Moving battery to trunk, worth it?

Boss 351

Here sthhhhhhhheeeve take a picthh of my man flowe
Jul 13, 2003
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I did this on my previous Mustang and I'm wondering if I should do the same on this one. It would make some room to put my MSD box under the hood and clean up the engine bay a little.

What I'm wondering is the extra weight of the long wires (ground + positive). These wires alone must be at least 10 pounds. What other benifits besides more engine bay room is there to putting the battery in the trunk?

I found a great thread with tech info on how to do the job while searching for pros and cons: http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=642048&highlight=battery+trunk
 
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its just a good way to move weight to the rear where it is actually needed. I for one, cannot justify buyin the box and all of the wires when its already in a nice convenient spot lol.....well..maybe if i had a notch
 
Honestly. I have a non track legal relocation and I started to gather the parts to make it street legal and now I'm thinking of just undoing it.

Doesn't seem like its worth the PITA and I don't think I want to do all the drilling into my stangs body (previous owner butchered it enough). Unless you need the space I don't think its worth the time or money.

Plus, if its a coupe its hard to locate the box in the trunk. The frame rails are right in the way (I f'n drilled into one cause I'm an idiot) and the trunk floor isn't level in all the right spots. Plus you have to locate the box right so that you can get the bat in and out w/ o too much of a hassle.
 
I moved mine to the trunk. It was a pain in the A@$. I really like the extra room in the engine bay. I made a nice enclosure for my MSD box and fuse block that I use for my E fan, and put it where the battery was. The weight transfer is minimal, but every little bit helps when you have a coupe that won't hook up.
 
You dont have to be a huge race dude to do it. It can be for show also. I did it for the best of both worlds, my engine looked like **** and i love it now, i also took out my ac beacuse it didnt work and for looks and performance, same reasons. The battery itself is a good 40lbs and though you are not completley getting rid of it, our cars are very nose heavy as is, taking 40 lbs off it and moving it to the back is a decent mod for traction. I noticed a very nice gain when i took off my ac and smog pump and ran a short belt and that was only about 40 lbs, I went into moving the battery knowing I wasent going to feel a gain but main was it worth it, My engine is so clean, and i love it.
 
Its up to you, it cleans up the engine bay nicely but is a PITA. If you do move it, make sure to install a cutoff switch as a lot of tracks require them when the battery is relocated. In a hatch, upgrade to a sealed battery like an optima... I wouldnt want any other one flying around in case of an accident.