i need advice on rouing the power wire from the interior to the engine bay. is there an existing hole i can use or do i need to drill a hole???

 

You don't have to drill a hole. There is a hole that goes from the driver-side fender to inside by the fuse panel. Just follow the bundle of wires and you will see what I mean. It is much easier to do this with the wheel well out and even easier with the wheel off.

 

i'll check it out. thanks man!

 

that worked for me. thanks again.

 

let me knoiw how it goes, i want to do this soon, to the trunk.

 

did you buy a relocation kit or just buy some wire and make your own kit if you made your own what did you use to make it.other than wire.

 

i did buy a kit from summit but i'm only using the wiring, not the battery box. if you guys are interested in the box i'll give you a sweet deal on it. here's how i did the reloc...

-i mounted up the battery to the right of the spare tire with a optima specific battery frame
-routed power wire from the trunk through the left side of the cabin using existing hole at the l/h side of trunk
-removed the l/h wheel and fender well cover
-drilled new hole through firewall for power wire w/ new grommet (not necessary if you go through existing factory harness grommet)
-routed power wire over fender well cover and through existing hole for factory harness
-attached power wire to power distribution block
-attached starter & engine harness to distribution block
-mount distribution block
-cut factory ground wire at mid point connection (at frame) on battery side leaving it attached to the frame and engine (frame connection may need to be sanded to expose metal).
-installed ground wire in trunk (any where on the frame, just clean it up to expose metal).
-zip tie power wire and add plastic sleeving were chaffing may occur.
-reinstall all the crap you had to remove.

thats about it. i had the rear and drivers seat out to facilitate power wire routing. i don't have a fuse installed in-line with the power wire yet, but i'll be doing that as well. anyone think i missed anything???

 

Awesome, thanks for the information. I'm a little confused about the ground wiring in the engine bay but I haven't taken a look so I'm sure ill figure it out when I get into It. My positive cable termiinal connector is an ugly mess, re-crimped over and over it looks bad, I'd like to get rid of that with the whole process.
Any pics of the battery box?

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

summit sells it for $69 ($80 w/ shipping). selling mine for $40 shipped. let me know.

as far as the factory ground wire, it goes from the battery to a mid point connection at the frame right under the battery tray the to the engine and terminates there. all i did was cut the cable at the mid point frame connection on the battery side so i didn't have a exrta battery cable in the engine bay connected to nothing. the new groung wire for the battery is in the trunk. i left the engine to frame wire in there to ground the engine to the frame. hope this helps!

 

Been thinking about doin this, just for the fun of it, and the extra engine bay space...nice writeup, subscribed so I can remember where its at!