 SOT: Is it safe to mount a gel cell battery in..., ... in the passenger compartment in a sedan race car? |
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| RoadGlue |
 Jan 14 2008, 01:20 PM
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#1
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Sonoma County Gear Head  Group: Admin Posts: 2,033 Joined: 8-January 03 From: Santa Rosa, CA Member No.: 108 Region Association: Northern California 
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My friend bought my old Fiat sedan and has been taken it to a few DE's up at Thunderhill over the past year. Each time he's getting faster and so has the car. It's a '74 Fiat Sedan with a hopped up 1.8 TC, beefed up suspension and brakes and now a 1/2 cage that's been professionally built and welded in.
My question is whether or not his battery reallocation is safe. He's taken the front mounted battery and replaced it with a gel cell Optima and mounted it where the rear seat used to be. It has a single cross over mount and it's not mounted in a battery box. The first pic below shows the mounted battery. The second shows the car before the installation, to give perspective on what you're looking at in the first shot. The ground cable utilizes the old seatbelt mount that you see in that second pic. From what I gathered, it's OK to not have a gel cell battery in a box, but it can't be mounted in the cab. Plus, that mount doesn't look very strong, being that it's not sitting in a tray that limits side-side, forward back movement. What do you think? Attached image(s)  
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| RoadGlue |
Jan 14 2008, 01:21 PM
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Sonoma County Gear Head Group: Admin Posts: 2,033 Joined: 8-January 03 From: Santa Rosa, CA Member No.: 108 Region Association: Northern California
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Here's a photo of the car from the outside, if that helps.
Attached image(s) 
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| woobn8r |
Jan 14 2008, 03:28 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 607 Joined: 7-January 07 From: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 7,435 Region Association: None |
I'm not too sure about SCCA, but up here in CANADA the CASC would require that bettery in a CSA approved battery box, gel or not.
Otherwise if she don't move in the mount...it's all good. |
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| SLITS |
Jan 14 2008, 05:12 PM
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"This Utah shit is HARSH!" Group: Benefactors Posts: 13,602 Joined: 22-February 04 From: SoCal Mountains ... Member No.: 1,696 Region Association: None  |
In our SCCA race car, the battery (not gel cell) was mounted in a Marine Case and SECURELY mounted to the floor of the pass compartment. Reinforcement plate underneath the car and angle iron frame over it.
You DO NOT WANT the battery to come lose and fly around in an incident. It will split a helmet easily. |
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| RoadGlue |
Jan 14 2008, 05:18 PM
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#5
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Sonoma County Gear Head Group: Admin Posts: 2,033 Joined: 8-January 03 From: Santa Rosa, CA Member No.: 108 Region Association: Northern California
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That's what I was worried about as well. I thought that if he rolled the car or hit a wall, that the battery could likely become a 30 lb missile!
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| SLITS |
Jan 14 2008, 05:20 PM
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#6
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"This Utah shit is HARSH!" Group: Benefactors Posts: 13,602 Joined: 22-February 04 From: SoCal Mountains ... Member No.: 1,696 Region Association: None |
I wasn't going to relate the story .... it ended with a death in drivers' school.
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| RoadGlue |
Jan 14 2008, 05:23 PM
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#7
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Sonoma County Gear Head Group: Admin Posts: 2,033 Joined: 8-January 03 From: Santa Rosa, CA Member No.: 108 Region Association: Northern California
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QUOTE(SLITS @ Jan 14 2008, 03:20 PM)  I wasn't going to relate the story .... it ended with a death in drivers' school. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) |
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| Spoke |
Jan 14 2008, 06:05 PM
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#8
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Jerry Group: Members Posts: 6,978 Joined: 29-October 04 From: Allentown, PA Member No.: 3,031 Region Association: None
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A few years ago, Robby Gordon was leading the Nascar race at Watkins Glen when a lithium battery pack inside the cockpit which powered telemetry equipment exploded and caught fire. End of his race.
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