Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

Narrowing down the punch list items, I decided to finish the battery mount. A couple of installments back I built the "box" to hold the Oddessey battery. I had, at one point, vacillated between mounting it under the car next to the right frame rail or mounting it inside the car on the firewall where it would be easier to service. I finally settled on the inside firewall location.

The first step was to weld a couple of "ears" on the battery box. I made these from some scrap 1 1/4" angle, drilled a 3/8" hole in each one, and welded them to the sides of the box.

Next, I cut a piece of birch faced 3/4" plywood to fit the inside of the firewall. This piece is odd shaped because of the steel reinforcement on the driver's side. I then cut a second piece of the plywood to fit the back of the battery box and tapered it on the belt-sander at school. I glued this second piece to the first so that it is positioned right over the transmission tunnel. The reason I used such thick material is because I needed to space the top of the battery (and the terminal posts) back away from the steel hoop that is immediately behind the firewall.

Once the wood was shaped and glued together, I drilled the 3/8" bolt holes, countersunk the backside, and installed a couple of 3/8" T-nuts. Now the battery box can bolt in place without bolts passing through the firewall. The wood reinforcement assembly will be bonded permanently to the inside of the firewall with polyester body filler.