Batts & Brackets

I fabricated a bunch of brackets by bending a steel bar double on the top few inches, welding this together, and then drilling an 11/16 inch hole. The reason I doubled up the steel on the top and then welded it was so that even with the wide hole in it, the top of the bracket would still be sturdy enough to support upward stress in the event of an accident. Here are the photos of the brackets I welded in the rear battery box.

There are four brackets in the photo, the upper right one still has the welding ground clamp on it. While we're staring at this picture you might want to make a note of the big GAPS around the edges of battery box. We'll take care of those on the next page.

So now I have a dozen batteries all juiced up and ready to go, the battery boxes are finished, the issue of holding them down is taken care of, I've drilled holes through the nice fabricated box for the 5/8" steel bars and the 2/0 cables. Time to throw everything in the trunk.

I worked off a whatever winter fat I still had by lifting these 60+ pound lead weights in and out of the car. The peices of foam shown in this photo aren't really for insulation, but more as a shim to keep the batteries from bopping around while allowing them to "swell" which I hear they do as they get older. The other purpose for the foam is as a safety bridge. Notice how it is higher next to the adjacent terminals? Makes it harder to accidentally short them out with a dropped tool.

Next: Stupendo Goo!