trunk mounted battery safety question

[nbristow01]

I may be overreacting but is it really safe to put the battery 18 inches from the gas tank? Most cars have sheet metal over the gas tanks. it just seems if rearended the combo of gas and a possible sparking battery could be really a bad deal

[nbcbird]

I can understand your logic. But take the trunk install a step further--many of the members in this forum use the E30 battery cable and run it on the passenger side of the vehicle (RIGHT ON TOP OF THE GAS LINE!). I installed my cable on the driver side where there was an existing chase for all the rear electrical connections.--Jim

[nbcbird]

I can understand your logic. But take the trunk install a step further--many of the members in this forum use the E30 battery cable and run it on the passenger side of the vehicle (RIGHT ON TOP OF THE GAS LINE!). I installed my cable on the driver side where there was an existing chase for all the rear electrical connections.--Jim

[williamggruff]

Your point is well made, like the tip of a carbide steel drill. Most racing leagues in North America require the battery to be contained in a marine case to limit the likelihood that a spark will get to the fuel. Of course, most racing leagues also require the fuel to be stored in a fuel cell, which also reduces the likelihood that fuel will be sloshing around immediately after impact.

A few other ways to minimize the battery spark + fuel equation include:

1. Never put fuel in the car. Fuel is nasty stuff, primarily the oozings of dead dinosaurs. The car will smell much better without all that fuel in it anyway. And it will go faster too, since fuel is quite heavy. This is your best bet. Your mileage may vary, depending primarily on how tall a hill you park it before emptying the fuel tank.

2. Consider solar or wind power. Enjoy the clean, effervescent scent of clean air as you toodle around under a giant solar collector. Or listen to the wind as it ripples the sails. What a glorious way to ride! But be forewarned: the sun is the largest unregulated nuclear power in the Solar System, and nothing with that much power can be trusted. Sooner or later the U.N. will issue a viciously worded letter to the sun, demanding that nuclear inspectors be allowed to visit unannounced. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the solar debate when the blue helmets get all fired up.

3. Convert to an electric car. This is a terribly impractical idea, as the weight of the batteries will throw off the delicate balance of the car. But safety isn't supposed to be fun, that's why they call it "safety".

4. Go faster than everybody else on the road, and only stop if there's nobody close enough to run into you. This pretty much rules out any metropolitan area in the northern hemisphere, but at the speeds you'll be traveling, you won't want to be screwing around with traffic anyway.

Best of luck with the battery relocation.

williamggruff

[c.d.iesel]

....well how much safer is the front mounted battery,

which i have rarely seen secured because of missing

clamp bracket! when it falls into the spinning alternator pulley

on a good road bump - and into the alternator generating

all that current ????

and your gas tank is no better position than the exploding Pinto,

or hot muffler resting mm's or flush against the gas tank

your battery is the least of this cars built in dangers

oh, and , check the dinky sized hardware holding your seat tracks

to the flimzy floor sheet metal

don't worry - be happy

[nbristow01]

jeeeeez, just a question. I see no sense in the obviosly potential of making a stupid error. My point was if there is a safer way to secure it in back ie without the risk of buring. I enjoy the pleasure of not being mr safety but what pleasure is derived from rear mounting the battery??? Ummm NONE. No thrill there. Just frees up some engine bay space.

I was wondering if mounting under the rear seat has been tried. You see this a lot in some British cars(when they run)At least there it is still close to the rear wheels but has several layers of protection from the gas tank.

of course this may take the thrill out of grounding your battery to the fuel tank for some folks I guess. (Guys this is light hearted by the way, I'm just messing around)

[M3M3]

lots of folks put it under the rear seat too. many threads with pics exist.

[nbristow01]

Great, thanks i will look it up.

[JohnC]

I was wondering if mounting under the rear seat has been tried.

Yes, I've done it. In my opinion, this is the way to go. Best weight distribution, and I don't give up my VALUABLE trunk space (this is very important for a daily driver). The downside is inconvenient accessibility, to disconnect my battery, I disconnect at the positive terminal at the firewall. Ideally you want to disconnect the negative. To do this, you need to lift the back seat.

I'm using two odyssey batteries in parallel. I'm pretty sure I've posted a pic or two, but check out Zenon's site. I copied him. Someone else is using one of these batteries with satisfactory results. You can even buy a nice holder that fits the battery, but I don't remember where to get that.

http://www.zeebuck.com/bimmers/

[bobthomas]

Mine's in the trunk but under the seat may be OK. Older VW beetles & VW things came from the factory with the battery under the seat. I have heard a tale,don't know if it's true, of too many large people sitting in the back of a beetle & sagging the seat enuff for the seat's springs to short out the battery causing problems.

[aa/fd]

Oh my I had a 67 Fairlane R code with a factory trunk mounted battery in a box and the whole trunk floor was the top of the gas tank, as were most 1960's era cars.

I wonder if it took model rocket motors to ignite the gas on the Pinto during tests, like the faked GM pickup tests. Sure looked spectacular on the news though.

I drive my 2002 like it is a Pinto, out weighed 1000lb by everything out there, so don't get hit.

You may even have to run a red light to avoid that young lady in your mirror texting.

[auggiemize]

Recently installed an Optima in the trunk. Worried me a little. Wouldn't it make more sense to put the gas tank under the seat? (yes, CD, I'm old enough to remember the Pintos, or worse yet, the Corvairs)... Dave V. in NC

[williamggruff]

nbristow01,

For clarity's sake, I was just joking around. Not about the sun of course, but about the other stuff.

I had a Ford Pinto station wagon (shorty wagon) as my first car. Robin's egg blue with fake wood on the doors. 2.3 liter Ford in-line 4 banger with a 4-speed manual. Handled like a dream in the snow. Seriously.

I got rear-ended in that car and nothing happened. I was dismayed. I thought for certain I was going out in a giant ball of fire. What a disappointment. The insurance company told me (my parents, actually, but it was my car for getting to and from school) that it was a write-off. I couldn't quite understand how the car could be a write-off after I was able to drive it home, then to and from school for 3 weeks while we waited for the insurance company to make up their minds about what to do. Anyway, I (or my parents, on my behalf) got rid of the car and I was upgraded to a Mercury Zephyr. Four doors, same 2.3 liter Ford 4 banger, same 4-speed manual trans. It was a K car with a different emblem. My parents had put 140,000 miles on it and the engine, clutch and throw-out bearing needed replacing. My brother and I pulled the engine (as we had done with the Pinto the previous year), ground out the cylinders, cleaned up the head, got a new PCV, installed a new clutch and TO bearing, and we were off to the races. It sure was sweet having a barn in which to yank the engine and do all the fun stuff.

Now I'm working on my 2002 in my driveway in Arlington, Virginia. It's not quite the same, but it is. Carburated motor, simple trans set up, etc. But it's a car on which I WANT to work rather than a car on which I HAVE to work. So the safety issues don't really bother me. I look at all the safety features on my Passat, then compare the power to weight ratios between the Passat and the 2002, and it seems to make sense. No electro nonsense in the 2002. Just some sweet engineering, and a little bit of RELATIVE safety risk.

I will put my battery in the trunk, and store it in a marine box. I have a heat shield between the exhaust and the gas tank. And I always wear a seat belt. That's about as safe as I expect the car to be. It will end up costing far more than my Passat when my 2002 project is complete, and that's OK as well.

Best of luck with your battery replacement plans. Under the back seat, in the trunk, in the front passenger compartment, whatever. Happy trails.

williamggruff

(the original billy goat)

[bluedevils]

You can add a motion sensitive switch to your battery in the trunk, which will cut off the battery on a heavy impact. They are available from old Ford Taurus cars, plenty in the junk yards. It will also work as an anti-theft device, just give it a yank when you go home and it will shut off. There is a write up somewhere, a 2002 brother put it in his EFI conversion, don't recall the name.

[ClayW]

I may be overreacting but is it really safe to put the battery 18 inches from the gas tank? Most cars have sheet metal over the gas tanks. it just seems if rearended the combo of gas and a possible sparking battery could be really a bad deal

My dry-cell battery is securely mounted inside a TEP rear shock tower brace. It's higher than the gas tank and I have a cut-off switch installed.

I don't know....I've been lightly rear-ended. I've also seen cars that got really smashed in the rear and I've never heard of any burning.

But, whether we want to admit it or not, like Creighton says, these cars aren't going to be as safe as new cars. Personally, I don't think that the rear-mounted battery is unsafe, unless you mounted it with a bungee cord right on top of the fuel tank with no plywood between them.

Like others have mentioned, some have mounted one or two batteries under the rear seat. You could also put your battery in a box.