No Battery tray in an S4 reshell

[garyeanderson]

Nick stopped by yesterday with his S4 that he got last year. It was reshelled and a new chassis installed before he got it and was a pretty nice Elan for the money. There were a few short commings though and he has corrected most. The battery was mounted over the differential and it took up early the whole area, it was a large battery. Anyway he had gotten a reproduction battery tray to install and I said to bring it down and I would help. So yesterday was a great day for glass work and the job started about noon and we were done by 3:30. The area in front of the garage was a disaster area between having a complete S2 chassis disassembled and Nick's S4 plus all of the tools that I had out. I do like the longer days of May and June but this starting at 5:30 and finishing the cleanup by 6:30 makes for a long day for an old fart like me.

[elanner]

Truth be told - Gary didn't help - he did it and I helped, and not much at that. My glass work is limited to fixing a couple of small bumper cracks, so I picked up some tips that only come with experience:
- Use a couple of small screws to hold the tray in place while glassing it. Remove them when it's set. It seems obvious now, but I doubt I would have thought of this, and certainly not before I was up to my elbows in resin.
- Use random stranded mat rather than woven cloth (which is what I planned to use). It matches the rest of the fibreglass so looks more original, and it also takes up complex curves easier. Gary frayed the edge of the mat by hand so that it blended in with the body. I definitely wouldn't have thought of that.

Great job - so thanks. When you're as clueless as I am it's very handy to be 30 miles up the road!

Nick

[lotocone]

Gary and Nick,

Thanks this is good info. My S4 has an aftermarket metal battery tray that works, but it interfers with fitting the wood cover over the spare tire. Where did the reproduction battery tray come from?

[elanner]

Susan Miller.

"Boot Battery Tray - S3, Sprint" 45 GBP ex. VAT, 54 GBP inc. VAT in her latest catalogue in the "Glass-Fibre Panels" section.

It comes with the correct bobbins for the two clamps. She also has the clamps, but right now I can't find them in the catalogue. As you can see in Gary's photo, they are not identical. One is permanently bolted to the tray and a battery hold-down lip slides under it, the other is used to clamp/release the battery lip at other end. Of course, I don't have a battery yet (the one that is currently on top of the diff being too large to fit) so whether the clamps will see any use depends on getting the right battery. gjz30075 mentioned recently that a NAPA 5045 fits, so that's what I'll be getting.

Here's a picture of it as supplied by Susan, before being trimmed to fit.

While just looking at Sue's catalogue, I notice that she also has:

"Battery supporting tray" 40 GBP ex. VAT, 48 GBP inc. VAT in the "Boot Interior" section.

I'm not sure how the two differ. Mine has a big curved bulkhead underneath it to provide some vertical support while wrapping around the spare tyre. In years past I seem to remember seeing a plain shelf on some Elans, with no support underneath. Perhaps that's the difference?

Nick

[pharriso]

Finding this thread most useful...

When I replaced my battery a couple of years ago I noticed that my battery mounting had been bodged by someone & that the fiberglass had been skinned over:

Managed to get a replacement battery tray from Boss Motors:

One of my major jobs this winter is to replace the tray, so far peeled off the over skin to discover a mess:

old tray is split & splintered

I've now removed the old tray:

Next weekend I'll do the final removal of the remnants of the old battery tray & start the glassing in of the new.

[pharriso]

Well what a giant pain in the &&& that was! Took way long than it should.

Turns out the battery tray I was supplied by Boss Motors & waited 3 months for was of the wrong profile:

I had to extend the Battery tray at either end after using extensive Manilla Envelope design tools:

to create:

Then glassed it in:

& painted it all Satin black:

After retrimming & putting the battery back it's all a little underwhelming :

All done!

[elanner]

Ah, be pleased about it, Phil. This is one of those times where underwhelming = success!

Carpet on the trunk sidewalls confirms a quality job.

Nick

[TBG]

No battery cut off switch? Needs one...................D

[pharriso]

Ah, be pleased about it, Phil. This is one of those times where underwhelming = success!

Carpet on the trunk sidewalls confirms a quality job.

Nick

Thx Nick!