Thread: 1985 Reliant SS1 rebuild/upgrade
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Old Apr 11, 2010 | 05:07 PM
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pauluspaolo
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As I'm fitting a larger engine into the SS1 it seems sensible to make as much space as possible in the engine bay. The driver’s side of said engine bay is very crowded as the battery, brake servo/master cylinder & carb/inlet manifold are all situated on this side. Of the three items mentioned above the battery is the easiest to move. The SS1 boot has a false floor hiding a deep well which presumably is needed to carry all the spares/tools required for any sort of journey - it's also known as the "drug compartment"! It's pretty useful really & is an ideal place to re-site the battery. So I've moved the battery from under the bonnet to the boot - not a particularly difficult job, more fiddly & time consuming than anything else.


I used a junction box in the engine bay to connect the original battery positive cable to the new length of cable which will run to the back of the car.


I ran the new cable under the fuse box & through the big bulkhead grommet that the main loom passes through.
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Here's the new cable passing through the bulkhead grommet (you'll have to turn the picture through 90 degrees), I've run it down the bulkhead to the right of the pedals & then along the base of the bulkhead under the pedals & then along the base of the transmission tunnel. I've secured it with plastic p-clips along its whole length.
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I didn't order enough cable so I've had to join two lengths together - here's the brass connector prior to the next length of cable being fastened to it - the connector comes with a length of heat shrink which I haven't shown but have used despite the bodytub being made of non-conductive glassfibre.
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This shot hopefully shows the route of the cable through the car - it also shows the p-clips I've used to fasten the cable down with.
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The rear bulkhead caused me a problem as it was too thick for any of the grommets I had, so I made a metal plate (thin enough to take one of the grommets) & passed the cable through this. I then ran the cable down the left hand tank strap, protected it with some heater hose & secured it to the strap with a couple of cable ties. Name: 07Rearbulkhead.jpg Views: 894 Size: 78.1 KB
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I secured it to the chassis to the rear of the diff with a p-clip & then passed it through a hole I'd drilled in the boot liner. Again I didn't have a suitable grommet so used a length of heater hose to protect the cable (I'm not sure how legal this is come MOT time so I may have to change it later). I've fitted cable ties either side of the boot liner to stop the cable, & hose, pulling through the hole.

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I also made a strengthening plate to fit under the boot liner (ignore all the other holes - I'll learn to "measure twice & cut once" one day. I've bolted it to the car using the bolts I've used to secure the battery tray inside the boot - it's the original Reliant battery tray (as mounted in the engine bay) but with the legs cut off.
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The earth cable was next on the agenda - pretty easy to do & wonder of wonders I found a grommet that I could use - I bolted it to the drivers side rear chassis member after I'd cleaned all the underseal/rust/crap off.
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Here it is all finished – I don’t have a picture of it but I’ve since made a false floor for the boot out of wood which hides/protects the battery.
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