[misnblu]

This is an article which will and can be used for pretty much any vehicle and not just the SRT-4.
We strived to do this setup so that we (Kevin-owner of the SRT-4 and I) could pass inspection at any NHRA and IHRA sanctioned track. Tech inspection is a tedious affair and with reading everything we could in the NHRA, IHRA, and Sport Compact division articles, came up with a plan to do it right, add a bit of overkill, and have options so that if we need, can add a lifeline to the system if needed.

I'd give you a complete list of everything but the time to do so would entail days of going through receipts and records.
So with pictures and a little bit of text, hope to dispell any controversy with doing this battery relocation correctly.

First, here's a picture of the engine bay of the SRT-4 (or any engine bay) with the battery removed as well as the battery tray.
When doing so, only remove the hot and ground posts from the battery but keep all of the connections on those posts in tact until you start putting in your hot and ground posts. This keeps the confusion down and eases installation.
Here's the pic.

Next, here are some of the pictures of the cables we used, some parts, and if you look closely, can pretty much figure out what you'll need to do this right.

We pretty much took some 16 gauge wire to premeasure all of the lengths that we needed to do this install.
We actually run the wire through all of the places we decided to run the main power cable as if we were actually running the cable itself. Once done, took notes on the lengths that we had and also drew up a schematical diagram of the car on paper with the lengths to where we needed to go.
We also figured out where we were going to mount the hot and ground posts in the engine bay, where we were going to mount the battery box, and how we were going to route the wire on paper, and on the car itself.
Remember, everything we did was premeasured so that when we took our wire to the shop, had them professionally crimped with a hydraulic crimper.

Here, you see some more wires that we premeasured with ends already crimped.
We used 2/0 marine cable which was flexible enough to route and had enough strands to carry a good load with negligible voltage drop, period.
Btw, each and every cablle came out perfect and fit every exact location we measured. If you didn't guess already, we bought one long length of cable and cut the pieces as needed to make up the individual connection. We even marked those cables with marker to let us know ahead of time which cable went where so it'd make the install a bit easier. It helped bigtime.

Here is the car with some cardboard down for ease of getting around on the concrete.
Sliding on cardboard is a tuners best friend.

These are some pictures of the parts we used.
You can get most of these at any marine dealer or online.
BlueSea Systems parts, Lowes or Home Depot will have alot of the other parts you need including the 3/8 inch stainless bolts/ nuts, washers, and every little bit of hardware you see in the pictures.
I used 5/8 inch splitloom to cover the main run of the cable going from the old battery location to the new location in the trunk. It's also one piece so if you can get it cut by the foot, will work out better.
The Flaming River switch you will need is the 1013 model and not the 1011 model we used. You don't want to use the magneto switching circuit so just buy the 1013 model and you'll be fine.
Also buy some 4 gauge power wire for the alternator charging circuit as this will alleviate any loss of voltage for the best possible connection.
Make sure that you use a 200 amp fuse and fuse holder to hold the amount of juice that is needed to crank the car as that can be up to 200 amps when the battery could be low. You can use the ANL or ANS style fuse and can be found at most car stereo shops.
All of the ring terminals we used for most of the wiring were for 2/0 cable and 3/8 hole diameter. We kept it all 3/8 since this was the most popular sizing that we could find.

We also recommend using the aluminum battery box by Jegs because this would nullify the need to have a firewall necessary to make the setup NHRA/ IHRA legal. Groupe 24 is what we used and purchased the Kinetic 1400 battery for our cars. We opted for the Kinetic because of our sponsorship with an audio store that gave us the batteries at 10 bucks above cost. Thank you Advanced Audio.

Here we go with the actual install.

Here, we brought up the wire from under the car, behind the driverside front tire into the engine bay.
This route was the easiest to run and kept it the shortest path while being safe around the turbo and other things that could get in the way of the wire.

Above, you'll see the turbo in the top right, the main power cable, and the 4 gauge charge circuit wire which was already run through the car for the car amp that Kevin had in his car.
If you're like most, you'll already have a good size wire in the car run for your amp which is usually in the trunk. This made it easy for our charge circuit with the wire being big enough, long enough, to meet the needs or our install. One step deleted.

This is from under the car, looking up and just to the left of the center of the car going into the engine bay.

Another view of the wire going into the engine bay from beneath the car, just under the driver seat but to the right of the main chassis frame.

Last picture from below and before we added the loom to the whole run of cable. We also used the steering pump tubing to hold the cable down so it wouldn't go anywhere.

First picture of the cable from under the car, driver side and along the chassis frame of the car. You'll also see our use of the electrical straps that were 3/4 inch in size and worked out perfectly.
We also used some sheetmetal screws which were self starting and 3/4 inches long. We did predrill the holes for the screws as this made the turning of the screws so much easier than trying to start the hole with just the screw. Also remember that we had limited room to get under the car so were limited with how much room we had for drilling.

Here, the picture is upside down. lol
It's actually got the cable on the inside of the chassis with it going through the hole, going to the rocker section of the car. We kept the bends gentle and used this method so that when the car would be lifted by shops or jacks, would'nt get in the way of the jacks. Good thinking Kevin.

Looking to the rear of the car, you'll see the same cable coming from the frame rail hole to the rocker panel.
The clamps worked perfectly and the cable would not move whatsoever. Great idea with the clamps. Some of the clamps we closed in so that they would hold onto the cable a bit better and for the fact that the cable wouldn't move. We did this especially as we got closer to the rear wheel.

 

[misnblu]

Find a location where you want to install your switch. This should be done before and while you're measuring the cables. You may have to remove the bumper to see where all of the support beams are and also so that you don't short out the connections on the back of the switch after it's installed. Leave enough room for the switch connections so that when the bumper is on, nothing touches.

This is where we found to be the best location for the switch. It worked out good but hindsight said we should've mounted it elsewhere so that the width of the body of the switch could be accounted for. It still works great but aesthetically could be better. Once you drill your hole, that's where you'll be mounting your switch so plan it out carefully.

Here you'll see where the wire came from under the car, was routed on the support beam, looped around to one side of the switch, and then with another precut cable, would lead into the car through the air vent on the side of the vehicle.

Here, you see to the lower left, the incoming wire in the split loom as it loops around to the farside of the switch, with the red wire on the other side of the switch leading into the car through the vents.
This is it for the first part of the install, see the second thread for more.

Page two of the article.

We're finally coming to the good stuff.
With some ABS plastic sheet that we had, we installed both the positive post and negative post with the charge circuit fuse on one plate. We also arranged the posts as if it was the battery in the engine compartment for ease of installation and wiring.

Here is the plate already mounted to the original bracket that housed the battery tray. We used sheet metal screws to hold down the tray and were stainless. We tried to use as much stainless as possible so that the looks of the install would be good for the life of the car.

A closer look at the plate install. You'll notice that we only needed two screws to mount this plate. With all that we did with this installation, never had a problem with just two screws holding down the plate, even when full torqueing the studs with cables attached.

One thing we did have and needed for this install was a professional crimp tool that could do anything from 6 gauge to 6/0 cable. It cost me 80 bucks and was well worth the expense with this install. We're not saying you have to buy one but if you have one available, it'll keep you from having to break from your work to have some cables crimped.

Here you see us having to custom cut a cable and add an end with the crimp tool.

The finished product after the crimp. Make sure that you thoroughly tape the connection to seal it from any moisture and future corrosion issues.

To the right or right post are our negative connections.
The connection going to the right is going to the original ground that the factory used only we drilled out the hole, sanded down to the metal, and used a stainless nut/ bolt to fasten it to the fender.
The ground connection going to the left is going to the tranny utilizing the factory 3/8 hole that just begged us to use it there. You'll see that connection in the picture below. Both of these connections were precut and used 2/0 wire. Even though the picture doesn't show it (due to a late decision), we added a third connection using 2/0 cable (very short cable and again, precut and measured) going to the actual frame. Again, we used a 3/8 nub/ bolt to fasten it down.
The other grounds you see are ground straps going to the fender, and coil pack.

In the center, you'll see the fuse holder with the 4 gauge wire that leads to the trunk already hooked up to the fuse block.
To the left or positive post, you'll see all of our hot or + cabling.
The one heading left is going to the starter and was an original cable that we upgraded awhile back with some 4 gauge going directly to the starter.
The cable leading to the back of the car or straight up, is the main cable that goes to the trunk.
The little cable you see under the main cable is going to the water injection system and fit fine with no modifications needed to make it fit.

Keep in mind too that awhile back, we added a complete ground strap system to the car for better electrical flow. I'd advise anyone that's doing this that you should do the same.

Here you see the ground cable coming from the ground post on the plate on the tranny. The tranny had a 3/8 hole which we used to do this.
Also, there was a ground wire we added using 4 gauge that connected the tranny to the head of the engine. This again was a cable that we installed awhile back for overall better grounding.

Ok, back to the back of the car.
Here, you'll see the cable coming from the batter switch through the vent of the car along with the 4 gauge wire that was originally used to power up his sub. Since this 4 gauge wire was a bit short, we needed to lengthen it abit.
There are no butt connectors big enough and to maintain the best connection, opted for using two 3/8's terminals, crimped onto the ends, and used a nut/ bolt to tie the together and heavily taped. Some call this a monkey ball and would be the best way to do something as heavy as 4 gauge or bigger.

 

[misnblu]

We decided to mount one of the ground wires to just inside of the wheel well so that we could use a nut/ bolt to make the best connection possible for our chassis ground. Drill your hole, scrape the paint as needed to make the connection, and bolt that down good and hard.
Again, this was a precut cable and premeasured cable from the beginning using 2/0.

Our second ground connection that will eventually hook up to the battery in the battery box.
The best place for this turned out to be close to the grounding point of the factory ground for lights, etc. We again used 3/8 inch nut/ bolt to fasten it down.

This is pretty much a complete look of all of the ground connections with the hot wire going to the front of the car in the red boot cover.

With careful measurement of where the cables are going and premeasuring where the batter box is going to be, you can cut the carpet just enough to give it a professional look.
Keep in mind too that you'll need to drill some more holes in the battery box for the couple of extra cables you'll be using.
Remember also, we're doing an overkill setup here using two grounds to the chassis instead of the usual one. I personally didn't want to risk any possibility of having enough ground.

Here is the vent on the side of the rear panel. You'll see the cables strapped together and the black tube you're seeing is the vent tube that'll be used to vent the battery box.
Also, the 4 gauge wire is coming from the alternator charge circuit from the fuse block between the hot and ground posts on the plate. This alternator wire should lead to the incoming main wire from the engine bay and not the outgoing cable leading into the battery box. This cuts power to the charge circuit and power so that when you flip the switch off, everything shuts down.

Here is a closeup view of what I'm describing for the charge circuit and how it's connected to the switch.

On a side note for the charging circuit.
Most charging systems use the charge wire from the alternator and hook it straight up to the starter. The starter in turn has a heavy gauge wire that hooks straight up to the hot side of the battery.
That said, disconnect this alternator charge wire which was originally hooked up to the starter and extend it to the other side of the fuse block between the hot and ground posts on the plate.
You can use a monkey ball to do this (described above) or do like me and use an uninsulated butt connector, crimp it, and then solder/ heatshrink it for the ultimate connection.
Any questions about this, please post up and will try to help as much as possible.
Also have an electrical schematic from a service manual to confirm the charge circuit to the starter.

Here is the finished product.
We used 4, 3/8 inch stainless steel nut/ bolts to secure the battery box to the body of the car. This exceeds NHRA and IHRA which states to use only 2.
We also had to ream out a couple of the holes that came with the battery box while cutting out another to pass the extra ground we ran to the fender.
Also you'll see where we mounted the fuse to the batter box using 3/4 inch self starting sheet metal screws. It worked out perfectly and has ease of access to the fuse if it ever pops.
Make sure to stap down the box and that you do have the vent hose hooked up to pass inspection.

Here is the final installation of the old battery location

The finished product and would never know that we did a relocation.

A final note.
This is the preliminary writeup with some more pictures coming soon.
We'll have some pictures coming with the connections in the battery and more of the wires under the car.

Also, if there is anything that we forgot, we'll post it up with an edit to the writeup.
Any questions, please post up.

 

[vschaos]

Thanks james for posting it up! Will get a few more pictures maybe tonight or tomorrow.

 

[jgunnar]

Nice, basically did the same thing.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[RUgoinUp]

Added to the "Approved Stickies."

 

[vschaos]

Added to the "Approved Stickies."

Thanks much appreciated!!

 

[misnblu]

Thanks also.
As long as I can edit my posts, will add the necessary pictures/ text to have it complete.
In our haste to finish this and the fact that Kevin had to leave for a work emergency, we had to go through some steps without pictures.
We'll try to get this finished soon.
Alot of engineering in this, money, and 3 days to complete.
Kevin and I are honored that it's an approved sticky. :clap:
My car is next. :thumbsup:

 

[RUgoinUp]

You're welcome, guys. Thanks for such an in-depth H-T. :thumbsup:

 

[NIVO88T]

definitely top notch how to! thanks for writting it!

 

[westrock]

Hard core :thumbsup:

Makes for quick ECU resets too :jester:

 

[SRT4Badboi]

hrmm nice if only osmeone sold a srt -4 kit for batt relocation id do it but i would never tty this my self

 

[vschaos]

hrmm nice if only osmeone sold a srt -4 kit for batt relocation id do it but i would never tty this my self

There are battery relocations out there sold as "kits" that will work with our cars. Although its only a relocation and not up to par for NHRA standards. I suggest if you get one of the kits you upgrade the wiring to a bigger guage. Here is a link to a relocation kit from a vendor here on the forums. Its a "decent" kit IMO, but not NHRA legal. I would suggest going big and doing it right the first time like we have shown above.

http://www.maxhptech.com/cgi-bin/description.pl?pn_mhpt=MHPTSBRKAR1

 

[Generic Bill]

great writeup. do you think it was be approved if those of us who only need to pass inspection once or twice a week fabricated a plate for the switch to fit where one of the taillights are? this way, at the track we could pop one tail light, mount the plate with the switch for a few runs then take it off for the ride home?

or maybe you don't have buddies who would jump out of their car and hit the switch while you're at a red light some where. =\

 

[misnblu]

great writeup. do you think it was be approved if those of us who only need to pass inspection once or twice a week fabricated a plate for the switch to fit where one of the taillights are? this way, at the track we could pop one tail light, mount the plate with the switch for a few runs then take it off for the ride home?

or maybe you don't have buddies who would jump out of their car and hit the switch while you're at a red light some where. =\

I've heard of this being done but I'm not sure how you propose to reconnect your battery lead after the switch plate is removed.
You'd have to be careful not to short out the battery lead against the body of the car and would guess you'd bolt the lead back together via nut/ bolt.
This would work if make sure to insulate or tape up the connection good enough to prevent shorting to ground.

But yeah, the plate idea would work as long a the officials have a way to completely shut your system down with an exposed switch that is easily accessible.
Also, the Flaming River switch has a t-handle that is removeable. It'd be very difficult for someone to turn the switch to the off position with their bare hands. Some kind of tool would be needed to do this.

There is a lifeline that could be setup if you were concerned about someone doing this while you were away from your car.
The lifeline would maintain constant juice to the electrical system if someone were to cut off the switch. But, if you unknowingly tried to crank the car with the lifeline on and switch off, would pop a 10 amp circuit breaker, telling you that the switch is off.
If you were to check the switch everytime you came out to the car, the lifeline setup would keep everything electrically made so that you don't lose any ECU memory.

If we ever have an issue with Kevins car, will probably setup a lifeline for his car, with a switch to be able to turn it on and off for track use.

Also, here are a few pictures that we took of some things that were not able to be inserted into the original posts.

This is what the cabling looks like under the cover.
The top left hookups are the grounds going to the fender and other going to the floor.

Another view of the batter box with the latches installed.
You'll also see the 250amp fuse block for accidents or short circuiting of the electrical cable run under the vehicle. Easy access and the fuses are available at most marine shops or autoparts stores. You can also get them at BlueSeaSystems.com if needed.

This is how we mounted the battery box.
3/8 inch stainless steel bolts with nylon lock nuts to ensure that the battery box is going nowhere. Overkill to say the least.

Another view of the bolts that hold down the battery box.
We started to run out of material so had to make due with two long bolts and two short bolts.
You'll also note the thick washer we had to use to keep the nuts in the threaded region of the bolt. Worked out good and should be a good way for all to see on the SRT's where to bolt up the battery box.


That's our last update on this and if we do the lifeline, will add that to this article.

 

[FWSRT-4]

Here is a cheap "lifeline": http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=KSR-295A&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

[wannasupra]

only issue with that is there are a number of computers in the vehicle that could (not will, but could) be damaged by power feeding in the cigarette lighter. one of my teachers, a former MB tech, advised against using one of these when servicing a vehicle.

 

[robmachak]

any possability you could post a parts list cuz i know i personally have no clue what is needed

 

[04_EBlue_SRT4]

Just buy a Taylor relocation kit from Summit everything u need

 

[cokey]

has anyone ran the wires inside the cabin instead of under the car?