MK2 battery relocation kit

Hi Matt, does the catch can just vent to atmosphere? Is the fuse holder just for the live, and what's the wiring for the earths? I take it the live just goes through the bulkhead grommet and under the passenger side trim to the boot?

 

I'll take a full kit then Matt with the catch tank so it looks just like yours. Let me know how you want paying. Thanks.

 

Installed the battery relocation kit and my induction kit yesterday - thanks Matt for the comprehensive kit and all of the effort you put in marking parts up - including the little mark on the battery cable showing the location of the bulkhead. A very small detail but very useful.

Installed the battery box first lining up the front holes so that the penny washers underneath the car fit nice in the grooves on the spare wheel holder. Once the front holes were drilled. I drilled the rear holes up from underneath with the box removed so that the washers were again central in a groove. The battery box went back in and I marked the rear holes from underneath and then drilled the holes in the box. The box was then bolted in. The rear fuse holder was next - again centralising the washers underneath on an appropriate flat area.

I wired the battery earth cable to a tie-down bolt, but put an extra square of metal underneath the tie-down and on top of the chassis so that the hole area was earthed as the tie-down sits on a lip. I thought the extra contact area was a good idea, though it all worked fine without this. Obviously I dremmelled off the paint in all the earth contact areas first and used some AC50 to stop it rusting. The positive cable was wired down the passenger side. Feed it under the rear seat side card and then under the side trim. The side trim and front part of the trim by the passengers feet just pull off. The glove box came out next. Pull off the side airbag cover, then two screws on the left, and four screws inside the glove box - the one on the furthest right behind a prise off cover.

A tricky bit is getting the positive cable though the grommet in the bulkhead. I just added a slit in the grommet vertically above the main wiring harness hole as there seemed to be most free space here. I tried the right hand side first but no chance on my car. I pushed a coat hanger piece of wire with a loop on one end through the grommet so that I could feel it in the engine bay. I then used a piece of wire to wire the hoop to the terminal on the wire (that Matt had kindly all pre-fitted), and then taped over it. With some WD40 on the cable it pulled through much easier than expected. With the glove box and trim reinstalled and some stick on cable tie fixings added, this only left the engine side to do. I forgot to add, I removed the battery, standard airbox and ECU first, to give space to pull the cable through. Battery clamp and terminals undone to remove the battery, then the three bolts on the bottom of the battery tray, and ECU mounting bolt on the top right of the tray were undone. The ECU terminals just lever up after gently prising the lever out over the initial locking tab. After snipping a cable tie, I removed the ECU holder. The airbox came out next after disconnecting it from the hose. You also need to keep the three fuses to add to the new fuse holder at the front of the new ECU/catch tank tray.
Now everything was out it was time to start putting things back in.

The induction hose I had was first. Lots of trial fitting and shortening of the hoses to get them to the right length and angles so that they lie as close to the passenger side as possible. With the front left wheel off and the front arch liner put you can position the hoses and cone filter as required.

Back to the battery relocation. I trial fitted the tray so where the existing earths and ECU cables would go. The only issue I had was that the earths in the top ECU cable were too short to allow the earths to reach the chassis as well as allow the top ECU cable route though the hole in the new ECU holder. I have, for now, just routed the ECU cable behind the ECU holder next to the brake cylinder, though I think I will extend the earths at some point so that the ECU cable can go through the hole available. There are some very convenient earth locations at the back of the engine bay on the passenger side. With the tray all in I connected up the ECU cables with the top one going behind as said.After deciding where everything was going to go I dremmelled off the paint on the chassis under the old battery tray and ACF50 spray to stop rusting. With the spacers penny washers fitted, the tray went in and the front two bolts fitted. The bolts on the catch tank were tightened and the ECU fitted before installing the ECU tray and the last fixing bolt under the catch tank.

I then had to remove part of the induction kit as I forgot to stamp out the hole that the catch tank was going to breathe to. With the catch tank plumbed both side and the blanking tube fitted to where the original cam cover hose connected to, the last job was the positive battery wiring. I had to dremmel off the large tab part of one wire to make it fit the fuse holder. With this connector trimmed down you can line it up the connector of the other main cable and they do (just) fit inside the fuse holder cable entry, through you could dremmel both connectors down so that they are not quite so wide. Make sure the large fuse goes onto terminals last so that the cable terminals sit better in the cable entry of the fuse holder. For the two smaller positive cable I used the captured nuts that came with them instead of the new nuts in the fuse holder. With the cables all fitted, last job was to connect the cables to the battery in the boot.

The boot floor is still flat but if you have the original floor that has the two pockets in them that fit inside the spare wheel well, you need to cut a rectangle out of the floor piece to remove the rear pocket as the battery is now in the way. You can leave the front pocket in place, as well as the foam semicircle that houses the jack and puncture repair gunk.
Last thing I was going to do was to make a bracket for the bit (vacuum thing?) that sits on the bracket connected to the original battery tray, but for now I have just rotated it and zip tied it to the hose going to the catch tank. Seems to work OK as it didn't seem to move anyway even without being fixed to anything, so might just leave it like that.
Some piccies are linked here https://photos.app.goo.gl/G96UG8T5Xvn5jswx9.
Thanks again Matt for all your effort to get the kit together, I think it looks great. I also now have space to reach the gear selector to fit a quick shift, so it would be rude now to. Don't tell the wife. ;o)

 

Great write up chappers, was thinking of getting this myself too.

 

Forgot to say, I also had some 2" foam sheet so I cut a rectangle and put a piece each end of the battery to stop any sideways slide of the battery within the box.
My battery also had a vent pipe on it. Do you think I need to reinstall this and drill a hole through the battery box and spare wheel well to add it back in, or would it be OK without?

 

Ideally you should reinstall the vent hose as when the battery charges it will vent corrosive gases. Obviously when it's in a nicely vented engine bay this doesn't cause as much of a problem, but when it's in a sealed boot it's not ideal.

 

Thanks. I'll drill a hole and reinstall it to be on the safe side.

 

Hi do you still have any of the battery relocation kits?

 

Ello, i´m interested in battery relocation kits,
do you have any more??

 

Hi, I’ve made my own one now. Sorry.