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Photos and
Information, all pictures are "clickable" for larger image.
Installed a "Hellroaring Technologies" backup battery system.
It's a BIC-95300B and its like the one I installed in my 2003
Chevy Silverado a few years ago. However, this one was much
harder. The Chevy spare battery fit in a spare battery tray I
bought from the Chevy dealer and it bolted right in. The FJ has
the room but no optional battery tray.
The pieces of the BIC
The BTF (Blue Torch Fab) Optima battery tray
bottom
I bought a BTF Optima box online, cleaned it up, filed and sanded the
rough (really rough) sharp edges and painted it with truck bed spray
for a tough finish.
I fooled around a few days trying to decide how this was going
to happen. I decided to mount things longwise in the engine bay.
I've seem a few where the battery was mounted crosswise but like
this option better. I cut and welded up some scrap metal from my
junk pile to make a tray that supports the battery box.
I squeezed in a couple threaded inserts in the square channel
and ran bolts from under the fender to clamp it down. A couple
more bolts hold everything down in front. I used large fender
washers and heavy rubber washers on the underside. I put a
couple threaded inserts into the fender as well to mount the BIC
unit.
Getting all the wiring done was the toughest part. The engine
bay has a fair enough amount of room but not a lot to spare. I
ran the wires for the remote control switch through the rubber
plug on the firewall where the washer squirt line runs. I
mounted the switch to the dash with some heavy duty 3M double
sided tape.
Here was the initial test fit with things just sitting in the
engine bay, the picture on the right shows the completed setup.
Lots of work and money, I hope it was worth it!
I took my time to double and triple check all the connections and
wiring before connecting the BIC system to the FJ battery. It
would not be a good thing to get smoke at this point, especially
with 2100 miles on the FJ!
You can see where I mounted the BIC unit on the fender lip using
a couple of threaded inserts. Also visible is the 150Amp circuit
breaker mounted to the BTF battery tray. Like I said there isn't
a lot of spare room here, just had to be careful, I guess 28 years of USAF
electronics experience helped out too.
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