Has anyone relocated there battery to the rear of the car? An extra 40 or so pounds over the rear axle seams beneficial to me, and all of the r53 Mini’s already had the batteries back there. I have the back gutted so I could pretty much put it anywhere maybe even where the tool kit goes looks like it would fit great. It seems really simple just run a positive wire to the back and ground it to the frame?

 

You could do that or just buy a lightweight battery.

 

I looked into that but the light batteries are not cheap if they were $50 or less i may be interested, moving the battery to the rear is free lol

 

One issue with the battery in the trunk is LONG battery runs...so the cable needs to be pretty heavy to make it work.
The r53 actually has 2 positive cables from the battery for safety reasons...one has an small explosive dissconect that goes off with the airbag (thus one is the heavy cable goes to the starter, the cable is unfused, reasoning, is in a crash the cable could be damaged and arc). The second cable is fused,, and goes to the fuse box.
The issue is high amp fuses are $$ and tend to unrelaible overtime, so the factory split them.
On a track car none of this matters I guess, or if you DIY it, just remember, about 15lbs of copper cable, sheathing, etc might make the weight shift a net gain in weight.
On an S, there IS extra parts and weight under the hood..so the battery movement may be as much about keeping 50/50 weight distributions as it is space...so if you ditch the spare when you do the battery relocation (like the S) you can try to keep the balance, and not be tail heavy...
A few folks have done it...not sure if anybody ever posted about any actual improvements.

 

good info ya adding another 15lbs of cable would kind of defeat the purpose, i want to get the car as light as possible and balanced but at the same time keep it a nice car, by this i men i still want my power steering pump and i still need ac in the summer lol im already sacrificing my heated seats for the Corbeau's but i don’t really drive the car when its under 55 out anyway so i should be fine. I don’t want to rip out the head liner and destroy the car just in case I decide to re-sell it down the road. Her eis a pic of the back so far the Corbeau's should be in this weekend.

 

So you caged the car and are putting in aftermarket seats that together are not cheap. Yet you are up in arms over spending $177 dollars on a light weight battery. Okay cool man good luck

 

Not safe. It shouldn't be done. If it starts a fire in your car while you're in it, that's a problem you'll have to solve yourself.

 

juchong, Good thought i was thinking the same thing, ill just probably get a Braille in a month or so and sell my oem battery for like half the cost to offset it

porthos, I gotta pinch every penny that’s how i can afford to get all the stuff i want in the car along with working a full time job and running a small side business to scrape by, i just feel the roll bar and seats are a necessity for full track driving even if its just HPDE for safety

 

Just saw this on another forum i might give it a try

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...for-track-cars

or maybe a motorcycle battery if they can start a Harley with a stroker motor they should be able to start the Mini lol

 

Then swap back for the street to stock....

 

Sometimes you have to live on Ramen to pay for the car parts.

 

haha yes defiantly have been eating hot pockets and ramen noodles a lot but im addicted lol

 

Not me... Federal Gubment employee (not counting the upcoming furloughs!).

 

That means you are not putting enough money into your car.