Nice! As a reminder, please also look at their tray replacing the existing tray rather than sitting on top of it. I'll trust your judgement.

 

 

 

I look forward to seeing what you come up with ...

 

Ok... we're closing in on the right design. I tried to remove the battery tray yesterday and though I was able to easily loosen it by removing the 4 8mm retaining nuts, wiring harnesses and the tire goop storage Styrofoam make it impossible to remove without disassembling a large part of the trunk area. (Does anyone know how to do this?) Anyway, I came up with a simple solution for mounting the proposed Billet Proof retaining tray that can be installed with no hole drilling, and can also be used whether the OEM tray is left in place or not.


It involves removing the OEM battery tray nuts and replacing with a 8mm x 1.25 pitch x 40mm long hex coupling. The new tray can then be bolted to the top of those 4 couplings. I will be using a piece of 3.8" plywood to create a wooden prototype of the tray base, so that I can confirm location and clearance for the battery.





These are available in Zinc coated steel ($15/set) or Stainless ($34/set)


I should have the battery by the end of this week to complete my portion of the project over the weekend. Billet Proof will then start their part next week.

 

Nice plan, I like not having to drill/cut original tray. Especially for those with classic year cars

 

Not titanium? I'm disappointed (although five minutes of searching has yet to turn something up).

Will the weight be borne by the couplings, or will they just locate and secure the tray?

 

If I measured accurately, the new tray should rest on the OEM tray. However, if the OEM tray is removed, the new tray would be suspended over the irregular trunk bottom, as the OEM tray currently is. Those couplings will be more than adequate to handle 14-15 total pounds in any direction.

 

Observations:
1. Electrically it appears to perform identically to the OEM battery, causing the system to consistently produce 14.6-14.8 Volts. When the battery arrived it was in half charged sleep mode (two blue lights when momentarily depressing the reset button on top) and required holding down the restart button for 12 seconds plus to show the green operational light. Car fired right up. A day worth of driving/testing, performing as desired.
2. The negative post is a hair too small for the clamp to grab. I fashioned a 3/16" x 1-1/4" strip of 26 gage sheet metal to serve as a shim. Works like a champ.
3. The negative cable need some reorientation which was accomplished by loosening the nuts at both ends. Also, the small wire on the positive clamp needed to be moved to the other side of the clamp where the spare threaded hole is.
4. The battery has a much smaller foot than the OEM battery, but is 1/2" taller. All the panels fit back in just fine but the battery lid will not fit snugly ( will stick up ~1/4") if we mount the 3/8" aluminum battery tray right on top of the OEM tray. The big top panel should still fit ok.
5. There is a slot on each side of the battery just below the top to easily lift the battery with just one hand.


The elegant solution will be to remove the OEM tray and mount the aluminum tray directly to the floor of the trunk to allow all panels to fit flush.


I am still trying to figure out how the access the where the tire goop cradle is mounted so that the OEM tray can be removed.

 

To clarify: the panels fit with the new battery sitting directly on the OEM tray, but would not with a 3/8" additional tray under the battery? If that is the case, could the new "battery tray" just go around the battery to provide lateral and longitudinal location?

 

I'm thinking, I'm thinking! I'll get back to you on that. (Would also keep the weight down)

 

I thought I smelled burning wood.

 

I like the idea of industrial Velcro to the stock tray ....

 

I have an Optima sitting around and it came with this pair of spacers. They snap together, but the left piece can be used by itself. I was thinking along those lines. If it bolted as you were suggesting earlier with threaded spacers, but the battery sat directly on the OEM tray, this may get where you want to be.

 

Steve,
I'm really beginning to like that idea. It actually could solve a number other issues as well. I'll create a plywood mockup this weekend.

 

I'm thinking it'd be pretty cheap to mill from delrin or similar. I haven't indulged myself in a 3D printer yet, or I'd be all over it.

 

+1, but I'm very tempted.

 

So little time, so many interests ...

I just picked up some Japanese woodworking tools (a couple of planes and some vintage(?) chisels) as an excuse to get away from the computer that tries to consume all waking hours (and pays my bills). I'm looking to test the saying "if you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."

Once the owner of the LeMONs car finishes building his house, maybe we'll start doing some seriously stupid things again.