14 fastlane
The design of an AGM battery such as this big XS Power job
allows it to be mounted fore and aft or sideways in the car.
Some chassis builders such as Jerry Bickel still prefer to
mount the batteries in a position that’s parallel to the sides
of the vehicle like many OEM manufacturers install them.
techtorque
If you’re mounting batteries in the trunk,
you’ll need a rear battery switch. An easily
accessible master cutoff switch allows
someone outside the car to turn off all
electrical power off in the event of an
accident. If you’ve ever experienced an
electrical system failure, you’ll appreciate
having one.
You’ll need a long length of cable to hook the
battery to the starter. A very nice setup for
race cars is this kit from XS Power (Summit
Racing part number XSP-RK2GA-1). It includes
everything needed to wire the battery to the
starter. XS Power also makes kits for dual
battery applications.
A trunk mount battery
means you’ll need a
way to access battery
power at the front of
the car. Electrical posts
or junction blocks like
this one are a good
solution.
One item you might want to consider is a battery
cable disconnect. This one is used by car builder
Jerry Bickel on his pro cars. Summit sells a similar
Moroso example under part number MOR-74156.
The perfect location for the disconnect is at the
firewall for easy access when working on the
car’s engine or electrical system.
If your batteries
are mounted low
in the car and/or
under sheet metal, a
remote charging jack
will help big-time.
Some designs allow
you to charge the
batteries from the
outside of the car
without opening or
removing the trunk
lid. For example, this
American Autowire
Battery Jumper Block
(part number AWW-
500931 at Summit
Racing) mounts
remote positive and
negative battery
posts on a nice steel
bracket.