| DeTomaso Battery Box |
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| The very early Panteras had the battery placed on a tray in front of the right rear tire. Then it was moved to the front trunk, for better access. This also (slightly) helps the weight distribution, moving weight from the back to the front. Hey, every few pounds help. One design change that later Panteras received was having the battery placed in a box mounted below the front trunk. This factory upgrade started around 1980. One additional benefit, of moving the battery below the front trunk lowers the center of gravity slightly. There is enough space, between the steering rack and the footbox bulkhead. There is JUST enough space. In most cases, a smaller battery than typical is needed. Here is a car with a clean front trunk. This image was taken at the 1997 Monterey Concourso Italiano. |
| Here is an image of a 1985 GT5-S, with the factory feature. Notice the cover plate is not carpeted. |
| Seen here is a 1985 GT-5 where you can see the strength of the box cover. This cover was carpeted. |
| A sunken battery box can be created in several ways. You can make your own box or platform, or you can buy a box. (Many vendors sell a preformed box out of stainless steel, with louvers to vent fumes, and holes for the battery cables.) |
| Once you have the box in hand, make a template, and stencil the shape on the floor of the trunk. Then cut a hole in your trunk, install the box, and weld, bolt or screw it in place. A hole will need to be cut in the footbox bulkhead, to run the positive battery cables. I found I didn�t even need to extend the main battery cable, but the wire to the fuse box needed to be lengthened. |
| Next I looked at, and measured, other cars that were fitted with this feature. The space is tight. You need to remember to leave space for access to the steering rack bolts. Clearance to the clutch line is also very close, more so on my car than other cars, as clutch line path varies. I had to reroute my brake line, which required that I splice in an extension. I bought a flaring tool for this. Shown here is a battery box example from one �project car�. |
| From under Jack (or is it Judy ?) DeRyke�s car you can see the support bracket Jack has made out of aluminum. The bottom of the battery can be seen. |
| Next, you can see a very unusual installation. Here the floor of the trunk was not cut open. Instead, a mounting bracket was fabricated and the battery was installed. A sealed battery �can� be installed upside down without leaking. How one �easily� attaches cables to externally charge or jump-start is not apparent, but I suspect one uses the point where the solenoid is located. |
| This is what my trunk looked like before. |
| After doing my homework, I began the box installation. I had the body shop actually cut the trunk. The cut begins right at the wall of the foot box, and goes all the way forward to where the cross member is, that mounts the steering rack supports. I�m going to start with the box attached just with screws, and perhaps weld it up later. I added a side panel to gain access to the wiring, and a future �feature�. |
| After new carpet is installed the task is complete, leaving much more space, and a cleaner look to the front trunk. |
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| Copyright By Chuck Melton |