spare wheel and battery up front - not going to happen...

Here's my issue, my speedster used to have a huge bucket style tub under the nose that was obviously put there for the spare wheel to fit in and to get it lower, so that the hood could close, but with the front being so low, I'd hit it against everything, so I cut it off and closed up the hole.

Now I want to move the battery from the back to the front and fit my spare wheel in there at the same time. Any suggestions?

Any pictures of alternatives? Your set up? maybe a pic from under the car?

I was thinking a smaller battery up front, but I've just bought a brand new one and don't really want to fork out for another.

My issue by the way is clearance............the hood is about and inch from closing.

try to find at tire shop a space saver spare, they work great,and are smal enough to close the hood. bill

Hey Bill, the tyre that I have in there.............is a space saver....lol.

Gary - Deflate the space-saver/spare tire to the point you can close your hood. Carry a can of Fix-A-Flat (or a battery operated compressor) to store in your trunk to re-inflate the tire when needed.

...I'm just saying...

Build a carrier out of angle iron so you can move battery out of front trunk to a position in front of passenger side horn grill (at least for US Left hand drive). Could use black marine plastic box to protect it. A SO here did that - Barry/Iggy? It gets it out of trunk plus weight in that corner off sets frequently not having a passenger.

Can of Slime or Fix-A-Flat would probably be easier.

Carey / Special Edition mounts the battery in the engine bay just forward of the right rear tailight.

Thanks for the replys guys. I did think of just letting it down and blowing it up when needed, but the issue with that is that the space saver doens't go flat enough and it would still be rubbing up against the hood.

I was also considering the engine bay like the karmann ghia, because either way to get this thing to fit, I'm going to be fibreglasisng something to get it in there.

I'm going to my mate again over the weekend and then I'll have a chat with him to see what my options are. So far I think that I'm looking at these.

1) In the engine bay, there is space and wouldn't be too much problem to get it in there, plus I'd still manage to have short cables that don't run the length of the entire car.

2) Trim the floor in the front of the speedster and drop it down about an inch to get the depth that I need to clear the hood. But then I'd run the risk of hitting it on bumps.

Will keep you lot updated and give you some feedback next week.

I have to wonder why worry about a spare tire at all? In the last 25 years I have logged right at 100,000 miles in 3 Speedsters and one Spyder and have never had a flat tire. For that matter I have had precisely 2 flat tires, actually both blow outs of a nearly new tire, in nearly a million miles of driving over the last 50 years. I have picked up nails and had a slow leak on several ocassions, but always made it to a tire repair location with no issues.

My current Speedster does not have a spare. My 928 has a spare that stays in the garage. My truck has 80,000 miles on it and it's spare has never been on the ground....

Of course now that I have waved the red flag in front of "fate" I may have 3 flats this week?

I'm in South Africa.................we get quite a bit of crap on our roads......

I wish! I have at least half a dozen flat tires a year up here. Sometimes more. I can relate to the crap on the road.

Gary,, I moved the battery I made a battery box and put it right under the passager headlamp tub. Then made a inner fender liner out of black nylon. and used the 2 sidepost studs to hold that on . If I were to have to jump someone off, I just turn the front wheels to the left and hook up the jummpers.

Its a neet set up And you only move the battery 2 ft.

Gary, my battery is located above where the rear seat used to be. There are plenty of places around the car where you could hang a battery box, though.
I'd recommend making a mocked battery out of a cardboard box, making the size just a little over the actual dimensions of the battery to allow for the bracket or hanger, and putting the car in the air for a little R&D session.
Champ made the battery box I used. Initially, I located it between the bumper brackets, down low, and then had to move it because of the fuel cell. You could do the same, then glass the new location in after the welding is done. It wouldn't be all that hard.
The time to put the kill switch in would be about the time you start to run the big, red wire, too.
If I could make one more suggestion, it would be to heat the ends of your battery-to-starter wire as they stand in a copper terminal-end, then add solder to the socket on the connection. You'll never have a corrosion problem.

Timely post as this is my problem of the week

I have a 4.5 inch rim, and cannot find a 4 inch one. - what size of tiny temporary spare do you use? Tyres are 195/65/15 and I cannot find
Speedster sized run flat tyres.

Also this week is fabricating a new gas tank to gain capacity and move a bit weight forward. The old tank is junk, no new tanks here so I have to fab something and it may as well be large as long as I can fit the spare

Is the spare typically mounted in the well as shown or laid flat on top of the fuel tank?

In a real one it's down low and the bottom of the trunk is shaped to except it. Look In my oldyeler pics.. I can put a 205x15 in there.

I sent Alan copy's of my trunk floor patterns , Mine was a normal VS untill I corrected it.. I haven't heard a peep of how Alan has done with them.

I'd do it again In a sec, It's well worth it.

In a CMC the spare is typically flat on top of the tank.

The CMC manual you can view on this site gives the size of the temp. spare. I have one mounted on a 4.5" wheel.

I think this wheel size is wider than the wheel the spare was originally mounted on. The outer edges of the wheel are wider than the width of the tire. This means that at the edge of the battery well the wheel edge is resting on the fiberglass, not the rubber of the tire. I am going to put something there to protect the fiberglass.

Robert - 125/70/15 space saver is available on most american / canadian cars. hondas have em too - so you should be able to find something in Thailand

How do you support the battery when moving it behind the headlight - glass a box into the body?

Cory, it's funny that you should mention what you did, because when I was home yesterday, I grabbed an old cardboard box and mocked it into a battery sized affair and then started playing with areas in and around the car.

Ideally the perfect option was as close to the starter as possible and also I wanted it in a place that had early access to routine checks.

So after about 30 minutes, I found the perfect spot. Under the rear RHS fender. This area is out of the engine bay and I'll have to construct a steel frame and box to hold it, but I think the position is perfect.

I'm going to construct a base for a box out of 3mm angle iron and then weld the section onto the rear part of the frame (nice fat support beam). This will put the battery just outside the engine bay and even closer to the starter than it is at the moment.

I have 2 removable sections (rear valence) on my speedster and removing the RHS will give me full access to the battery if needed. This is all I've been thinking about, but will have to wait till tomorrow when I'm home from work before I can start on it.

Doing it this way will allow me to run a full sized spare in the nose and that means somewhere to actually put the flat tyre once it's come off the car.

Stay tuned.

Robert, The best way to do it would be to fab a metal frame and weld/ bolt it to a metal section and then glass over that. You can just use fibreglass, but I think it would cost a bit more to get it thick enough to hold that weight.

It's all about peice of mind also. If it does take a know, I'll feel a bit better knowing that it has a welded steel frame.

Barry you have any pictures of your set-up?

I don't know if Odyssey batteries are available where you are, but if so, you should check them out. A very small, gell-cell battery will work just fine in a Speedster. I've had mine for a couple of years and Mike McKelvey also has one. Check out his pictures for an idea of the size (mikemck, Battery2.jpg). Mine is back in the engine compartment, but the Beck design has a bit more room there. You could even mount one behind the seat.

Hey Lane thanks for that, but locally, I'd be looking at almost $600 for something like that.

I was thinking behind the seat maybe in a sealed box, but ideally I want it out of sight and out of mind. I have some fiddling to do as it was pointed out by a buddy that I may have enough space under the rear seat with an access panel on top. Much like the beach buggies, I have a feeling that once again, the size of the battery will be the deciding factor as this story unfolds.

That battery would be perfect though.....

Yeah, it gives you a lot more placement options. As you sure about the price? I guess that includes high shipping cost, duty, etc. I paid about $110 here in the states.

Yes I have a few In my oldyeler photos on site. and more here on a disc. I am afraid send anything by email. I have some kind of a email virus that So far has not been Killed

If you can send me a email with a mailing address? I will just print some pics and make some drawing of whats on the car with measurements.

My car has the bumper brackets and the battery box is bolted on to the passager side bracket. I run the Optima red gel cell battery. I will add the measurements of it also. I have never had problems with road debree Yeat?? OPP.. I should not have said that,It could Jinxx me.

Gary-

If it's at all possible, I'd put it up front. A rear-engined car is heavy enough out back without adding a lead box.

Lane, yup.........a local supplier confirmed the price. For that type of money I might as well look at a bosch dry cell. He said that he gets smoked on duties and customs. I WISH that I could get it for $100.

Barry,I've just emailed you.

Stan, I'd love to get it up front and I'm going to try my hardest to keep it there. Either way I have to build a box to house it in, so I can at least do this, this afternoon and look at my options on where I want it to go tomorrow.

Thanks for the all the input guys.

Get a polyprophlene battery box such as the one from Attwood - cheap and durable. Then you only need an an angle iron tray frame.

http://tinyurl.com/25zg5hj

Thats to big a box, Plus he is going to NEED the battery to come out the side into the area of the front wheel ...

Gary I got your mail.Africa? I'm temted to email it to ya. But I had a brain fart I am going to inclued the paper patterns for the full size sparetire trunk MOD I hope your ok with christmas wrapping paper patterns

I'd use 3/4 angle iron and make your own battery box use expanded metal for the bottom and forward side. and I will take off the nylon cover and make a paper pattern of it.I tried to keep it simple and light weight. I got the nylon sheets from Mcmaster Karr. South Africa I can't help on that one.

I will Rush mail the stuff when its ready

Gary, you should have room forward of the passenger tail light in the engine bay area for a medium sized battery. ~Alan

My spare fit rather nicely in the front of my 2000 VS. I contributed my method in the KNOWLEDGE section of this website. It did happen for me.

When I built AL Shapiro's speedster, there was room to add a spare tire carpet cover too.

spare tire
jack
tools
air compressor lines / gauge
B2 gas heater + all fittings

http://picasaweb.google.com/mangosmoothie356/PhotoShoot?authkey=Gv1sRgCJPcg53Qw9e7Rg#5421483102491635666

After seeing how a real porsche spare tire is stowed and making mine the same. It still looks better and gives you even more room. like a Beck does. Oh! And on those long long trips. your glad it's there.

The Mango Smoothie rules! What an awesome car!!!

No T-120 tyres here so I bought a 145/80/15 and a 4 1/2 rim.
Will fab the gas tank to suit so that the tyre sits on top of the tank and the battery in the well.

Barry..........seriously don't go to any effort man, I've finally sorted this out.......hopefully. I don't want you incurring any costs.

Mango........what you have is what I was looking at among other things. Man I really really really like your ride.

I found out this weekend that my 610 battery won't fit up front unless I make a few choices.

1) Do what mango did and have the spare on top of the tank, I'm sure that this route will be cleaner and you can actually make the spare look like a feature in it's own. I'd love to keep the larger battery in the car and then also have the added storage up front for jack, jumper leads, some basic tool etc. (I'm leaning towards this one at the moment)

2) Dump the 610 battery and go with a 630. (Standard beetles size) This option will allow me to move both up front and I checked this weekend and it fits. But that would mean losing my almost brand new battery and forking out for another one. (I have that money to spend elsewhere on the car)

3) I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to cutting under the back seat, but stopped as there just wasn't enough space and measuring from the bottom made this pretty clear that it wasn't going to work. So before I got into that I decided to rather wait.

We have a car show this weekend (biggest in SA) and I've been asked to have my speedy there, so this weekend was prep time for the engine bay, and also cleaning up the front of the car and the interior as currently, it has none.

Gary - i mounted my tools / jack *under* the spare tire. it fits fine (used a scissor jack from a Honda)

And check my site - i also cut out the area behind the seat. mounted my battery, O2 gauge computer, ignition system, etc. there is a LOT of room under there. i used DUZ (sp=?) to make the open / close easy and Velcro on the carpet back.

Dzus: http://www.southco.com/landingpages/dzus/

ya - 4 of these little guys:
http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26-823-000
http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26-823-001