Doing the battery relocation this summer to my 94 z28. All the pictures Ive seen most run the positive gauge wire under the carpet threw the firewall. Has anyone ran the wire underneath the car to avoid that. Would it better to run it underneath the car??

 

I personally like to run it inside the car, especially if it's street driven. Less fastners to hold it into place which over time could eventually rub through insulation. Out of the way from road debris that could pop up and expose bare wiring casuing a short circuit and you dont have to worry about insulation rotting out from rain/heat etc... Not to mention it's soo much faster running in inside since it just lays where you put it with no fastners and cover it up with carpet.

On our truck we have it under the truck, but it is track only so it gets very little run time on it.

Dont forget to run a new wire from alt output to battery positive, the factory 10ga will get too hot trying to carry the load of a high amp alt all the way to the back of the car. I ran 4ga from alt to battery positive this way your required shut off switch will work right. run a cable from batt positive to one side of switch, then from the other post run the wire back to the front of the car. Using a ford solenoid helps a bunch for these set-ups.

 

It still needs to be insulated away from any metal surface no matter where you run it. The carpet burns up very quickly, trust me on this, mine caught on fir last year and it was once heck of a mess.

 

I ran mine under the carpet, but I don't know if it's correct. 2ga from battery positive to the starter, 8ga from battery positive to distribution block, then 8ga from distribution block to the alternator. It doesn't run right now, but there's other reason for that- does this setup seem sound?

Oh and will the 8ga get too hot and burn up the carpet as mentioned- should I go with larger wire?

 

I8A: Do you have a cut off switch mounted somewhere's? where is that inline with the rest of the components? If your not going to sanctioned events no biggie, but it will be one of the first things they will ask if they pop the hood and see no battery-crews need a way to shut down all electrical to entire car in the event of a problem If it's a dialy driver, then it's play at your own risk, but it does make it nice for working on electrical things-flip a master switch and car is dead-no more popping fuses

The way you have yours set up it osunds like distribution box is in engine compartment? If so it will function properly and wire ga. will be fine since it's a short run to the dist. block that just jumps it down to starter post for battery hot. Only thing that will casue a problem is it will not work when you go to install a master shut off switch as it will still backfeed and keep the engine running.

 

I ran mine inside the car, it's just to easy, passenger side under carpet. Under the car seems to cluttered already.


I8Asaleen, I'd split at the starter with two wires: one to the alt and the other to the distribution block. You might see increased voltage at the battery using the large 2 gage to span the distance between the starter and battery. I've got the same voltage at alt and battery with this setup.

 

Andy is dead on with a zero. The only reason I went overkill on my alt output wire was to compensate for the long run and voltage drop associated with it. Literally everything in this car is electric-windows, locks, 800W stereo, water pump, fuel pump, dual fans,ignition box,etc...

With the old set-up and 10ga wire coming off my 140amp alt when the car was up and running at night cruising with headlights up and heater going voltage would drop to 12.5V all night long, shut off cetain things and it'd slowly climb up. ONLY thing I did was install a 4 ga straight to battery positive and POW guage is rock steady on 15V mark on guage, input at battery is 14.7-14.8 volts constant with everything running....that big a gain with just a jump in wire size from alt.

BUT the only way your shut off will work if using a old standard style is if you run teh alt wire directly to batt hot with no connections in between. any connection to a distribution block or ford solenoid will allow it to back feed and not allow car to be shut off with master switch.

 

Does anyone here have a write up or diagram that can show me how to wire everything up and to the battery cutoff switch?

 

IHI sounds right. I don't have a master shut off.

Man, that Avitar freaks me out. Yikes.

 

kinda crude and is drawn with a ford solenoid since pic is old, but gives you the basic principal. might take awhile to load since I have'nt shrunk it either.
What's wrong with my pic...mama always toldme I was a handsum lil devil??

Actually had to steal it from a buddy on a contractor forum, tht thing is freakin crazy LOL!!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-...tchdiagram.jpg

 

Here are a few recommendations based on electrical engineering. The positive (+) wire can run directly from the battery terminal to the starter solenoid and you should use #2 AWG to handle the current. The NHRA required shut-off switch (if used) goes in series on this (+) wire. The alternator charge wire should be #8 or #10 AWG and can be connected to the (+) starter solenoid terminal “if” no shut-off switch is used. However, if the shut-off switch is used, the charge wire must go to the rear of the car and be connected to the “battery side” of the shut-off switch. This wire to the back of the car also needs to be double-insulated. The the wire from the (+) terminal block on the right front inner fender can be connected to the (+) terminal on the starter (both with, or without the NHRA satety switch. Make sure the wires in and around the starter don't touch the headers and get burned.

You will also need short #4 AWG jumpers between the block and front sub-frame and the (-) battery terminal and rear sub-frame. Both (-) frame connections should be at thick metal points to handle the current.

The (+) #2 AWG wire needs to be double insulated to prevent the possibility of shorting-out and causing an electrical fire, possibly using some high-quality vinyl tubing slipped over the wire. I don’t see any real reason to add an extra solenoid, I’ve never needed to (???). PM me if you have any additional questions.

 

You dont need the extra solenoid, but older chevies are prone to hot start problems since they mounted solenoid to starte body, excessive heat due to placement near header would often render the starter solenoid useless and car would not start. Many guy just wire in a hot start button which feeds battery power directly to the starter to bypass solenoid in these circumstances.

Many racers use the Ford style solenoids for simplicity sake also when using bump over buttons for setting valaves, installing distributors, etc... a whole lot easier connecting aligator clips onto a solenoid in easy acces than try to feed the wires down through headers into the cramped regions of the poorly designed chebie starters and making the connections-especially if retainging the factory A/C heater box. The external solenoid makes life a whole lot easier, once you try it you'll never go back.