E30 Zone

Folks, im considering a battery in the boot conversion for E30 Cabby to replace the ballast lump in the boot.

...is it a difficult process to do such a conversion?..has anyone got any tips or photos etc?

would appreciate any feedback from any zoners who have undertaken such a conversion.

cheers

Gary

There`s a thread some where in the M50 section by willnz showing what little bit of fabbing that has to be done to take the battery tray.
Its best to use an E36 battery lead as it gives a couple inches extra to play with as the E30 one is a bit tight.

I did mine, but not in a conventional way.

I welded/bolted in some metal to accommodate my battery tray and also act as the earthing point for the cable.


here is the battery tray in


and a battery


I made my own cable to run to the front. Actually I used two cables, thinner than standard, but overall more amps. You have to take care mind, that it's safe. Then I found a nice insulated terminal box from the scrap yard for the engine bay.

The lump in the boot isn't ballast - it's a harmonic vibration damper, and the vibrations it dampens were found to damage boot mounted batteries if it wasn't fitted.
Hopefully, battery technology is now advanced enough for this to not now be a problem.

FlappySocks wrote:I did mine, but not in a conventional way.

I welded/bolted in some metal to accommodate my battery tray and also act as the earthing point for the cable.

I made my own cable to run to the front. Actually I used two cables, thinner than standard, but overall more amps. You have to take care mind, that it's safe. Then I found a nice insulated terminal box from the scrap yard for the engine bay.

You should be using two separate cables NOT connected together at the front, using one of them to feed the engine loom only.
A single cable subjects the both the engine and ABS ECUs to the wildly fluctuating low voltage that occurs during engine cranking, as a result of the voltage drop in the long cable.

So does that mean the conversion "kits" in the For Sale section aren't plug and play because there are brackets missing in the boot?