I wondered if anyone has any photos of a 1966/67 factory Trunk mounted battery setup?

I'm thinking hard about doing a battery relocation to the trunk his spring and was curious how the factory did it, where they put the battery, etc.


Also.... one more Q.
Does anyone happen to know what the NHRA rules are for a trunk mounted battery? Do you HAVE to run an external shutoff switch no matter what, or is that one of those "only if you are faster than xx.xxx time" rules?

I'd like to move the battery, but am not willing to have an external switch mounted, so that might kill my plans as i do like to run at the track occasionally- but don't expect the car to ever be running faster than the mid to low 12s (pretty far from that time slip right now) so i'm hoping its a ET based rule for the guys going faster than me.

thanks-
Ben

 

Sorry to dig this up, I just researched this for myself and thought I would answer.

NHRA General Regulations state that if a battery is relocated to the trunk, it must be behind a firewall including the package tray area. A sealed battery box may be substituted but must be vented outside of the vehicle. A positive shutoff switch must be mounted to the rearmost exterior of the vehicle and must be easily accessible. It must be labeled and include instructions for shutting off power ie; "Push - Off". Hope this helps, but I'm sure by now you may have figured this out for yourself.

 

Get a extra tail light assembly and mount the switch through the lens.

Henry

 

I have the factory 66 OAI installation instructions available for a small campaign contribution. PM me your info and I will send them to you. They show the battery mount area & measurements.

Thanks

Mike

 

I just saw an excellent pic of this on another forum but for the life of me I can't find it now. Basically it sits on platform above the trunk floor on the right hand side inboard of the trunk hinge. It was just your basic battery hold down but I assume the caps were vented but not sure. Positive cable came through the trunk floor on the left side and was clamped in several locations as it ran left to right over to the battery about midway up that incline. Real sorry I couldn't find that.

 

Not the pic I was looking for but close.

 

Here is a tip for you on the trunk mounted battery and external switch. Yes, you will be required to run a cut-off at the back of the car if the battery is placed in the trunk. You will also need a vented box or a full bulkhead (not just the back of the seat frame). Mine was moved there in 1969 by the "crew" preparing the car for F/S. Because my car is un-restored and original and I do some nostalgia racing I am required to pass current tech in order to get on the track. Like you, I refused to cut ANYTHING on my car to insatall the exterior cut-off. SOOOOOOOOO, here's what I did, I took out one of the bumper mounting bolts and hand-filed (with a round file) the square hole just enough to pass the switch through. The sqaure hole still has enough of a shape left to it that if I ever want to change back I can. The switch has enough threads and locking nuts to catch the bumper, and bumper bracket holding the two tight as designed. No harm!~No foul! The switch is fully servicable for tech and no damage was done to the car mounting it. Until next time..... Dave.

 

Very slick!

There also should be quite a few photos of the original style setups over in the
major builds & projects" area. Just look for of the "Trac-pac" (Trak-Pak?) threads.

There's also a couple pictures of one on this car:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oldsm...t_20649wt_1143

-Jeff