12 fastlane
techtorque
BATTERY MOUNTING &
BATTERY ACCESSORIES
Story and Photos by Wayne Scraba
Most drag race cars and a good
number of street-strip machines
have batteries mounted out back.
But have you considered the hows
and whys of mounting a battery,
and how you can use that to your
advantage? Well, we are going to
tell you.
For example, orientation can prove critical for
some battery types. Many OEM vehicles have the
battery so it is parallel to the sides of the vehicle.
There is a good reason the factory does this. In
the typical flooded wet cell battery design, the
acid solution is kept around the internal plates.
That prevents the internal plates from colliding
and shorting. As it turns out, this type of battery
orientation is ideal for a drag race application.
When the car hooks, the forces present will not
throw the battery plates into one another if
they’re dislodged.
But with other types of batteries, like Absorbent
Glass Matt (AGM) batteries that use a fibrous
material to suspend all liquid electrolyte against
the plate, mounting orientation is not as critical.
The plates in an AGM battery are anchored in place
so it’s difficult, if not impossible, for the plates to
move. Keep in mind that other battery types might
mandate a specific mounting orientation.
Battery weight is another consideration. A big
1,000-amp XS Power battery tips the scale at a
healthy 47 pounds—and that doesn’t include a
battery tray, box, or hold-down. For some classes,
using two batteries can add between 100 and 150
pounds, including the battery boxes. The maximum
weight depends upon the class requirement—
different classes have different weight rules. The
bottom line here is the battery (or batteries) can
be used to your advantage as ballast.
This gives you two things to think about: the
location of the battery and the location of any
ballast you’re using. Bolt-on ballast can be moved,
but moving a couple of near-50-pound batteries
isn’t so easy. For many cars, there are only two
or three ballast locations and consequently one
or two possible locations to mount the batteries.
That’s why trunk mounting is so common.