2.2 L / 2.5 L Battery Relocation

By Craig Grass, Last Updated 09/28/2003

This page will cover the basics of relocating the battery of your 2.2 L / 2.5 L turbocharged Chrysler to the rear of the vehicle. The main purpose of moving the battery is to create more room in the engine bay. One of the side effects of moving the battery in this fashion is that the weight ratio of the vehicle is greatly improved. The weight bias is still toward the front, but the extremity of that bias is reduced. This will help with the handling characteristics of your vehicle.

Please remember that slight deviations from the instructions may be required based on your vehicle model. This page contains the instructions required to relocate the battery in a 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T.

DISCLAIMER: THE READER (USER) OF THIS PAGE UNDERSTANDS THAT THIS PAGE IS FOR USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE USER OF THIS INFORMATION WILL NOT HOLD THE WEB MASTER OR MANUFACTURER ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PAGE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, CLAIMS, OR INJURY RESULTING FROM OR LINKED IN ANY WAY TO THIS ELECTRICAL MODIFICATION.

You will need the following items from your local hardware store such as Home Depot or Lowes, and Wal-Mart or similar to perform this modification:

The following tools or similar will also be needed:

The first step is to disconnect the battery terminals and take the battery out of the engine bay. Then remove the battery tray. Removal of the tray is usually more difficult than you would expect because of the road grime and grit that has gotten all over the threads of the bolts.

Once the big pieces are out of the engine bay, cut the OEM positive terminal off. Leave as much original positive wire as possible. Strip the ends of the positive OEM wires that now have no terminal attached to them. Slide the large heat shrink tubing over all the wires and then place the stripped wire bundle ends in the connection cylinder and tighten the set screw down so that the OEM wires are very securely fastened. Then strip one end of the 20' red wire. Place this stripped end in the other end of the connection cylinder and securely fasten the set screw. Then slide the heat shrink tubing up the OEM wires and evenly over the metal connection cylinder. Using an appropriate heating device (I use a small butane torch) to shrink the heat shrink tubing tightly over the wires and connection cylinder. The 20' of red wire should now be securely fastened to the positive OEM wires. See the photo below:

Now, cut the OEM negative terminal off. Leave as much original negative wire as possible. Strip the ends of the negative OEM wires that now have no terminal attached to them. Slide the large heat shrink tubing over all the negative OEM wires and then place the stripped wire bundle ends in the connection cylinder and tighten the set screw down so that the OEM wires are very securely fastened. Then strip one end of the 5' green (or black) wire. Place this stripped end in the other end of the connection cylinder and securely fasten the set screw. Then slide the heat shrink tubing up the OEM wires and evenly over the metal connection cylinder. Using the heating device (used earlier), shrink the heat shrink tubing tightly over the wires and connection cylinder. The 5' of green (or black) wire should now be securely fastened to the negative OEM wires. See the photo above.

Choose an accessible part of the body in the engine bay to ground the negative OEM wires to. Sand off the paint in the area where the connection with the copper grounding bracket (or similar) will be made. (See photo above.) Then, use a sheet metal screw to attach a copper (or appropriate) grounding bracket. (See photo above.) Cut off the appropriate amount of green (or black) wire such that it can be affixed to the grounding bracket. Strip the end of the green (or black) wire that is fastened to the negative OEM wires. Fasten the stripped end of the wire to the grounding bracket. (See photo above.)

Now it's time to route the 20' length of positive red wire. Use care to avoiding crimping or kinking the wire. Route the wire with the wiring harness bundle back to the firewall. Use cable ties to secure the positive wire to the wiring harness. Then route the wire down the firewall using care to avoid getting too close to the exhaust manifold or exhaust side of the turbo. Use cable ties to secure the positive wire to appropriate locations on the firewall. Then, route the positive wire under the car and thread it through the shifter cable grommet as shown in the photos below. (Cars with automatic transmissions have similar grommets.)

Note how I routed the positive wire down the driver's side of the brake booster and then cable tied it to the shifter cable until it was threaded into the shifter grommets as shown in the next photo.

Now it's time to remove the center console or appropriate interior trim around the shifter such that the red positive wire can be routed through the interior of the car. Routing the positive wire through the interior is probably the hardest part of the battery relocation process, but it's the right way to perform the modification. Running the wire under the car such that it is exposed to the elements is unsafe, and could lead to electrical system damage, or personal injury. Throughout the routing process, the installer should note that appropriate precautions to protect the wiring should be taken at all points where rubbing or vibration could damage the wiring insulation. Route the wiring toward the back of the car through the center console area as shown in the photo below:

Secure the wiring using cable ties as appropriate. Once the wiring has been routed past the shifter, continue to route it through the center console area as shown, or as appropriate based on your vehicle model.

Once the wiring has reached the carpeting in the back seat area, you will need to remove the seat portion of the back seat. This usually requires removing two bolts. They are tucked away under the front of the seat in a Spirit, or behind the seat in a G-body. Once the seat is removed, run the wiring under the carpet (Again, secure and protect the wiring as needed) and to the area where the backseat has been removed as shown in the photo:

Thread the wiring into the trunk area as necessary for your vehicle model type. The picture below shows how I did it in the Spirit R/T.

In the picture above, the wiring is threaded under the flip down rear seat and through a slit in the trunk carpeting and over the rear tire well to the black battery box. A portion of the battery box can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the above photo. Which brings us to the installation of the battery box. There a multiple ways of doing this. In my case, I just used sheet metal screws. If I were to do it again, I would have cut little squares of 1/2" plywood to place under each of the 4 corners of the bottom of the battery box. Then I would have used sheet metal screws drilled through the bottom of the battery box at each of the 4 corners and through the plywood support squares, and then into the sheet metal under the carpet to secure the battery box to the proper trunk location. I use the silicone sealant around the heads of the sheet metal screws in the bottom of the battery box as shown below:

The next step is to locate another location for a second grounding bracket in the trunk area. Once you have found a location near the battery box, sand off any paint that might be on the body location you choose. (You must ground to a body location.) Install the grounding bracket with a sheet metal screw as shown:

Now, strip one end of the green (or black) wire that was cut off when grounding the wires in the engine bay. Secure the wiring to the grounding bracket as shown in the photo above. Route the wire to the battery box as needed. In this case, I made a small slit in the carpeting and routed both the positive and negative wires through the same slit. It looks very clean and professional that way. Then cut the red and green wires to appropriate length, strip the ends and install the new battery terminal fasteners. Note: You may want to have a fire extinguisher on hand at this point if you have a tendency to mess up electrical wiring. Now, place the battery in the battery box and secure the terminals to the appropriate wires. (Green goes to the negative terminal, and red goes to the positive terminal.) See the photo below:

Place the lid on the battery box, and then you are done. If you would like a complete kit sent to you via a postal or shipping service, then please contact me for pricing. I would be more than happy to send you what you need.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know. Thanks!

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