,
The bracket basically starts out as a long strip of thick aluminum that is then bent several times to achieve its final shape. If you’re still in school, kids, don’t throw away that trigonometry just yet. Math and geometry are your friends if fabrication is in your future. I can barely add small numbers. Seriously.
Figuring out just how to make the bends in the brake so that the entire component would actually fit in the brake was a challenge in and of itself.
Initial test fit verdict? Bad trigonometry. Or just writing the wrong number in the wrong place. Or a lack of lunch. Either way, this first attempt got binned and we tried again. Well, Tom tried again. I am really just moral support for most of this work!
The second time was the charm. Even a simple-looking component has a lot of thought and effort put into it. Speaking of thought, effort and attention to detail…
A bit of sticky foam on the underside of the battery mount will help to reduce rubbing and vibration-related effects.
Some foam on the underside of the battery serves a similar purpose.Additionally, the combination of the foam on top and underneath helps to secure the battery by giving it a little squish. Ultimately these foam strips should be considered wear items, as weather and environmental conditions will likely degrade them over time. In the future perhaps some industrial-grade compressible rubber and industrial-grade adhesive would be a longer-term solution, but a buck or two worth of foam is easy enough to change out every other year or so.
One last fit just to make sure everything is perfect, and then the battery gets bolted into place.While this is an optimal location from a weight-distribution perspective, being behind the passenger seat makes the battery a little hard to service. I’ve got a little trick up my sleeve to make charging the battery easier, but you’ll have to wait for a future sequence to see what that’s all about. In the next part of the rewiring series, we'll block off the firewall holes, make panels for through-bulkhead connectors, and more.
XS Power
Haltech Engine Management Systems
Racepak Smartwire
Autosport Labs
AiM Sports
H Craft Customs
