I'm going to ask this here.

[Rotary Related]

I am in the vendor forum as well, but I figured I'd ask here to get the most views since it's an RX-8 specific question.

I am currently developing a RX-8 battery relocation kit. It is not cheap by any means right now but it is the best you can buy for any car anywhere. What would you be willing to pay for a kit that is very well engineered and looks good to boot?

The battery I'm think of is an Odyssey PC1200t they run about $215 on Ebay shipped. That's the first expense. Any battery of similar type and size will work as well. A factory battery it too big. Plus you don't need it spilling acid in the box and making a mess in the trunk in general. The above mentioned battery is an AGM battery so no spills. You can look up the specs it's a monster battery in basically a 7" cube size.

The box is a fully sealed box which complies with just about every sancioning body there is. It has a vent tube and all the hardware to hold the battery down. It will be located right in the middle of the "shelf" in the trunk behind the rear seats. The cables will be attached to posts that pass through the box to the outside. You can remove them without removing the terminials from the actual battery. They also have covers to prevent any accidental arcing.

The cables will be made just like all the rest of our cables. All very high quality and actually made to fit your vehicle. Not having a foot or two of cable coiled up for no apparent reason. There will be appropriate provisions in the engine bay for the old positive terminal and it's fuse holder to be reused or it will be replaced with something similar.

Where do you think the battery should be if a different location?

Do you have a preference on the new "positive" terminals location in the engine bay? Think turbo charging equipment.

And any other concerns or questions you may have concerning something like this. We will also be coming out with a battery cable kit to replace the ones for vehicles equipped with a battery in the stock location. That kit is almost completely worked out already and will probably replace the entire driver's side of the engine harness. Also the Alternator cable will be sized more appropriately to a 4AWG instead of the 8AWG cable Mazda thought was good enough. This in cludes the start signal wire and the two A/C compressor wires which are also a bit tiny for there purposes.

I'll add some pics of the box in a little while so you can get a better understanding of it's consturction.

[Rotary Related]

Here's some pics of the box. Sorry the pics were taken with a cell phone so the quality isn't there but I think you will get the idea.

This is one of the box with the lid on:




Here's one with the lid removed:




One of the posts on the exterior of the box. Note that the posts DO NOT rotate while tightening and loosening cables. No back up wrenches needed!




Here's what the covers for the post look like. They fit very well and wont fall off. They were designed for these posts:




An inside view of the posts:

[Rotary Related]

A link to the battery:

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc1200t.htm

This is the best compromise with CCA and reserve time in comparison to weight and size. Odyssey is made by Enersys which makes the best batteries in the world. They have been around for quite awhile.

[Kane]

Can we use an optima instead if we wanted to?

I have a brand new Red Top, so I'd rather save the $$$ and still get the rest of the kit.

[Dannobre]

I have had an Odyssey 925 battery for about 4 years...it has been a great battery..and has had ample power for the climate here on the West Coast

Looks like a great kit...good quality parts.

What size cable are you running to the trunk?

[Rotary Related]

Originally Posted by Dannobre

I have had an Odyssey 925 battery for about 4 years...it has been a great battery..and has had ample power for the climate here on the West Coast

Looks like a great kit...good quality parts.

What size cable are you running to the trunk?

That battery is a good size as well and plenty of CCA. How do you like the reserve time on that one with a RX-8? Is that enough for you?

That battery could also be used it's basically the same just a bit shorter and a bit less CCA and reserve time. The cable size will probably be 4AWG since it's plenty big enough for the job. It will be the same high quality tin plated copper marine wire we use for all the battery cable kits that will soon be for sale. The ground or negative cable will probably ground in the trunk on the strut tower where the spare tire holding bracket normally bolts up. The spare tire will not fit in the factory location if this relocation kit was used. I wanted what little weight the battery will weigh to be above the rear axle and centered. Of course we could offer variations of battery location if someone wanted to put the box somewhere else. This leaves you with most of the trunk for storage this way as well.

The cable size could be larger but there's no reason to have it larger unless your vehicle has some very large unfactory current demands.

[Rotary Related]

Originally Posted by Kane

Can we use an optima instead if we wanted to?

I have a brand new Red Top, so I'd rather save the $$$ and still get the rest of the kit.

Here's the deal with full sized batteries:

First and foremost. Why? you really don't need a battery with two hours of reserve capacity unless you actually use the electronics in the vehicle while it is not running for extended periods of time. Why carry around a 50lb battery when a 20lb battery can do the same job? I'm not saying you made a bad purchase the Optima batteries are great batteries, there is nothing inherently wrong with them.

It will fit in the box but you will have to do what most do and that is to just drill holes in the side of the box inline with the posts and obviously the holes in the box will have to be large enough for the cable ends to pass through. Then you can unhook them at the terminal like a reular battery. And there's nothing wrong with that at all besides that the box is not technically a sealed box at that point. Unless you pull the cables in and RTV the gap around the cable to the box. Personally I think it looks terrible and for your car Kane it would be unthinkable to do. The battery is just too big to fit and have the posts in there as well. I could never bring myself to do that to anyones car.

This brings up a lot of questions since a sealed box is needed for almost every sanctioning body of racing. How do these guys get away with that? Same goes for sheet metal boxes. It makes no sense right? The box is all sealed up and then the cable holes are bigger than the cables. Then you see there's a vent tube running to the chassis from the box which is also required. Ask yourself this.....How does the dangerous gas that all batteries release know that it's suppose to go down the vent tube and not come out the cable holes??? I guess they are counting on the suction of the vent tube due to the pressure differential to pull it out. What happens when the vehicle is stopped?

I'm not picking on you Kane but your question is common. It's the first thing my buddy John asked me last night when we were diagnosing his Renesis engine (No compression on the front rotor btw).

My personal opinion is if you go to the trouble to have a sealed box then it should be sealed. Except the vent tube of course. You don't want to store up a bunch of hydrogen gas in the box then have something bad happen.

Is the amount of gas released by an AGM battery (Very low amount) even worth worrying about? That can only be answered by the person that drives the vehicle. It also depends on if the use of the vehicle. Racing a car even at a local autocross depending on the tech person could require it to be in a sealed box.

The main thing to always consider is "What do I actually need for my vehicle to be able to do what I want to do with it" Basically what rules do you have to comply with. There is no law prohibiting you from putting the battery in the passenger seat and locking it in with a seat belt and driving around wherever you want. Smart? No! But not illegal......

So to answer your question. No it won't fit in the manner I have described above. Yes it will probably fit if you don't mind the above described senario minus the RTV of course. I'd have to get an overall height measurement of the battery floor to post to be sure. Once again Kane I'm not picking on you and I'm glad you asked the question so I would have an opprotunity to answer it here.

[Kane]

Makes sense to me.... sucks that I wasted all that dough though....

[Rotary Related]

Originally Posted by Kane

Makes sense to me.... sucks that I wasted all that dough though....

If you relocate your battery you could sell someone that one and recoup a bit of your money though. It's perfect for someone leaving the battery in the factory location.

[9krpmrx8]

This would be interesting but do you have any pics of the full kit?

[Rotary Related]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

This would be interesting but do you have any pics of the full kit?

Not yet, the kit is still being developed. basically it would be the box the cables and whatever it ends up taking to get the old cables in the engine bay sorted out. Either replacing them or giving a good way for them to be reused. More than likely they would just be replaced as it would be easier.

Nothings worse than doing a kit and reusing stock stuff in my opinion. It's gotta look as good as it performs at least within reason. Doing the kit this way could eliminate quite a bit of clutter in the engine bay.