Started fitting my new battery tray yesterday. I didn't take any location measurements before removing the old one because it was pretty hacked up.

Does anyone have a measurement from the firewall to the leading edge of the tray (see pic)?

Additionally, the aftermarket bracket I have seems to tilt the tray down toward the middle of the car. Should the tray be perfectly level in the car?

Thanks.

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Geez, I suppose you want me to go outside and measure a couple of mine and see what it is? Which measurements you want and I will do it for you.

I took some pics of the measurements I need.

1. Distance from firewall to front edge of the battery tray.

2. Distance from lower edge of engine bay body panel to main surface of battery tray.

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Finally, please check the tilt of the tray - does it lean toward the middle of the car?

Thanks Shoe!

Back in 5 mins.

The distance from the firewall will be about 100mm. My soundproofing is in the way so it measures 85mm plus the thickness of the soundproofing.
The vertical height is 165mm and the tray is level.

Okay, I got 2 1/4 with the sound pad and 3" without. The other measured 11 1/4" and I measured both cars. One with pad, one without and neither leend towards the middle of the car.

Sorry Shoe. Didn't see your last post so didn't realise you were out doing the measure. Let's see if we get the same numbers though yours will be in inches !!

Yours will most likely bemore accurate since mine had batteries in the way and I'm a fat guy with bad eyes.

The vertical measurement I gave you is from under the tray down to the platform under the tray so that probably ties in with Shoe. Not so sure about the forward measure though. Mine is more like 4" to the firewall without the soundproof. Good luck anyway.

And my engine is out unfortuantely ut you measured from the top and mine from the bottom so e should be able to get a good read from all that.

1. Distance from firewall to front edge of the battery tray.

2.5" with pad

2. Distance from lower edge of engine bay body panel to main surface of battery tray.

11.0" to top edge of EBBP

Well hell, I was close.

Tray is level too. Afterall, it is nominally a lead acid battery.

The battery measuremnents taken from our 1974 2.0 liter survivor wearing its original tray and attaching pieces, shows a complete agreement to the aforementioned numbers.

There is no lean, only a perfectly horizontal positioning of the tray.

I believe you must have something out of alignment if it tips toward the engine.

Please check the positioning of the leg that holds this tray's horizontal position to correct the level of the tray. It should have no imperfections or missing metal at the top , and the bottom should be solid as a rock where the attachment goes against the inner structure. They seemed to rust, at least the ones I have commonly run across, from the inside out and lost integrity structurally before showing holes or any perforations.

Thus creating the lean you describe......worse yet, if it gets on the support and the longitudinals and into the back of the seat area, you now have the infamous Hell Hole problem that has put so many off the road, or down the road to expensive repair.
Best wishes on this...hope things progress in a positive manner from here on in.

One question - factory pad on the firewall?

Thanks to everyone for these measurements - greatly appreciated! I hope to get everything lined up tomorrow.

I just put one of these in for Euro911. The tray goes as far rearward as you can get it and still maintain contact with the inner fender. The support sold these days has to be tweaked majorly to get the tray level to the car on both axis and square to the bottom of the tray.

I've done this 2 times on 2 different cars and the bending was the same. You can relocate the hole for the hold down and gain a little fit up.

Yes, factory pad.

Bolted/clamped the battery tray together so I could see how it wanted to fit and compared measurements to those received from the world. I came up with 3 3/4" from the leading edge of the tray to the firewall (without pad) and 11" from the top edge of the engine bay body panel to the tray. The vertical matches perfectly and I am close horizontally. Still need to tweak the fore/aft placement and make sure it is level.

Another question - how does this thing get welded to the wheelhouse? Rosette welds under the hold down on the outboard edge?

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one small bit of advice I wish I had thought of when I did mine...as soon as you tack it in a few places, put your battery on it and make sure you can close the deck lid properly. I have an Optima which is fairly tall, and ended up being jsut to tall for the deck lid to close properly. I was in the same boat as you, ended up just picking a spot and going for it...wish I had thought it through a bit. Good luck!

I have decided to wait untill the car is on all fours to install the battery tray...it will be easier to get it perfectly level. Hopefully next week...thanks for all of this info.

Stock tray with Optima battery.

Thanks for the pic - looks like a great fit with the factory rain tray, which I will be using. What size optima did you go with...and is that an "R" (reversed terminals) model? Finally, did you have to order that hold down bracket separately?

I hope to pick one up this week and I have read varying opinions on which one to get.

It's a model 34. No R anywhere. It's what High Performance House had for sale. I don't know if the terminals are in the reversed position. It comes with the bracket.

Just ordered an Optima 34R (to bring the terminals inboard a bit) for $122 with free shipping. I did have to pay sales tax.

From what I can tell, thats a pretty good deal.

Check out this link if you are in the market:

http://www.streetsideauto.com/search.asp?keywords=optima+34r

Bob

Comon Bob, only 1 battery

First of all, you need to buy the biggest battery you can.

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then, you need to put a second one

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Joe:

I will be in the market for an AM/FM MP3 sound system that can use the stock altermator and only one battery.

Is the tray replacement doable witht the engine in the car?

I just got the parts and removed the old, but not sure I can get the space to weld in the new.

Anyone doe this?

Resurrecting an old thread...

Was 3" the official measurement from the leading edge of the battery tray to the firewall WITHOUT a factory pad (just metal to metal)?

Does anybody have a factory-installed tray that could be measured just once more because I'm anal?

Here is a reassuring photo from my 1973 1.7 without the insulation pad in place:

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A few more if you need them:

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I love reassuring photos!

Thank you!!