my remote terminals are mounted, the battery is one with both side mount terminals and top mount terminals just run short cables from the top mount to remote terminals and side mount to starter and ground. I think I got the remote from Jegs or Summit
About how much room is there between the battery and the tire??, as well as the remotes and the tire?? I have the battery mount comming from Speedway. The remotes I will get at Back to the 50's this summer.. All I want to be able to do is start the engine this summer.. I am only in my second year of the build. I have at least another year and a half to go..
Approx. 5" between posts and tire and approx. 10" between battery and tire the tire gets close to the posts when turning hard, I should have made the splash shield a little higher and put posts higher then I would have plenty of clearance. Any way it works. Good luck on your build post some pictures when you can.
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