Hey guys, been a little since I last updated so figure I'd catch you up. Here I'll show you what I did to the battery box. I knew the OE battery tray just wasn't going to cut it if I wanted to turn corners hard, and relocating on the step side is a PIA, so I built a battery box.
Over on my FB page, I had a little fun and tossed this pic up with the title "Picked up a new battery box. Universal fit. Some trimming/assembly required."
The plan was to simply drill out the spot welds on the sides of the battery tray, separate the tray and re-use the sides. The tray is pretty much shot from all the battery corrosion over the years. I then set out in the CAD world to do some basic design work to help me focus on the final design. I also wanted to build the box so that I could easily adapt to other batteries from my Optima Yellow Top, mainly a Braille 6034 or 2 Braille 2317. But for now, I've got a 10 year old yellow top and surprisingly it is still going. Here's the layout I came up with in CAD.
A bunch of time later, and here's the final product before paint. I did a slight mod on the top bracket but otherwise it matches the CAD minus all the lightening/looks holes.
Everything all painted up. I also painted the power feed panel even though it is aluminum.
Installed and ready to rock. Pretty sure the battery isn't going anywhere now. But keep in mind, with the way I setup the electrical, it will be very easy to relocate the battery in the future if I decide to fight that battle again.
