schwank

Our truly POS $500 ChumpCar has slowly been improving over the last couple weeks, to the point we are almost ready to test fire. It hasn't run in at least 3 years due to a litany of REALLY stupid things done by previous owners. I could go on all day, but this thread is about one of those stupid things only.

I went out and bought a new Group 41 battery yesterday and today I need to redo the electrical wiring between the battery, alternator, and starter. Last night while giving things a cursory glance I noticed for the first time that the battery hold down stud has been broken off at some time in the past. There is not enough to get a nut on at all... I wouldn't doubt that a battery sat in it for a long time and the nut rusted to the stud, and then it was torqued clean off while attempting removal.

So the question is... what alternatives do I have for fixing this? The car will be run in a 24 hour ChumpCar enduro on Halloween so it is absolutely mandatory that it have a battery retention mechanism. We are also trying to get it on track Friday for a DE shakedown, so hopefully something not too difficult. I don't have a welder but I can see that maybe it could be cleaned with a wire brush and a new stud carefully welded in. Any other alternatives?

schip43

You could move the battery to the trunk. I did it on my Tercel but not the 951. I used a Stereo power distributor under the hood and ran the hot cable to the back and added a new ground in the trunk. I left the original ground in place with a new lug in place for the original ground.do g to tanythin

So I did not have to do anything as far as the starter was concerned.

V2Rocket

drill it and try to thread a new stud in?

schwank

I would love to move the battery but should this thing somehow survive the ChumpCar it is desired to run it in DE days and perhaps SCCA ITS / 944 Cup races. The ruleset for that does not allow moving the battery.

I guess it might work to set a stud into the metal, and maybe just put a red loctited nut underneath to keep it set... maybe some JB Weld to ensure it doesn't back out. The car is going in for a cage next week so I'll ask the fabricator what he thinks too.

944Ross

Is the cage guy a welder? Any competent welder could fix it in a couple of minutes. He'd want it nice and clean, so if you can prep it it will help.

schwank

Yeah... originally we were gonna try for a DE shakedown this Friday... but no one wants to help this weekend so I called it off. Too much to do and I have to race my car this weekend.

So I am gonna have the cage fabricator weld me a up a fix... thanks guys!