Battery - location?

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Alfa02

I have the latest photo of CSX2345 with a battery in place. Can anyone help me post the photo without the email info. Steve (Volk) sent me the picture this morning though my Email, but not computer savvy enough to just send the pictures. Help? Cheers TommyRot.

Save the photo to your desktop (or "downloads" directory on your tablet/phone) then post it up here the normal way,

[Karl Bebout]

I'd either never noticed or perhaps never seen a Cobra with those strut rods on top of the foot boxes? Obviously my ed-u-ka-shun is lacking. Were they standard or is this a one-off?

[Morris]

You guy’s are to funny....

[t walgamuth]

I guess my confusion is irrelevant.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I guess my confusion is irrelevant.

Intuitively, you would think that if you place a ten pound weight in the driver's seat that the distribution of that weight might be three pounds each on the driver's side front and rear tires and two pounds each on the passenger side tires. But noooooooo, as you can see from my post above giving exact numbers, even when you plop almost two hundred pounds in the driver's seat, only one pound goes to the opposite side front wheel. I corner weight my car, and measure it both with me in and out of the car. It would be stupid to place a weight in your car, like a battery, without knowing what your distribution is before you choose where to place it. You might be making a small problem bigger by placing it in the wrong spot. Plus it will make getting the cross weight at 50%, and maintaining a nice stance, all the more harder.
But, to be honest with you, if you're not driving car ridiculously hard to begin with, it probably doesn't matter anyway.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by patrickt

...It would be stupid to place a weight in your car, like a battery, without knowing what your distribution is before you choose where to place it....

I understand what you're saying Patrick, however, my engine and transmission are yet to be fitted.... but I have to decide on a location for my battery now, using commonsense, so it's going in the trunk on the passenger side.

On their website, ERA state in their FAQs for the 427 that "Our standard car mounts the battery on top of the passenger's footbox, in approximately the same place as an original street car. Optionally, you can move the battery back into the trunk for more rear weight bias." By your reasoning, are they throwing caution to the wind, and saying "you choose"?

Cheers!
Glen

[patrickt]

No, they'll put it in the back if you want. On a 427 car, with an iron block, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, and few other aluminum parts, it's better to have the battery up front. Even with my battery up front, I'm 48% weight up front and 52% weight on the rear, with me in the car.

[Morris]

Having your battery in the trunk on either side is a dangerous situation because there is no protection for the battery especially next to the fuel container.....a simple accident could cause a major disaster.

And it doesn’t matter about your motor & transmission being mounted cause like Patrick said & I said on a US car....driver on the left side....the drivers weight goes on the Left Front, Left Rear, & Right Rear.....for those that don’t understand me....the Right Front will not get any significant weight......

Now placement of your battery is a weight you can move around to get balance where you want or need it....more to the rear will help rear weight but it needs to be encapsulated to prevent accidental damage.....in the passenger compartment it is protected by the cage or roll bar and side bar structure....which is much safer...

Down under where you are just reverse everything I said.....but more importantly mount the battery in a battery box for protection, and the main disconnect has to be reachable by someone outside of the car....and marked with a decal......just saying....

[xb-60]

Hi Morris. Thanks for the comments.

I understand what you’re saying, and yes, ideally, I would mount the battery in an encapsulated box in my trunk. That is what I was initially considering…. but had to reject the idea because of the unrealistic intrusion in the available trunk space.

As I see it, the environment under the hood is somewhat challenging anyway for a battery, with extreme heat and the presence of a high pressure fuel system.
In the trunk, there’s an absence of high temperatures. Yes, there’s fuel, but not under pressure. Both trunk and under hood areas are at risk in collision conditions.

Cheers,
Glen

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by xb-60

As I see it, the environment under the hood is somewhat challenging anyway for a battery, with extreme heat and the presence of a high pressure fuel system. In the trunk, there’s an absence of high temperatures.

Mounted in the front under the fender wall is not as bad as you think. I put in a fresh battery last spring and, on ERA cars, you come in from the wheel well. Note the battery "box" and heat shielding, along with the ventilation mesh. The heat is not as bad as you think. Now, I don't have a high pressure fuel system. On a good day, it's 6psi at best. So I'm not sure what that concern is. If you get hit hard enough up front to rupture your fuel lines you're probably a goner anyway -- even if you left the battery back on the garage floor.

[strictlypersonl]

Originally Posted by Morris

Having your battery in the trunk on either side is a dangerous situation because there is no protection for the battery especially next to the fuel container.....a simple accident could cause a major disaster.

Most of us, with non-original-style kits don't expose the tank in the trunk. It's behind sealed panels that separate it away from anything dangerous. The same way that almost all production cars do, including the Shelby 427 street model.

[RUFdriver]

Here’s mine, enclosed battery box right rear, the fuel cell protected in it’s own metal enclosure.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RUFdriver

Here’s mine, enclosed battery box right rear, the fuel cell protected in it’s own metal enclosure.

And why was that location chosen?

[1985 CCX]

Here’s where mine resides.

[xb-60]

I'm thinking of leaving the battery out ....and the engine and trans. out as well ....

Cheers!
Fred Flintstone

[1795]

Originally Posted by xb-60

I'm thinking of leaving the battery out ....and the engine and trans. out as well ....

Cheers!
Fred Flintstone

That will definitely make it easier to corner weight it.

[RUFdriver]

Originally Posted by patrickt

And why was that location chosen?

Multiple reasons, primarily access and maintenance . The battery is easily accessible thru the trunk or the wheel well, it’s a very convenient place to run the battery tender. The other option would be the forward bulkhead of the trunk ( ERA). Extra rear weight also aids traction, that’s why the 911 ( near 40/60 bias) has such an advantage on the track.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RUFdriver

Multiple reasons, primarily access and maintenance.

That's reasonable. With my ERA I can not access the positive terminal of the battery without removing the front tire and access panel and pulling the battery out of the car. I might be able to fish my arm under the fender well and put my finger on the terminal... maybe... probably not. My positive cable has a knife disconnect switch on the firewall though and I actually prefer a knife switch -- it's really easy to tell when they're open and closed. That's where I attach my Battery Tender. Other than putting a BT on, my big ol' Interstate requires no maintenance whatsoever, but if you did have a battery that required maintenance, that might be a compelling reason in and of itself.

[Alfa02]

If I may add my $.03 here, and again just my opinion. I've spent most of my (Working) life on the road (Tanker Truck Driver) with over 2million miles on my Professional driving record, and quite a few miles (On the street) under my belt, in the sports cars I've owned. I can honestly say the number of accidents I've seen where the car had caught on fire in a rear ender, and the people were caught in car, is one, and I believe those people may have not survived the accident even if the car had not caught fire. If any of us were so worried about accidents, we sure as hell would have never picked Cobras to drive So I believe the odds are in our flavor. And again in racing this is a non issue, what with Fuel Cells, and Batteries well secured. If any of us were this worried about these thing's happening, most of us would never get back in (any) car. Cheers TommyRot.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Morris

...importantly mount the battery in a battery box for protection, and the main disconnect has to be reachable by someone outside of the car....

Now, it would be stupid to ask questions of the experts here on Club Cobra and not take the advice offered, yes?
So, thank you Morris, and other respondents whom I would regard as knowledgeable/experienced…I am attempting to find a suitable battery box to contain my battery.
It is still not at all possible to fit the battery anywhere under the hood, but it should now be safe in its own box in the trunk.
The installation will intrude significantly into my trunk space, but we don’t buy or build Cobras because of their large storage space anyway…

Cheers,
Glen