Another part of the build that had me thinking ahead was running the battery cable from the boot to the engine bay. The battery cable route between the subframe and firewall, under the inlet manifold is a bit hard to get to once the engine is installed so I considered the flexibility of separating the battery cable in the engine bay loom, and the battery cable under the car. This way I could install a battery cable from the boot to the firewall and then at a later date complete the engine bay wiring by simply connecting the engine bay wiring loom to a battery cable junction.
Battery junction terminals are readily available however I wanted to mount one on the brace tube between the subframe towers so to make it look neater I wanted something that didn't have a flat base.
On the lathe I machined a round profile into a small rectangular block of HDPE plastic to match the diameter of the subframe brace bar. I then hand cut/filed out a hex-shaped hole and press fitted the bolt head into it. Fitting the bolt head into this hole ensures the bolt does not rotate in the block when the nut is being tightened.
I then superglued in a plug so the bolt head doesn't get pushed through the piece and earth the 12V power onto the subframe.
On the top, I glued a simple round piece over the bolt to complete the junction terminal. The small plastic burrs around the edges were removed with quick touch of a butane torch flame.
The block was mounted to the subframe brace bar with a couple M5 bolts and threads tapped into the round bar.
To protect the connection from accidentally being shorted to ground if I was working with tools in that engine bay area, I have a battery terminal cover that will fit over the junction terminal once both cables have been fitted. The red colour also serves as a visual indication that it is a (live) 12V cable.
As an added precaution against ground-based electrical issues, I decided I would also run a cable for earth/ground under the car. The battery ground cable in the boot would still be bolted to the boot floor but I will also run an additional cable from the boot floor, parallel to the 12V cable under the car and up to a threaded rod that I fitted in the subframe brace bar (next to the custom battery terminal). From this subframe connection I will also run a short cable to the body somewhere in the engine bay.
Battery junction terminals are readily available however I wanted to mount one on the brace tube between the subframe towers so to make it look neater I wanted something that didn't have a flat base.
On the lathe I machined a round profile into a small rectangular block of HDPE plastic to match the diameter of the subframe brace bar. I then hand cut/filed out a hex-shaped hole and press fitted the bolt head into it. Fitting the bolt head into this hole ensures the bolt does not rotate in the block when the nut is being tightened.
I then superglued in a plug so the bolt head doesn't get pushed through the piece and earth the 12V power onto the subframe.
On the top, I glued a simple round piece over the bolt to complete the junction terminal. The small plastic burrs around the edges were removed with quick touch of a butane torch flame.
The block was mounted to the subframe brace bar with a couple M5 bolts and threads tapped into the round bar.
To protect the connection from accidentally being shorted to ground if I was working with tools in that engine bay area, I have a battery terminal cover that will fit over the junction terminal once both cables have been fitted. The red colour also serves as a visual indication that it is a (live) 12V cable.
As an added precaution against ground-based electrical issues, I decided I would also run a cable for earth/ground under the car. The battery ground cable in the boot would still be bolted to the boot floor but I will also run an additional cable from the boot floor, parallel to the 12V cable under the car and up to a threaded rod that I fitted in the subframe brace bar (next to the custom battery terminal). From this subframe connection I will also run a short cable to the body somewhere in the engine bay.
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