Battery in the trunk?

[VR6SPEED]

any body know how to do this in a jetta 4? thanks in advance.

Glenn

[Kor]

I vaguely know how.

You need to run a very low gauge wire down underneath the car. I think most people use 0 (zero) gauge wire. Because the wire is very thick I don't think you can really run it inside the car. Everyone I have read about has run it under the car and drilled into the trunk from underneath. Then of course you will want to seal any holes you make.

Lastly, under the hood your battery is very well secured so that it doesn't bounce around. Securing it in the trunk properly will mean making custom metal brackets and mounting them somehow. I wouldn't just let the battery slide around back there...

Basically you splice into the battery connectors under the hood, run the cable, and shazzam, relocated battery.

[Gumby]

make sure the battery is vented outside. If your going to do it use a sealed battery (optima). I worked for mazda before vw and the miata had a sealed battery, some people would put in a normal battery and the trunk would get corrosion all over it! If you do use a normal battery it may stink once in a while (venting) AND DONT SMOKE!

[VR6SPEED]

so I only need to run one wire? the positive one? and then bolt the neg. connection in the front to a good ground location..and do the same for the neg. connection in the back?

[Kor]

Yep but finding a good ground is tricky.

[VR6SPEED]

how do I find a good ground?
can i use 4gauge amp wire for the positive?

[1.8Trip]

I think you might have to grind and weld a post.

[Kor]

I don't know about using just 4 gauge wire... I am sure I have read posts by people asking where to get the right gauge of wire, and replies saying that you would most likely want to go to a welding supply store. It might vary depending on the car or something I guess... do some research before you try doing it any other way.

[Flanders]

Originally posted by VR6SPEED
how do I find a good ground?
can i use 4gauge amp wire for the positive?

what's the gauge of the 'stock location' battery wire?

whatever it is, you're going to want a LOWER guage because you're going to have more resistance along your new longer wires. And I'd drag a big ground wire from the front of the car to the rear as well (and probably give the rest of the engine better grounds too) I don't think you'll find many good grounding points at the back of the car, plus there's uber resistance between the rear trunk and the engine block (and it's more important to have the engine block at the lowest potential!)

[Kor]

Yeah what Flanders said... You need lower than 2 gauge because of the length.