Super battery location

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Blair Nelson asks about possible handling advantages for his Giulia Super by
transferring the battery's weight to the rear, but also about rust concerns
and possible future restoration disadvantages.

Since the stock battery location is appreciably forward of the front wheel
centerline, and the trunk (boot) battery location is appreciably behind the
rear wheel centerline, the favorable effect on weight distribution is
appreciably greater than simply subtracting the battery weight from one end
and adding it to the other. Also, since the front roll center is quite low and
the rear roll center is relatively high the roll axis slopes down to the
front, and the battery relocation also moves a substantial weight from well
above the roll axis to a much lower point relative to the roll axis.

Additionally, batteries away from the underhood environment tend to last
longer; our 164, build date in 1990, got its first new battery last year.
YMMV, but I don't think that the long life was unconnected to the location.

In Giulietta days marginal starting with trunk-mounted batteries was sometimes
attributed to poor grounding through the body, and a standard fix was to run a
second battery cable as a ground to a starter mounting bolt. The added weight
and cost of a second long cable, or of two in the case of an end-swap, was a
negligible disadvantage, as is lost luggage space on a car which probably
won't be used for family vacations. Corrosion should not be a problem if one
uses a plastic battery case, commonly sold for marine use. A couple of small
holes for mounting hold-downs, and larger ones for grommetted cable
pass-throughs, wouldn't be much of a restoration problem compared to the other
holes which often seem to appear on their own. I'd do it.

Cheers

John H.

Raleigh, N.C.

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