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Battery Relocation/Tech Write Up on Web (Long)



I decided to clean up the engine wiring and euro light wiring this weekend.
I wanted to mount a distribution block by the battery or somewhere else but
there was really no place to cleanly install it. So I decided to help my
weight distribution and relocate the battery to the rear of the car. I
ordered a sealed Red Top Optima battery so I wouldn't have to get a sealed
battery box and run a vent line. Plus the Optima battery would is superior
to conventional plate type batteries. The polished aluminum box looks pretty
cool and it also comes with all stainless hardware with poly inserts. I had
lots left over so I think I got a good deal on it. The wiring kit was easy
but you could probably by all the stuff cheaper separately.  I got a
bulkhead connecter since I though I was going to have to drill a hole in the
firewall but I used an old AC line hole so I didn't need it. I bought pretty
much all my parts from Summit racing and it came to about 300 bucks. And add
a extra hundred to that for the distro blocks and fuses, but this part could
have been done way cheaper (i.e. not Phoenix Gold). All the pics are on my
webpage at www.scirocco16v.com under the New Mods section.
The install went fairly smoothly Chris Cramer helped !ALOT! with the wiring
part and with anything his anal retentive ass just HAD to fix or clean.
Probably the biggest problem was bending the one gauge wire, it really hates
90 degree turns. The turn once it gets into the interior is the worst since
the carpet must lay flat there and there is a fastener that resists going
back on. I was planning on running it down the passenger side door sill but
there was not enough cable and I would rather not deal with that black
carpet glue. Running it down the center tunnel worked real well and was easy
(only one patch of glue to deal with). Plus it gave us some much needed
slack. I didn't run it down the drivers side because the existing firewall
plug was filled with shit already. Mounting the box was easy to, it had to
go on the drivers side due to wire length and I didn't want to obstruct my
spare at all. I ran one bolt through the front and a screw on the back since
it was over the bulkhead right in back of the gas tank. The box is bigger
than I thought but it will force me to stop hauling around a complete 16V
parts car tool box back there all the time. I put the foam isolators from
the box the battery came in into the box to keep and rattle and vibration
down, I'm sure you could crank the tie down strap down to do the same but it
would take forever since there is so much thread on the ends. I've got a
couple of rattles but I'm sure I can sort that out quickly. The wiring in
the engine bay is straight forward, I wanted on distro block for the engine
components and accessories and fused one just for my relayed euro lights.
There was a little issue with grounding but Chris worked it out by putting a
screw through the lexan. We forgot to reattach the tranny ground wire which
lead to spending 30 mins or so figuring out why the car refused to start
then when it did why it would only start after the key was placed in the On
position. Turns out we could've fried some shit because all the thing that
ground to the motor had no ground but they all had power...but all turned
out good. Summit includes with their kit pos and neg screw in battery
terminals and instead of grounding this huge ground wire to the common
ground on the lexan plate we drilled a hole into the bumper mount channel
and installed the post. Works very well and assures a really good ground. We
took all the headlight wires and ran them in front of the radiator and where
the ac condenser used to be and plugged them into the second fused distro
block. Blah blah blah....
I am pleasantly surprised to find the handling of the car to have changed. I
knew it would make somewhat of a difference but I didn't think it would make
the kind of improvement it did. The cars turn in response is startling, it
caught me off guard at first, I thought my rack was screwy. I really like
it! And the wiring is sooo much better. I still need to finish up and do
some cleaning. Thanks again Chris Cramer...Anyway...roc on.

Thank you for your time.
Shannon Fenton
Telecom Resource Management
Amazon.com
206.266.6736
sfenton@amazon.com


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