New sliders & dual battery for the Disco, and a service

[Redback]

On the weekend i did a service on the Disco, saturday was a complete filter and oil change including fuel filter and the removal of the old steps and attaching the new steps/sliders to the car.
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/ago.sized.jpg
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agp.sized.jpg

Sunday was the installation of a second battery, i bought an Exide ST620 75AH 650CCA marine deepcycle battery then went over to Micks (treebruiser) place to install it.

First thing was to see how much room we had even though we had done this the weekend before we were just making sure, then make a battery tray to suit the space and the size of the battery which was 300Lx174Wx220H, now space under the bonet of the Disco is premium so to make this size battery fit was going to take some mods, hieght was our main concern as well as moving the horn and under bonnet stater switch which will need the wires lentghened and making a heatsheild to protect the battery from the heat off the turbo as next to the turbo is the only place it can go.
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agq.sized.jpg
Now the tray a bit of angle from an old bed frame.
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agu.sized.jpg
then brackets welded on;
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/ags.sized.jpg
A trial fitting before finishing it, no point if it didn't fit eh;
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agt.sized.jpg
Next was heatsheild and clamp brackets and painting;
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agu.sized.jpg
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agw.sized.jpg
And lastly fitting;
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agx.sized.jpg
http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/albums/bazzar/agy.sized.jpg

OK finished the only other thing to check is to keep an eye on heat towards the battery from the turbo i checked it after the trip home which is around an hour so a good idea and it didn't seem all that hot in fact no hotter than the main battery was considering it sits next to the radiator, so there it is so far so good.

A big thank you to Mick who did 99% of the second battery install and all of the making of the tray all i did was paint it.

Just got to wire it up.

Baz.

[Larry]

Nice sliders Baz, where did you get them from and how much $$$$ if you don't mind me asking?

Larry.

[one_iota]

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif 8O

Baz

I noticed from the Watagan post that the original side steps took a beating.

I have those sill protectors on mine. Rangie Spares courtesy of Graeme Cooper.

[one_iota]

Sorry Baz didn't mean to steal your thunder.

Larry,

Graeme Cooper: www.lrexpert.com.au

They had versions for 3dr and 5dr. In the 3dr version I could only fit 3 of the 4 bolts on each side.

The great thing is that it follows the subtle curve of the sill common to RR Classic, S1 and S2 Discos.

About 3hrs to fit yourself

[drivesafe]

Hi Redback, good job and when I get my digit out, do you mind if I use your posting in Project 4 info.

Cheers.

[MT]

You are right about checking the heat effect from the turbo - it does have an effect, but in my experience not over a shortish period. A couple of long hot days touring and if it is anything like mine you will need to check the fluid levels.

Do you reckon that the heat shield will have much impact? The limited standoff / air gap between it and the battery because of the tight fit with the battery might mean that it only delays heat transfer until it heats up enough itself .

I have also been told by a battery dealer that they thought the heat would not do much to prolong the life of the battery. Having said that, I got three years continual use out of my last deep cycle (an exide), although it was severely rooted when I replaced it - it had virtually collapsed.

Still, nice work - and a fair bit cheaper than buying a tray I reckon.

cheers

Mark

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I was always told vibrations killed off batteries before anything else,
(though newer technologies may have stopped this, anyone?)
did you line the tray with anything?

[drivesafe]

Hi MT, a mate I made a number of these battery mounts out of stainless steel a few years ago and we experimented with and found the reflector worked very well.

The problem is not the air flow heat but the radiated heat coming straight off the engine.

The reflectors we made were thin stainless sheet mounted only 1 cm from the battery and only needed to cover an area that would be directly effected by radiated heat.

We made ours so that the reflector clipped into the battery mount and could be removed quickly and easily to allow work to be carried out on the motor.

Cheers.

[Redback]

Originally posted by drivesafe
Hi Redback, good job and when I get my digit out, do you mind if I use your posting in Project 4 info.

Cheers.


Yep no prob use away only happy to help, i will be buying the traxide dual batt device soon, just a quick question which one would you recomend the 40amp or the 80amp it will mostly be looking after our fridge and only overnight at the lowest setting and maybe one light.

MT; i will be keeping an eye on the heat issue for sure.

Pedro; i'm hoping it being a marine battery it might take a bit more punishment as they are designed to take more than the average battery.

Hey Mahn no prob mate and Larry the link Mahn has put up is where i got them $395 and fitted them myself, took about an hour to an hour and a half all up.

Baz.

[PhilipA]

I like those LRA sliders.
When you fitted them did you get an idea of how much they weighed?
Regards Philip A

[drivesafe]

Hi Redback, an SC40 is all you need, it will do the job just fine.
Cheers

[discowhite]

heat isnt the death of battery's its poor maintance, eg. using tap
water instead of de min water, and the worst of all is letting a cell go
dry!
vibrations wont play a big part in the death of a batt till later on in its life.

on the heat issue, did you know that if you flattened a car batt
you can get it to self charge, maybe enough to get you going, by
heating it up!
i have proved this once myself, also say it on abc tv show
bush mechanics.

phil

[Redback]

Originally posted by PhilipA
I like those LRA sliders.
When you fitted them did you get an idea of how much they weighed?
Regards Philip A

Don't think they would weigh more than a couple of kilos each.

Thanks drivesafe that'll be the one then.

Baz.

[seqfisho]

Hi Baz,

How hard were those sliders to fit and how solid are they, do you think they will support the weight without flexing up into the bottoms of the doors?

They look good though, and the stainless step part looks good is it wide enough for an effective step?


Glen.

[incisor]

the SC40 easily handles my 60l engel and 3 of my camp lamps using a 130amp hr trojan deep cycle battery.

[MT]

Drive safe,

thanks for the update - I will look into that for mine. Redback - could you let us know how yours has functioned after a while?

Cheers

MT

[Redback]

Yep no problem will post it's performance or nonperformance as time goes on hopefully won't have to go to a smaller battery.

Baz.