Battery Conversion

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I have nearly finished converting the battery in the MR2 from the piddly little 35Ah to a bigger 55Ah one. There were a few considerations with this. The battery terminals were too small, but I got the big ones in Halfords along with new earth cables. I also discovered that all the time I've owned the car the engine earth strap was disconnected which explained why the car was so hard to start!

A trip to a scrap yard got a battery bottom clamp (off a Citroen) for a fiver and I made up my own rear clamp. The battery is clamped in securely and isn't going anywhere, but the big problem is the intercooler which is supported by the existing battery top plate (red thing below). If this wasn't the case I could lose the plate because it isn't really necessary, but then the intercooler would be flapping about a bit. As a stop gap I've bolted risers onto the plate because the new battery is 20mm lower than the old one and the top plate needs to be level, but I'm going to fabricate a new brace of some sort for the intercooler when I get more time.

Location: Ulster, null

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