wstar's Journal

wstar · 05-22-2009, 11:16 AM

Taking advantage of DDM's Memorial Day sale, ordered a PC680 battery, bracket, and a set of Hotchki's swaybars.

I know, especially with the underdrive pulley, I'm taking a risk with the tiny battery on a street car. I figure if it starts being problematic, I'll just set up a trickle charger in my garage for anytime the car will be dormant more than a day. I think it'll work out ok. Plus getting the battery moved will allow me to move forward with the rest of the trunk changes (getting a deeper liner/carpet fabbed that covers my battery/tools and frees up a bunch of cargo space where the sub/spare used to be).

travisjb · 05-22-2009, 02:54 PM

I've been using the 680 for a couple months now... zero problems, plenty of power... I've even been driving a 500w amp off it... it'll be FINE !

Just be sure to use a meaty cable for the long run to starter

wstar · 05-27-2009, 11:56 AM

Just getting back into the normal routine after a long weekend road trip with the Z. I'm never gonna catch up on all the forum traffic while I was gone heh.

I did head over to Houston Raceway Park on Friday night before I left town, but I got there late, the lines were long, had the girl to entertain between runs, and had no track prep, so it wasn't great. I'll go back for a better set of runs later. But anyways, got two runs in, both were in the 13.4xx range, I'll scan timeslips later. I think the car can do much better with a little track prep (these runs were basically the same config as my usual daily drive, 40 lbs of misc tools and gear in the rear, 35 psi all around, etc..), and with just two runs all I really figured out was how the local track works, I need more practice actually learning to launch this 7AT there now.

M.Bonanni · 05-27-2009, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Taking advantage of DDM's Memorial Day sale, ordered a PC680 battery, bracket, and a set of Hotchki's swaybars.

I know, especially with the underdrive pulley, I'm taking a risk with the tiny battery on a street car. I figure if it starts being problematic, I'll just set up a trickle charger in my garage for anytime the car will be dormant more than a day. I think it'll work out ok. Plus getting the battery moved will allow me to move forward with the rest of the trunk changes (getting a deeper liner/carpet fabbed that covers my battery/tools and frees up a bunch of cargo space where the sub/spare used to be).

First off, thanks for the order

. Second, I have had the PC680 for months now with no issues. My car even sat for 10 days un-touched while I was on my honeymoon and it fired right up when I got back.

ZforMe · 05-27-2009, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Taking advantage of DDM's Memorial Day sale, ordered a PC680 battery, bracket, and a set of Hotchki's swaybars.
.

Is the battery still on sale? Can you PM me a price? (Sorry to thread jack)

shabarivas · 05-27-2009, 08:01 PM

Screw VDC Lol... VDC just gets in my way all the time... I under steered almost right INTO a truck on the freeway cus it decided I was going too fast off the offramp... to each their own i guess

semtex · 05-27-2009, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shabarivas

Screw VDC Lol... VDC just gets in my way all the time... I under steered almost right INTO a truck on the freeway cus it decided I was going too fast off the offramp... to each their own i guess

Um..what was that in response to?

wstar · 05-27-2009, 09:48 PM

Probably somewhere way back in this journal thread where I said VDC was nice in the rain. It's nice in unpredictable situations in general, like bad pavement surfaces with ugly ripples and dips. A human can always do better than VDC at controlling the car (and get it done at better speed), but there's something to be said for it, situationally, when you aren't trying to run the car all out, and the situation is unpredictable.

travisjb · 05-27-2009, 10:18 PM

And damn those north koreans too !!

wstar · 05-31-2009, 02:44 PM

Started working on the battery relocate this afternoon. Picked a spot and got the thing mounted, so "phase 1" is complete. This is the rear edge of the trunk, pretty much dead center. If you have the bracket that DDM sells, there's exactly one spot right about there where it will fit and mount up level. Had to unbolt and slightly mangle the heat-shield above the muffler on the underside to drill my bolt holes and attach lockwashers/nuts under there, but it all went back together fine.

Now I have to sort out how to run the cabling

wstar · 05-31-2009, 04:00 PM

More pics of parts and progress, still not done. It's another one of those lazy weekend installs, taking my time

This is the battery, newly mounted:

This is going to be the positive cable run. I bought 15 feet, which is longer than necessary, will cut to size and use some of the leftover for the ground lug as well. This is 1/0 gauge copper cable, 19 strand, available by the foot at any hardware store (as are all the other parts I'm using so far, other than the battery and bracket themselves). I sheathed it in that corrugated plastic tube stuff, they sell it in 7 ft lengths at the hardware store as well (1/2" dia).

These Al connectors were nearby the cabling at the hardware store. The screw-terminal end fits my cable, and the other end has a nice little screw hole.

After removing the battery and unscrewing the positive battery post connector from the big inline fuse holder assembly, I screwed one of the above connectors in place of the positive post connector. Used an M6x1.0 screw, 16mm length, with lock washers on both sides (same hardware I used on the battery bracket in the trunk)

BTW, the factory negative battery cable just runs straight to the body, so it can be removed completely.

So now I'm basically down to doing the big cable run somehow, and then doing a tiny jump for the negative side from the battery to the trunk floor. Almost there...

ChrisSlicks · 05-31-2009, 04:51 PM

Very cool. Travis already did his so you should probably figure out where he routed it.

wstar · 05-31-2009, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisSlicks

Very cool. Travis already did his so you should probably figure out where he routed it.

Well I asked but he hasn't posted up his install yet, so I'm just winging it.

Pulled the glove box and the cabin air blower that's behind it, which reveals the wall between there and the factory battery compartment. Used a 1" hole saw drill bit to put a hole there, and routed the cable through the interior (under the panels/carpet along the passenger side)

BTW, for this route, 15 feet was just barely enough cable. My leftover that I cut off at the engine bay side was about 8-9 inches, which was barely enough to make a short ground run back by the new battery. I still need to bolt that ground down, screw in the final connections to the battery itself, and give it a test-fire. More pics later.

travisjb · 05-31-2009, 07:27 PM

DIY: Battery Relo

Tried to get this done sooner, but had toddler-watching duty ! He just didn't have the patience to watch daddy play photoshop... hope this helps!

wstar, maybe you can add to the DIY thread once you're done

wstar · 05-31-2009, 08:09 PM

Yeah I'll organize things a bit better and add onto the DIY.

IT'S ALIVE! Car fired up on the PC680, no fires started, etc. I still need to protect the battery terminals a bit with electric tape for now, and then reassemble the interior of the car, which is mostly on my garage floor right now.

Later I'm going to go hunt down a good car audio shop that fabricates trunkish things, and see if they can mold me up a little plastic/fiberglass/whatever protective cover for the battery area, and then see about making the rest of the trunk usable with some carpeting or whatever.

For now, more pics:

Battery/trunk-area pics, all hooked up. Used those same little blocky connectors pictured earlier for all ends of the cable. At the battery, they're screwed to the little copper 90 degree terminals that came with the battery:

This is the engine-bay side, where I came through the little hole I made and hooked up to the big red inline fuse thingy:

This is a view of the passenger footwell with everything still removed. You can see my cable dissappear into some sound deadening material there, the 1" hole is behind that material (I held it back to drill, may have torn it up a bit in the process but it will mash back down and work fine).

05-22-2009, 11:16 AM	#121 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Taking advantage of DDM's Memorial Day sale, ordered a PC680 battery, bracket, and a set of Hotchki's swaybars. I know, especially with the underdrive pulley, I'm taking a risk with the tiny battery on a street car. I figure if it starts being problematic, I'll just set up a trickle charger in my garage for anytime the car will be dormant more than a day. I think it'll work out ok. Plus getting the battery moved will allow me to move forward with the rest of the trunk changes (getting a deeper liner/carpet fabbed that covers my battery/tools and frees up a bunch of cargo space where the sub/spare used to be). __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

05-22-2009, 02:54 PM	#122 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	I've been using the 680 for a couple months now... zero problems, plenty of power... I've even been driving a 500w amp off it... it'll be FINE ! Just be sure to use a meaty cable for the long run to starter __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

05-27-2009, 11:56 AM	#123 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Just getting back into the normal routine after a long weekend road trip with the Z. I'm never gonna catch up on all the forum traffic while I was gone heh. I did head over to Houston Raceway Park on Friday night before I left town, but I got there late, the lines were long, had the girl to entertain between runs, and had no track prep, so it wasn't great. I'll go back for a better set of runs later. But anyways, got two runs in, both were in the 13.4xx range, I'll scan timeslips later. I think the car can do much better with a little track prep (these runs were basically the same config as my usual daily drive, 40 lbs of misc tools and gear in the rear, 35 psi all around, etc..), and with just two runs all I really figured out was how the local track works, I need more practice actually learning to launch this 7AT there now. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

05-27-2009, 09:48 PM	#128 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Probably somewhere way back in this journal thread where I said VDC was nice in the rain. It's nice in unpredictable situations in general, like bad pavement surfaces with ugly ripples and dips. A human can always do better than VDC at controlling the car (and get it done at better speed), but there's something to be said for it, situationally, when you aren't trying to run the car all out, and the situation is unpredictable. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

05-27-2009, 10:18 PM	#129 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	And damn those north koreans too !! __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

05-27-2009, 08:01 PM	#126 (permalink)
shabarivas A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,188 Drives: 370z MB 6mt Rep Power: 914	Screw VDC Lol... VDC just gets in my way all the time... I under steered almost right INTO a truck on the freeway cus it decided I was going too fast off the offramp... to each their own i guess

05-31-2009, 02:44 PM	#130 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Started working on the battery relocate this afternoon. Picked a spot and got the thing mounted, so "phase 1" is complete. This is the rear edge of the trunk, pretty much dead center. If you have the bracket that DDM sells, there's exactly one spot right about there where it will fit and mount up level. Had to unbolt and slightly mangle the heat-shield above the muffler on the underside to drill my bolt holes and attach lockwashers/nuts under there, but it all went back together fine. Now I have to sort out how to run the cabling __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 05-31-2009 at 03:54 PM.

05-31-2009, 04:00 PM	#131 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	More pics of parts and progress, still not done. It's another one of those lazy weekend installs, taking my time This is the battery, newly mounted: This is going to be the positive cable run. I bought 15 feet, which is longer than necessary, will cut to size and use some of the leftover for the ground lug as well. This is 1/0 gauge copper cable, 19 strand, available by the foot at any hardware store (as are all the other parts I'm using so far, other than the battery and bracket themselves). I sheathed it in that corrugated plastic tube stuff, they sell it in 7 ft lengths at the hardware store as well (1/2" dia). These Al connectors were nearby the cabling at the hardware store. The screw-terminal end fits my cable, and the other end has a nice little screw hole. After removing the battery and unscrewing the positive battery post connector from the big inline fuse holder assembly, I screwed one of the above connectors in place of the positive post connector. Used an M6x1.0 screw, 16mm length, with lock washers on both sides (same hardware I used on the battery bracket in the trunk) BTW, the factory negative battery cable just runs straight to the body, so it can be removed completely. So now I'm basically down to doing the big cable run somehow, and then doing a tiny jump for the negative side from the battery to the trunk floor. Almost there... __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

05-31-2009, 04:51 PM	#132 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 653	Very cool. Travis already did his so you should probably figure out where he routed it.

05-31-2009, 07:27 PM	#134 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	DIY: Battery Relo Tried to get this done sooner, but had toddler-watching duty ! He just didn't have the patience to watch daddy play photoshop... hope this helps! wstar, maybe you can add to the DIY thread once you're done __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

05-31-2009, 08:09 PM	#135 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Yeah I'll organize things a bit better and add onto the DIY. IT'S ALIVE! Car fired up on the PC680, no fires started, etc. I still need to protect the battery terminals a bit with electric tape for now, and then reassemble the interior of the car, which is mostly on my garage floor right now. Later I'm going to go hunt down a good car audio shop that fabricates trunkish things, and see if they can mold me up a little plastic/fiberglass/whatever protective cover for the battery area, and then see about making the rest of the trunk usable with some carpeting or whatever. For now, more pics: Battery/trunk-area pics, all hooked up. Used those same little blocky connectors pictured earlier for all ends of the cable. At the battery, they're screwed to the little copper 90 degree terminals that came with the battery: This is the engine-bay side, where I came through the little hole I made and hooked up to the big red inline fuse thingy: This is a view of the passenger footwell with everything still removed. You can see my cable dissappear into some sound deadening material there, the 1" hole is behind that material (I held it back to drill, may have torn it up a bit in the process but it will mash back down and work fine). __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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