Hey guys,

I'm doing a battery relocation soon and I am going to order the battery. Since it will be in the passenger compartment I need a dry cell battery such as Optima yellow or red top. I am debating on which one that I'll need.

My car is stored from October to April. It is used as an occasional driver, here and there on sunny days only, but will do road racing/autox with it (hence the reason for doing this in the first place.) I have a Pioneer Cd player with stock size speakers in the stock locations (they are newer speakers but the same size). I use headlights and fog lights at night. So that is where i'll need the most power. I don't really need to have any music playing when the car is off although that may happen occasionally. I just want to make sure that since the battery will be farther away and will power the car through longer cables, it will still be able to function properly.

Here are the links to the two batteries on Summit Racing:

Yellow Top: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ULT-9042-218/

Red Top: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ULT-9022-091/

I have the BMR battery relocation tray that goes in the spare tire area already, so either battery will fit as they are the same dimensions according to the site. Also the red top is lighter by 5lbs so that is a plus although not significantly lighter, every little bit counts.

Thoughts / opinions?

 

The bmr piece is nice. Will it pass tech not being enclosed and just behind the plastic interior??

 

I don't know but if it doesn't I'll have a box put in the back there to cover it or something.. For now, I'll just be doing time trials and some drag racing but only for fun, nothing professional.. Over here they don't really check our cars for these things.

About the battery.. I ended up buying the redtop.. It should arrive any day now. I can't wait to install it and hopefully feel the weight difference front to rear!

 

I have a red top mounted in the spare tire well also. I've had it for about 7 years now. Its been in my Camaro, which almost never gets drove (700 miles in the last 4 years), and its been in my daily driver for a while when its battery died. I've jumped other cars off of it even when it wasnt in a car. Just used the battery itself. I actually had to carry it in my daily driver for a week and use it to jump my car when my battery died. I live in Florida, so it deals with extreme heat in summer time.

I tested the battery a few days ago. It still tested at 769 amps and its a 800 cca battery. I run 0 guage wire from the battery to the starter. My chasis ground wire is inside the spare tire well. It doesnt leave the compartment.

I run a 100 amp Powermaster alternator and a Powermaster mini starter. My motor is close to 11:1 compression and I never have a problem starting it wether it be hot or cold.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is you'll be fine with the red top

 

awesome info! Thank you so much! Good to know I made the right choice in getting the redtop over the yellowtop.

I read that the ground wire should be ran to the engine block.. Is there any danger to leaving it in the spare tire compartment only?

And would the 0 gauge wire fit through the interior of the car under the door sill panels and then through the firewall?

Thanks!

 

You can run the ground to the chasis and then a ground from the engine to the chasis. I actually don't have one from the motor to the chasis, but I have no issues. I would still recommend one though.

I ran my positive wire out of the bottom of the spire tire well and down the underside of the car. Not sure if this is the best way though. I actually do plan on routing it inside the car sometime soon. Not sure if there is a factory spot to run the cable out of. I was just going to drill a hole somewhere and use a rubber grommet.

 

Not sure why some folks use a yellow top - those are marine batteries to be used to run a trolling motor, etc. and to be able to crank an outboard motor - they are deep cycle batteries. The red tops are for automotive. I guess maybe some of the huge stereo folks need a yellow top, but 99% of folks just need a red top.

 

I assumed since I was relocating the battery in the rear it might need a stronger battery.. But from what I've read/heard so far the red top should do the job as long as all of the cables are large enough to carry all that power to the starter

 

The blue tops are the deep cycle marine batteries. The red tops are starting batteries and the yellow tops are a hybrid of the two. Not as much cranking power as the reds and not as much deep cycle ability as the blues but good for all around use if you leave power accessories on (radio, lights) when the car is off. I use a red top in my truck and will be putting one in the trunk of my Camaro as well when it's done.

 

So I got the red-top battery.. The place I got it from said it is the right one for my car, but when I go on Optima's site, they say the one for a 1986 Camaro is model 75/25. The Model that the guy sold me was the SC25A, which I do not even see on the site actually, but it looks like the 25/35 model with the top posts only (like the one I bought)

http://www.optimabatteries.com/optim...dtop/specs.php

The dimensions between the two models are very similar (length is the same and the height/with is not even 0.1" of a difference).

So I put it in the BMR battery relocation tray just to see how it would fit and when it is placed in the center of the tray there's about 0.8 inches of gap from side to side (lengthwise). If I push it up against the back of the tray, there's about a half inch of gap between the battery and the front of the tray (widthwise). So this means it could move freely around in the tray.. Now, I don't know if this is normal or was I supposed to get a different size battery?

I'm thinking maybe i'll just have to strap it down or add something there so it stays in place?

I'm just worried that if I install this that it won't it secure in the tray and just move around back there which could be dangerous..

 

The battery has been in for a few months now, but the tray itself was loose somewhat.. So I actually installed extra brackets attaching it to other parts of the compartment.. I have attached pics that show this.

It's solid as a rock and will not move or vibrate. I feel safe knowing it's not only bolted into sheet metal, but rather into two separate parts of the frame as well.

All the wires are routed inside the car underneath panels on the passenger side using 2 gauge wire which goes to the front, and the negative wire grounded to the rear frame near the battery in the rear. GM should have designed the car to have the batteries in the rear from the factory it actually makes the engine bay look much less cluttered now..