[rpol78]

Has anyone routed their battery cables through the passenger compartment on a '66 or '67? I'm running 1 gauge + and - to the engine.

I started going under the rear seat but there's not enough room to clearance them. Also I started reading about back seats catching on fire, etc. I've read of people running them along the door and under the door seal but I'm not sure how they would fit under a door seal plate.

I'd like to run them along the tunnel so they come out behind the engine and be more hidden. I thought about making a channel to fit under the rear seat to give clearance.

Just looking for ideas...

 

[Jim Streib]

I've heard of people also running the wire down the side of the transmission tunnel as well as going through the trunk floor, then down to the frame or underside of the floor. If you have the wire, see how it would fit in different area's. I've also had carpet out of a car then put some built up thickness of jute sound deadener to match the height of the cabling and then put the carpet back in to where it doesn't have a lump seen in the carpet.

I too would be concerned about fires and other safety concerns such as the build up of fumes should the battery become overcharged, proper protection for the wire chosen by using the proper size and type of inline fuse or circuit breaker, properly securing the battery, proper grommets should the wire pass through a metal panel, properly securing the cable along it's length, properly routing the cables away from excessive heat, and so on.

Hopefully if you have the wire it is a copper wire and not a copper clad aluminum wire. A 1 gauge copper clad aluminum wire has less ampacity that a 1 gauge copper wire.

Here is some 1/0 wire I ran using some plastic compression grommets to get the wires from inside the trunk of a car to underneath it:

Also if you run the cabling under the car, use the P shaped clamps with the rubber inserts in them. I call them Adel clamps:

I've also seen guys use pass through connections but to me the less connections, the better.

Summit Racing SUM-CSUMG1431 Summit Racing™ Bulkhead Cable Connectors | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Summit Racing™ Bulkhead Cable Connectors with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Electrical Bulkhead Connectors at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

Jim

 

[Pete 67]

When I built my pro-touring '67, I relocated the battery to the trunk & ran the positive cable from the starter inside the passenger side frame rail. Sorry I don't have any pics.

 

[hydro462]

Use the cars steel body and frame for the negative. Steel doesn't conduct like copper at the same size but the massive amount of steel beats the small copper line.. I always used #1 or #2 copper TW.. Then by a bunch of bonding cables and bond all the major steel parts together...

 

[rpol78]

I'm using an American Autowire kit for the cables (Trunk Mounted Battery Cable Kit- Top Post). The car is a pro-touring car with quite a few mods and I'm looking at using a PDM or something like a coach controls box in the back.so the power wires for the headlights, wipers, turn signals, etc will need to go back forward also. I'm already planning for a solenoid in the back and a 200A breaker. I was hoping there was more room between the back seat and floor board for the wires. If I use Holley's PDM at least it only takes a small cable for the switches to the PDM.

Arghhh.....

Custom cars... Custom problems...

 

[rpol78]

FWIW - I ended up making a trough under the back seat for the battery cables and PDM wires for either Coach Controls or a Holley PDM mounted in the trunk. I still need to finish welding and making the cover. I'm going to run the battery cables along the tunnel and then through the firewall behind the engine to keep them hidden.

Here's a pic of what I did. The trough is made out of 16 gauge.