Auxiliary Battery

I bought a PowerSonic deep cycle (28ah) motorcycle battery for my auxillary battery. The battery will be wired in series between the dc-dc converter and the car fuse box to power the 12 volt system. The dc-dc converter will also keep the battery charged from the main battery pack. The battery will mount in the front battery rack. There's just enough space to slide it in.

Laying out the Components on the Electronics Board

I started laying out the components on the board. Initially I wanted to have the controller oriented with the terminals facing outwards so they hung out over the edge on the driver side. I thought it would be better for connecting the cables having not go through the plastic board. However the controller adjustment screws are on the other side and I wanted that to face outward. So the terminals will face inward as shown in the picture below.

I think the dc-dc converter will go on the right, closest to the auxiliary battery.

Logisystem's Contoller is here!!!

Unfortunately I got caught in the Logisystem's recall on some of their faulty controllers so my order took almost five months while they fixed the problems. Not too big of a deal, I'd rather get a good controller slow then a bad controller quickly.

I got the 120-144 volt 500 amp controller. Thanks to a friend who also converted his car and got this controller I realized the cooling fans were missing. Quick call to Logisystems and viola....they arrived a few days later.

Starter Block Off Plate

Here's a shot of the mount for the old starter. I used a piece of sheet metal to cover up the hole. One of the bolts is the original motor mount and the other is from the starter mount. Tin snips and five minutes later.......and viola. The sheet metal was flexed out a little so I used a bit of adhesive caulk to glue it to the transmission housing.

I used a clamp and ratchet to hold the sheet metal against the transmission housing.

Here's the finished product.

Engine Wiring Harness

This was the part I was dreading the most. I am more mechanical than electrical and wasn't sure where to start with the wiring. Uh oh.....I noticed that I didn't have the engine wiring harness! Since the car had the engine pulled when I got it the harness went with it. Didn't notice until I started thinking about this step. But called my friend Alex and he called his families salvage yard. Here's the harness. I retained the backup-lights, speedometer, idiot lights (oil, battery), temperature gauge and the two main wiring harness bundles and the main alternator wires to reconnect. I spent several days unwrapping the old, oily cable wrap and bought the standard black plastic flex hose to re-wrap. I also labled each wire that I needed to use.

Plastic Board for Electronics Mounting

I purchased a piece of 1/2" black plastic Starboard to mount the controller, charger, potbox, etc on the front of the firewall rack. It measures 27" x 8.5" and should provide a nice surface.

I used six countersunk screws onto the front of the battery rack. I should be getting the engine wiring harness tomorrow and the motor controller this week. I can then place the major components and map out the wiring. At least that's the plan.......

Batteries in the Car with Hold downs

Racks installed, time to put the batteries in. Here are the rear batteries. I used galvanized 3/4" angle iron with threaded rod for the hold downs. Still have room for the spare tire and storage.

Here is the sixth battery in the trunk. I used a 1" wide steel bar underneath the car to anchor the threaded rods. This battery just sits on the trunk bottom.

Just to be safe I cut out notches in the angle iron to avoid touching the terminal posts.

Here is the front rack with batteries. That's my son's hand in the picture.


Uh oh, when I put the batteries and hold downs in the firewall rack the passenger side forward threaded rod hits the hood.

Here is where the rod hits the hood.

Since there is a open space further out on the hood, to the left in the above picture I cut a small piece of 1" flat steel and moved the threaded rod further to the left. That worked quite well and cleared the hood. Everything seems to fit quite well.