Battery Cradle - Finishing Touches

Over the last couple of nights I've been putting the finishing touches onto the battery cradle. It's been a bit of trial and error, and there's been a few things that have required changing, but it's almost at the point where it's ready to be wired up and bolted onto the car.

You can see in the photo above that the stone guards have been riveted on, and that the front guard has been modified with a bend in the aluminium to allow extra clearance for the battery.


Here we are right-way-up. Ignore the overspray of cold gal onto the ali guard. The cold gal seems to scratch off very easily, which is disappointing. I thought the whole benefit of cold gal over paint was that it was a lot tougher? Maybe it just needs a longer time to dry and cure nice and hard.






Here you can see the old "short sides" from the original cradle base, all cleaned up and cold gal-ed. I've decided to repurpose them for use in the battery tie down, to make it more secure. To that end I spent some quality time with them and a hand file to remove all the excess weld and splatter, and clean them up nicely. A coat of cold gal themselves, and they're ready for business.

Also in that last shot you can see the 3.5mm rubber sheeting that I'll be using under the battery and between the battery and any points that the cradle might get too close. For instance, because there will be some small bolt-heads protruding from the rear mounting plate (for the Anderson plug), we'll stick some rubber between it and the battery to prevent the bolt heads rubbing on the battery casing.

The end result should be a system that holds the battery snugly, but without being too tight. It should be good for many miles of rough and corrugated road, as well as some more gnarly offroad driving.

Tonight the plan is to bolt it all together for the final time, and get a start on the wiring of the battery, breaker and Anderson plug so that the unit itself will be finished. That will let us then bolt it under the car, and get started on the remainder of the wiring and the fabrication of the rear control panel in the boot. That's the plan, anyway!