Restoring a 66 Roadster with air. Had to put a new front clip on the car. The clip looks like it was installed right but the new battery box I got from ecklers will not fit. Was their different size batty boxs made or could they have sent the wrong box? Any Ideas? Thanks Robert
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Re: Battery Box
Air cars had the battery tray mounted on the LH frame rail to move the weight of the battery to the opposite side of the car and offset the weight addition of the AC compressor. All non-A/C cars had the battery mounted on the RH side of the car. Did you buy the correct (A/C version) of the battery tray? -
Re: Battery Box
I ordered for a 66 A/C car. It looks like it should fit but thiers not enough room. Should the same box fit different years or was thier some differents between years. Maybe they sent me a box for another year.Comment
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Re: Battery Box
Should be the same tray used for '63-67 AC cars + '65 396...Comment
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Jack, I always wondered why on the 396's
Agree with your saying that driver side battery box installation on air cars offset the weight of the compressor (and evaporator w/associated plumbing), but I don't believe they had a choice --- there's just no room on the passenger side of C60 cars, what with the evap box, etc.
But could never figure out why L78's followed the same design. Looking at the passenger side area on a 396 (where the non-air small blocks have their battery located) There seems to be lots of space, provided a third tray design accomodate a fore-aft battery axis (mirror image of actual production). This would help offset the weight of the driver, rather than add to the RH/LH weight distribution imbalance. If they did this, they would save the cost of the LH battery access door and the +ve cable routing across the firewall. The only downside I can think of is the proximity of the battery to the collector of the RH big block exhaust manifold, as the engine is offset to the passenger side.
What do you think ?Comment
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Re: Jack, I always wondered why on the 396's
Look at your front frame cross member and you'll see TWO indents for clearance to the harmonic balancer. One is for the SB engine while the other is for the BB. See how much further the BB indent is to the RH side of the car away from the center line...
That's because Zora intentionally offset the power trains in Corvette attempting to gain 'neutral' weight balance (fore/aft as well as side to side with a single, driver, occupant of average weight). With the introduction of the BB, you had an engine that was larger, wider and heavier compared to the SB. So, I'd guess a 'convenient' mechanism to compensate for the extra weight offset was to treat it like an AC equipped SB and move the battery to the LH side....
BTW, you can see other 'evidence' of Zora's weight neutral objective. From year to year and model to model, you'll see this/that engine 'bolt on' component (alternator, Etc.) is located on the opposite side of the engine when compared to standard Chevy passenger cars using the 'same' engine...Comment
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