Battery VS. Intercooler piping

[Rittmeister]

In doing a bunch of searching, I've seen in pictures (notably in the "engine bay pics" thread) that some folks are running a stock-size or near-stock-size battery in the engine bay, despite having the intercooler piping running through the battery tray like most of us.

I've been having trouble with my Miata battery - I must have a small voltage drain somewhere. The first batt died a few winters ago and was replaced under warranty, but now two years later the new one is going dead now that it's cold and I don't drive the car as much.

If possible, I'd like to go back to a regular-sized battery, but would prefer not to relocate it to the trunk.

Those of you running a stock or near-stock battery, with the IC piping in the way, how have you done it? What battery are you using and what was necessary to make it fit?

I'm going to try an Optima red battery tomorrow, borrowed from my daily driver, just to see if I can get it in there at all.

Any input appreciated; my car is an S13 with SR, Greddy FMIC kit.

[Om1kron]

it's not happening...

[FRoSt415]

honda batterys fit. most of them are small. i would say get a medium sized one maybe try a prelude battery. i recomend getting some measuring tape and see how much room u have to work with. then go buy a battery according to your measurments.

[Icy13]

your battery is dying because you are not charging it enough when you drive your car (since you drive it more rarely now). Rather then try to jam something that doesnt fit in (which I am not saying it wont, but hey dont fuck with something that works otherwise) look into getting an external battery charger (autozone, walmart, etc.). Probably <$50 and it will deff solve your problem rather than just slightly reduce it as a larger battery will.

[whereda40at]

i am using a glass pack battery for a jet ski in my car. starts the car fine in the winter. sits in the normal spot. very small and has a 6 month warrenty. i forget what excatly its called its close to....extreme mega power battery.

its about 4" wide and 8" long.....no its not in my pants. white plastic top and a grey bottom casing. check into it.

[supergoob]

mine had a really nice law mower battery on it for a while, like 350ish cold cranking amps...started the car fine and dandy but it would only run at 9.7 volts till i hit the gas...so i went to a bigger battery and its the same story...bigger battery performs just like the lawn mower battery did. Model on the lawn mower battery was like a u1rc or something similiar, ill go check later.

[supergoob]

i am using a glass pack battery for a jet ski in my car. starts the car fine in the winter. sits in the normal spot. very small and has a 6 month warrenty. i forget what excatly its called its close to....extreme mega power battery.

its about 4" wide and 8" long.....no its not in my pants. white plastic top and a grey bottom casing. check into it.

I also ran a Odyssey dry cell about the same size as this one^^^ and it sucked.

[Banegraphix]

just put the red top in the trunk and call it a day.

[ZX88]

put it in the trunk. itll give you a cleaner engine bay and its not hard at all. also there are some piping kits that dont go through the battery tray.

[Rittmeister]

Do you have a link to one of these piping kits?

I've seen a few arrangements that have the cold pipe going under the battery tray, horizontally, with a hole just above the frame rail. I'm not sure I could make this work as I still have air conditioning and that's where the dryer sits.

Trunk mounting is an option I suppose, but as I stated above I really really would like to avoid it.

[Z33dori]

just buy and optima and put it in the trunk....

fuck thos tiny ass batteries they die ever winter

[ixfxi]

you guys need to really check into seeing whether or not your alt is operating properly.

that, and consider moving the battery to the rear where it should be.

[JVDSKYRINE]

just buy and optima and put it in the trunk....

fuck thos tiny ass batteries they die ever winter

My car would be pure death in winter lol.....snow plow


I put a lawnmower battery in mine worked fine and its small. Also got some JDM ones in a couple cars those are cool but jdm cars have different size poles then americain cars. They are smaller poles I am probably going to relocate a bigger battery to the rear to clean the engine bay up.

[S14DB]

Batterytender.com - Home of All Your Charging Needs (http://www.batterytender.com/) if you don't drive your car enough to keep charged.

[army240]

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7835/240sxhr9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I used to drive mine like this... but it's a pain in the a** to built(custom piping all the way) and it doesn't allow you to put dual fan... and the piping do an 180 degrees turn under the battery(after the intercooler exit), and that's not really good for the air flow.

So, this year i relocated the battery in the trunk.

Peace,
Frank

[silviaguy240]

Braille Battery (http://www.braillebattery.com/)

[dmax_silvia_s13]

Miata Battery works too they are pretty small. I got mine from napa.

[slider2828]

Miata battery's suck, especially the westco... SO far the best battery is just your simple interstate battery for a media and all set...

[ecuastyle84]

Miata battery's suck, especially the westco... SO far the best battery is just your simple interstate battery for a media and all set...

westco? really? mine works just fine...had it for a year and a half now...no problems

[ChiSleepyEyes]

please do yourself a favor and get an odyssey battery the pc625 is a great alternative to the junk batteries( lawn mower and crap 51 and 51r size batteries you guys are puttin in there. The odyssey is a dry cell battery and differs from the conventional lead acid batteries in that it has almost tripple the lead content that the conventional brand does.
heres a link for you VVV
Odyssey Sealed Jet Ski, Powersport Battery -PC625 - Batteries Plus (http://www.batteriesplus.com/p-28964-odyssey-sealed-16clb-powersport-battery.aspx)
The model in the link will prob be your best bet but here is a picture of the pc545 compared to a U1.
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v313/243/36/506443970/n506443970_677170_1059.jpg
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v313/243/36/506443970/n506443970_677169_508.jpg
Now just to get things clear here, these little batteries have anywhere from 150-300 more cranking amps than that crap U1. But i'll let you make your choice

I have been working around and selling batteries of all sizes for a year and a half so feel free to ask any battery related questions, and ill be happy to answer them for you.

[Rittmeister]

Here's a really dumb question - does Optima make a battery sized for the Miata? If so it should fit where I currently have the Miata battery. Anyone use that?

[O3DigitalBath]

please do yourself a favor and get an odyssey battery the pc625 is a great alternative to the junk batteries( lawn mower and crap 51 and 51r size batteries you guys are puttin in there. The odyssey is a dry cell battery and differs from the conventional lead acid batteries in that it has almost tripple the lead content that the conventional brand does.

I have been working around and selling batteries of all sizes for a year and a half so feel free to ask any battery related questions, and ill be happy to answer them for you.

I actually used to run a PC680 (if I remember the numbers right) in my 240 a few years back, But i'm curious to hear how a 51 or 51r (reverse term. so same damn thing) is crap? you are talking about a cheap battery that has more than enough CCA for the car and in most cases will come with a 2 or 3 year free replacement that is easily honored in any city you are in nationally?

[Def]

I also ran a Odyssey dry cell about the same size as this one^^^ and it sucked.

I've had an Odyssey PC680(the small one) in my car for almost 4 years now and it's fine. Even survived quite a few deep discharge cycles and always did fine after a charge back.

[mRclARK1]

just put the red top in the trunk and call it a day.

Exactly. I can't believe people still debate which is the best option... It takes 2hrs. and $50 max to put your battery in the trunk/hatch AND it improves weight distribution at the same time to a very small degree. There's no advantage whatsoever to keeping the battery in the engine bay.

[xdumbxguyx]

honda fit battery!

[honeybadger]

If youre trying to get a smaller battery I don't see why you would get one meant for another car when you can just get the Odyssey

[handinpants]

fork over the dough and buy a braille B3121, thats what i did, and i not have any problems with it, I run two amps, components speakers, and a sub... no problems.... oh yeah and it weighs 21lbs, and doesn't suck
Braille Battery - B3121 (http://braillebattery.com/index.php/batteries/b3121/)
http://braillebattery.com/images/banners/b3121.jpgB3121
21lbs/9.5kg
1380 Pulse Cranking Amps
31 Amp/Hr Reserve
6.6” x 5.2” x 6.8"
Right Side Positive


In doing a bunch of searching, I've seen in pictures (notably in the "engine bay pics" thread) that some folks are running a stock-size or near-stock-size battery in the engine bay, despite having the intercooler piping running through the battery tray like most of us.

I've been having trouble with my Miata battery - I must have a small voltage drain somewhere. The first batt died a few winters ago and was replaced under warranty, but now two years later the new one is going dead now that it's cold and I don't drive the car as much.

If possible, I'd like to go back to a regular-sized battery, but would prefer not to relocate it to the trunk.

Those of you running a stock or near-stock battery, with the IC piping in the way, how have you done it? What battery are you using and what was necessary to make it fit?

I'm going to try an Optima red battery tomorrow, borrowed from my daily driver, just to see if I can get it in there at all.

Any input appreciated; my car is an S13 with SR, Greddy FMIC kit.

[ChiSleepyEyes]

braile battery=odyssey, and the ca of the 51 and 51r are going to be much less than the 625 and 680 that the odyssey can put out, and the reasoning behind these batteries being so good is that they are a small, high output deep cycle battery. i would be happy to snap some shot of size comparisons if anyone wants it

[S14DB]

honda fit battery!

Have you seen a Honda Fit battery? It's bigger then the Fit's engine.

http://www.samarins.com/autoshow/honda_fit_engine.jpg

[HWYKING]

those of you who'd like to keep the battery in the engine bay, try out the NRG Cell batteries. odysseys dont last from my personal experience, and brailles dont have as much cca as the nrgs. ive gone through 2 on my sti, while my s13 still on same one. ive got the 11.5lb battery with 360cca and my brother runs the 14.5 480cca battery. they work great and im going on 2 years now with the same battery. here's a link to where i purchased mine:

NRG-CELL Slim Racing Battery - Battery - Electronics - HeelToe Automotive (http://www.heeltoeauto.com/product.php?productid=56002)

[O3DigitalBath]

braile battery=odyssey, and the ca of the 51 and 51r are going to be much less than the 625 and 680 that the odyssey can put out, and the reasoning behind these batteries being so good is that they are a small, high output deep cycle battery. i would be happy to snap some shot of size comparisons if anyone wants it


umm, i'm still thinking you have this info wrong...


Odyssey PC680 (http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc680.htm)
AutoZone.com | Shopping | Parts | Product Detail - Battery (http://www.autozone.com/selectedZip,32707/initialAction,partProductDetail/initialpartType,00175/initialR,1403808/initialvehicleId,2586301/shopping/selectZip.htm)

again going off memory, the 680 is NOT CCA but PCA, and pluse cold cranking is not the same as the same at all as actual cold cranking amps, I want to say the oddessy's rated at somewhere in the range of only 220 CCA.

CCA is a better test than CA of a battery's true power, all batteries show up varying amounts of higher numbers in CA tests (test above 30 degree's). I'd be more intrested to see true numbers of the CCA (not PCA) and the reserve capacity of the smaller "dry cell" batteries.


Like I said before I had the oddssey battery, and i'd buy another, but saying the battery is more powerful isn't true at all. Unless i'm totally missing something here.

[BoostSlideWayz]

relocating the battery just makes things alot more simple. You can just buy a canle kit from ebay for like 50 bucks and its good wires. really thick and tuff coating. i used it for mine after i boosted it cuz i wanted a big battery.

[McCoy]

I've used the PC680 battery for around 7 years with no issues. The first one lasted about 4 years and only died when I stopped driving the car in the winter months. I don't have any type of car audio amps in my car, so I can't speak to that.

The CCA of the PC680 is more than enough for the SR motor... I've started the car on several mornings with the temps well below -15F and this after the car has set for up to a week at a time.

[O3DigitalBath]

The CCA of the PC680 is more than enough for the SR motor... I've started the car on several mornings with the temps well below -15F and this after the car has set for up to a week at a time.

I agree it is more than enough, like I said i've used one before in my own personal car and when I was working at the shop we used to put them in all the swap cars (both honda and nissan). CCA is a measurement of taken over for 30 second which it doesn't take most of us that long to get the car started. I'm just saying its not a more powerful battery than a standard 51 series, or most others (larger).....the PC680 is a damn good battery I just get frustrated with random false info being tossed around then everyone just taking it for the truth since they all love jumping on bandwagons.

[Def]

I've used the PC680 battery for around 7 years with no issues. The first one lasted about 4 years and only died when I stopped driving the car in the winter months. I don't have any type of car audio amps in my car, so I can't speak to that.

The CCA of the PC680 is more than enough for the SR motor... I've started the car on several mornings with the temps well below -15F and this after the car has set for up to a week at a time.

Agreed, the coldest my car has seen is about low 20's F and the car started right up after sitting for about a week before that.

Our low compression 4 bangers really don't take much to spin over.

[O3DigitalBath]

^I started even higher compression 4cyl motors with lawn batteries before....non of these cars require much power at all.

[420sx]

p680 is possible the best automotive battery as far as dry cell batteries go.

i ran them for years. love it, never let me down unlike others

[1cleanS13]

I'm running a Honda Fit battery mounted vertically next to the intercooler piping. During times where I don't drive my car for a few days straight I have a $20 trickle charger on it. Keeps it fully charged all the time.

[eek]

I run a autozone miata battery in my s14. Works perfectly fine, and I am running a system off of it wth no issues. 500 watt 5ch amp with a 8" JL sub. I drive my car once a week if even that and its been going strong for the past 2+ yrs.

My g/f currently is using a Westco Miata battery with no issues either.

[rb25_s13*CHUKI]

Without even looking at your question.. battery wins! Oddysee how ever you spell It.. Buy one