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Touring battery in boot
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 12:59 pm
by miks15
Afternoon all,
I bought a battery relocation kit a while ago for my E30, as I wanted to get the battery in the boot to clean up the engine bay a bit.
I started looking at getting it fitted over the weekend as I have most of the interior out at the moment, but I noticed that a few bits didn't quite fit very well. There is a battery cover which clips in above the battery, which fouls on the rear cross member directly under the rear lights, and also the cable protection fouls on the cross member directly behind the rear seats. I am assuming there are some slight differences between tourings and saloons, but it made me wonder, did tourings ever come a battery in the boot as standard? The pocket is still there and the battery tray itself fits in correctly, but i can't seem to find any touring specific parts on realOEM.
It is items 10 and 12 in the below images.
Thanks,
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:10 pm
by DanThe
Yes the diesel tourings had battery in the boot
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:40 pm
by fixedwheelnut
I have just done this on mine, as Dan says only Diesel Touring's had the option.
I pretty much had to modify bits along the way;
1/ modify the rear right corner with a welded bracket to support the plastic battery tray.
2/ Weld in an earth mounting just under the rear right light unit.
3/ Cut a hole in the ridge channel at the rear right base of the seat back to route the cable under the rear seats, lined the edges with rubber profile, the whole cable was also wrapped in plastic conduit.
4/ Pop out the blanking plate at rear right of bulkhead.
5/ Mount the positive battery point under the bonnet
6/ optional I mounted a small additional fuse box to enable extra positive power take offs at the front.
7/ optional approx 30 -40cm away from the battery is an inline 50 amp fuse under heat shrink on the smaller of the two cables, I cut this out and added a 50 amp cut out fuse accessible above the battery.
8/ the rear right boot side panel, I peeled back the carpet and cut away a strip approx 15mm up from the bottom so the piece of covering can fold over the battery cable as it routes along that bottom edge.
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:11 am
by miks15
Thanks Both, I was only looking at petrols on Real OEM so that would explain why I couldn't find anything!
Thanks fixedwheelnut. That's really helpful! Do you have any photos of the hole you cut in the cross section behind the rear seats and how you routed the cable through?
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:56 am
by fixedwheelnut
Here you go
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:35 pm
by miks15
That's perfect, thanks
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:59 pm
by miks15
does anyone know, or even better have pictures, of how this is routed on diesel touring?
Do they have a hole in the cross section already for the cable to pass through? Or does it route over the top?
Photos would be ideal but I assume there aren't many diesel tourings knocking about! Also photos of the set up around the battery it self would be good.
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:37 pm
by DanThe
Dont forget the plastic piece that goes between the battery and arch here, a reasonable shunt up the arse will short the battery clamp/cable directly to earth
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:52 pm
by fixedwheelnut
DanThe wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:37 pm
Dont forget the plastic piece that goes between the battery and arch here, a reasonable shunt up the arse will short the battery clamp/cable directly to earth
20230201_105347.jpg
Oh yes definitely, it's not finished yet, but it is mobile and going for an MOT tomorrow
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2024 11:39 am
by lellis
fixedwheelnut wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:40 pm
I have just done this on mine, as Dan says only Diesel Touring's had the option.
I pretty much had to modify bits along the way;
1/ modify the rear right corner with a welded bracket to support the plastic battery tray.
2/ Weld in an earth mounting just under the rear right light unit.
3/ Cut a hole in the ridge channel at the rear right base of the seat back to route the cable under the rear seats, lined the edges with rubber profile, the whole cable was also wrapped in plastic conduit.
4/ Pop out the blanking plate at rear right of bulkhead.
5/ Mount the positive battery point under the bonnet
6/ optional I mounted a small additional fuse box to enable extra positive power take offs at the front.
7/ optional approx 30 -40cm away from the battery is an inline 50 amp fuse under heat shrink on the smaller of the two cables, I cut this out and added a 50 amp cut out fuse accessible above the battery.
8/ the rear right boot side panel, I peeled back the carpet and cut away a strip approx 15mm up from the bottom so the piece of covering can fold over the battery cable as it routes along that bottom edge.
Looking at doing this soon myself. Are you using the OEM battery tray part?
I will be relocating my fuse box to the glovebox so will probably terminate the battery cable there with a distribution block around that area, then an easy cable to the starter motor!
Re: Touring battery in boot
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2024 10:05 pm
by fixedwheelnut
lellis wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 11:39 am
fixedwheelnut wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:40 pm
I have just done this on mine, as Dan says only Diesel Touring's had the option.
I pretty much had to modify bits along the way;
1/ modify the rear right corner with a welded bracket to support the plastic battery tray.
2/ Weld in an earth mounting just under the rear right light unit.
3/ Cut a hole in the ridge channel at the rear right base of the seat back to route the cable under the rear seats, lined the edges with rubber profile, the whole cable was also wrapped in plastic conduit.
4/ Pop out the blanking plate at rear right of bulkhead.
5/ Mount the positive battery point under the bonnet
6/ optional I mounted a small additional fuse box to enable extra positive power take offs at the front.
7/ optional approx 30 -40cm away from the battery is an inline 50 amp fuse under heat shrink on the smaller of the two cables, I cut this out and added a 50 amp cut out fuse accessible above the battery.
8/ the rear right boot side panel, I peeled back the carpet and cut away a strip approx 15mm up from the bottom so the piece of covering can fold over the battery cable as it routes along that bottom edge.
Looking at doing this soon myself. Are you using the OEM battery tray part?
I will be relocating my fuse box to the glovebox so will probably terminate the battery cable there with a distribution block around that area, then an easy cable to the starter motor!
Yes my rear left boot pocket was corroded anyway so I bought the parts with the battery mount and welded them all in place and used the OEM BMW battery tray, I think I had to dremel a small part of one corner to squeeze it in,
As in the above posts I routed through the crossmember under the rear seats, with additional conduit protection and rubber seal around edges. The rear right boot trim I cut away the hard plastic behind the fabric covering, this leaves the fabric in place to fold out over the cable.