Which side of the trunk, Left or right, do I place the battery if I want to put it in the rear like they did in the "old Days"?? I'm restoing a 69 SS 396 4-speed, M21, 350 HP option (L34)and nearly done. It was a basket case ... but the first owner had it in the trunk, I can tell from remnants of the cable I found inside the rear quarter when I cut out the rust to patch the rear panel!

From pictures in magazines of cars launching, it loooks like the car twists to the passenger side lifting the left side front tire. So it seems logical to me you'd wantthe battery over the left tire - but going to car shows I see restos with it on the right! Which is correct?
Rdhelmer@stcs.org graemlins/beers.gif

Right side of trunk, passenger side. From what i have read.

I have heard it counterweights the driver...i'm not sure if its correct but, what do i know...
Ed

I heard it helps keep that tire/side planted, i.e. the torque of the motor is trying to lift one side.

Ron,

I remember at least two 69 and one 68 Chevelle that use to drag back in the very early 70's. Each one that I remember seeing a battery in the trunk, always had it on the passenger side. Several of them, I remember, used Tractor trailers battery cables, to go up front. One guy, had his battery cable inside of a heater hose, for protection.
I saw one hot (+) cable wear through and touch the hole it was placed in, where it when through the trunk, what a spark show. Burned the (+) battery cable right in half.... just like a welder.

Fred.

passenger side behind wheel well. Should tuck right in. Make sure you use the proper gage wire at least 2 gauge wire.

Battery in the trunk...sigh. Outside of dedicated effort drag cars, this is usually something done for all the wrong reasons. For many, but not all, applications this will add nothing to your car's accelerative capability, but it will drain a few extra bucks from your wallet. Plus I have seen more than a few done improperly, to the point where a previously easy to start car now becomes needy of jump starts etc. Do not forget that the longer your battery cables, the greater the electrical current loss. I mounted a Harley battery on my firewall and have very short battery cables; about 24" long. Starts my 496 great, better then some trunk mount batteries I have had in the past.

Thomas

00 guage welding cable is the best to use, but I'm with Thomas, no need for such nonsense :D

Thomas I did relocate mine because at the time the battery tray was pretty rusty plus I was removing the fenderwells and I figured I'd go ahead and clean up the engine compartment. I've considered putting it back though.

JD, okay by me. I suppose what catches my attention on so many of the battery to trunk relocations that I see is that they are like the coffee can on the tailpipe - a lot of nothing, except that they strike a "racey" pose.

Almost no one did it "back in the day". Yes, the Hot Rod mags had pics, but that was a very small sample of the street racers. Most of the Hot Rod mag pics showing relocated batteries were from cars destined for a serious 1/4 mile life.

No offense, but I'm still trying to figure this one out on a L34 restoration. I guess that would be a second owner restoration?

I'm going to keep quiet now. Really, if you move the battery to the trunk make sure the cables are large and the battery is powerful. Make extra sure that if you custom make the battery cables to seal them up - corrosion can travel fast up an 8' to 9' battery cable.

Thomas

umm lets see here, so if people didn't do stuff 30 years ago, that means that we definetly shouldn't do it now??? And just because "some" people do bad jobs of things, means that everyone else is, and its a waste of time? I guess i should undo everything on my car because some people mess those things up and they didn't use any of it back in teh 60's? I have heard from people i trust such as davidpozzi and others that moving 60 pounds of the nose of the car and relocatin to the back will give you similar weight distribution as moving the engine back 3-4 inches! Plus it makes the engine bay look much cleaner, and helps put weight over the wheels. Definetly a worth while thing to do....unless you are going to be a dedicated drag racer, then you need an external on/switch which can be a pain in the butt on a street car. but you don't have to have one. I put my battery in the trunk. I get .01 drop in voltage from the battery to the front of the car, and my starter cranks over just as good as any other starter with a battery on the front, plus it only costs about $80. On a 100 point resto i don't see the point either, and sealing the connectisno and using good calbe is a good idea too, of course if you are going to do a good job, these things should be obvious

I have seen more of these turn into problems more then help. The main reasons they failed are.
1.Too small of cables and poor grounding
2.Incorrect battery encloser, venting into drivers compartment bad idea.
3.Cable ends just crimped and taped
4.Tech inspector wanting a kill switch outside.

As someone who did it ( and did it correctly )on mainly a street car "back in the old days" ...but for those who were around back then street racing was alot more prevelant, way of life on thursday nights, sometimes the action got pretty intense, the cars were race cars on the street back then with race suspension that had to turn occaisonally so you needed a well secured sealed battery box ( not condoning street racing just stating the facts ) one thing no one mentioned is if you left your battery in stock location with flimsy clamp , you almost always had the battery come loose and make a mess in the engine compartment ... remember 55-56 Chevy batteries were on the firewall ... with those cars and loose jacked up front suspensions you could easily pitch a battery in stock location in 69 I moved my current Chevelles battery to the trunk for mainly that reason ..... still there, done right, works fine .and yes moving the weight does help some , the theory is sound . I can still recall a well set up LS6 Chevelle convertible with slicks pitching the battery on the 1-2 shift...!!

Okay, I'm awake again.

Everybody is free to place their battery wherever they please - this is still America.

A quality Chevelle size battery, group 24/74, will weigh just shy of 40 lbs. A Ford/Mopar group 27F or 27, can weigh ~ 60 lbs. If you like you can mount a heavier group 27 in your trunk. Some people even mount two group 24 or heavier group 27 batteries in their trunk. So that would be increasing total vehicle weight.

Let's see: you have a Chevelle, and you obviously like performance. So you move the battery to the trunk - but it is a restoration so you don't want a hole in the car for the external battery off switch mandated by the NHRA. We won't even get into the enclosed battery box that needs to be vented to the outside. I'm okay with the hard core dedicated race cars moving the battery. I'm even okay with non-racers moving their battery.

Some people might take my replies the wrong way - but I am completely fascinated when non-racers relocate their battery. Without setting up your suspension geometry for weight transfer, and without sticky tires (slicks), I can guarantee the only thing you gain is the pride of having your battery in the trunk. Appearances otherwise, I'm really okay with this - it is your car after all.

No Chevelle ever pitched a factory hold down battery unless someone didn't tighten the mount correctly.

Wanna lose some weight, not just move it to another place on the car, and gain performance in a way that WAS wildly popular as a day 2 mod? Take those super heavy and restrictive cast iron exhaust manifolds off, and install tube headers of your choice.

Thomas