A penny of unnecessary cost will stop a car maker from making this change. The cost is unnecessary. The benefit is more like 60/40 to 59/41, not factoring in the added weight of the cable or battery box. Consider that the difference between a full tank and empty tank is going to shift the weight from 60/40 to 62/38, a rear-seat passenger will make that 60/40 more like 58/42. The benefit of moving a 35 lb battery from the engine bay to the trunk is greatly outweighed by the $3-5 of cost it would add in cables in the view of a manufacturer. It would be great if they could be uncompromising with regards to performance, but they can't. If you want no compromises, you'll have to get a supercar.

Alfriedesq's subjective evaluations are highly biased based on the fact that he spent all that money to move it, so it must be a "major" improvement. Several of his statements lead me to believe he either has no grasp of vehicle dynamics or no grasp of the english language. I'm leaning towards both. Butt evaluations of minor changes in corner loading are about as accurate as butt dynos, and adding 20 lbs of vertical load isn't going to drastically alter a tires ability to exert a lateral force.

 

Wow, you guys certainly jumped all over his back on this one
anyways, thanks for the info, wondering if you were planning on putting new IC pipe on now that you can.

 

i have seen a number of cars with their batteries relocated. i cannot say there is much diiference. especially if you install a lot of ICE

 

I was looking a a nice battery stinger sells that looks to be about 1/2 the weight of the stock one

Any weight gains were more than offset by the removal of the spare tire which was really quiet heavy

 

To me it seems REALLY stupid that they would go to all the trouble to make the valve cover out of a light weight material and then also make hollow cam shafts - both to reduce weight that is uop high - - - and then put a big battery right up high next to the lightweight parts

I dont care what car manufacturers do or don't do - - I do what ever I want to my car to make it work better and go faster

If you don't like how I write - then dont read my posts

 

Uh, hollow cams is for faster revving primarily...

To all those talking about how it will only shift weight dist. from 60/40 to 59/41 are forgetting to take into acount how far from the CG the battery's mass is (i.e. it has a very long "lever arm"). In terms of polar moment inertia, this makes a big difference. Al's comments have been mostly about handling in regard to the car's "rotatability", which is much more affected by polar moment of inertia than by simple weight distribution.

 

Not to mention the fact that Al was just telling us something he did that he felt helped the car's handling ... and somehow this turned into Al having to defend against attacks from some .... well anyways thanks for the info Al.

 

dont forget to add that cutoff switch if you plan to take the car to the drag strip. any car with a relocated battery requires a battery cut off switch to be located in a very visible location in the rear of the car.
after alot of discussion on this debate ive learned that 50/50 weight balance isnt as important as a lower center of gravity. going by that the best spot to relocate the battery would be under the passenger seat, possibly a hawker or any other small battery, or possibly two in parrallel for those of you with the bling bling "ice".
just my .02

 

if you make statments about how much better your car performs becuase you did something nobody has done (to the evo's), then heck ya you better be able to back it up. what did you expect, everyone to say "you are sooo smart, i want to spent about $400 to do that too." it doesn't make sense for the supposed 90lb. swing. unless you're filthy rich, then you're just dumb. do weight reduction if you have money to burn and you want to drive as hard as you supposedly drive. IMO.

 

holy crap this is getting pretty heated.

 

reminds me of the ole' I-club days ! Its typical - "back it up" - what are you nuts ? What do i have to "back up" to you or anyone else - I am just sharing info on some of my mods that i do - which ones work well and which ones do not - why??? - in respect and appreciation of all those others who also post up helpful information about what they do on thier cars

I remember on the i-club when non wrx owner drivers of the castrated so called subaru 2.5 RS they sold to the american market before they released the wrx used to come on and post stupid insults about what i was doing to my WRX like they were somehow feeling a personal attack becuase I choose to do some modifications to my car

here we got some guy who dont even own an evo making stupid rude remarks against me because i am trying to share techinical info about what i am doing to my evo -

instead of wasting your time making insulting posts - get a 2nd job so you can afford a real car

 

ha. thats funny. i remember on the wrx forums you used to attract alot of this crap. there always seemed to be an arguement going on with you in the center, or at least on the sidelines. maybe as a lawyer its in your blood to argue??

 

al, did you remember to add that all important cut off switch yet??

 

You know - i had my battery also re-located in my WRX and i never had a battery cut - off switch even though technicaly I needed one - - not one track shut me out or even questioned me when they saw how professionally and carefuly done the job was -(I did get stressed out on my way to last year's east coast Subaru shootout becuase I was worried they may violate me at tech (i had a few other illegal things on that car) but the track was very cool ) - with my evo i don't even care if they want me to run or not - I'm no longer that concerend about drag racing - sure i'd like to take a few runs at the track this year - BUT I am no lonnger as addicted to drag racing as i used to be with the WRX - - The EVO is going to be more of a general use / sports car type set up (hence the sound system)

As i plan to be deep into the 11's within a few more weeks I prob wont be able to run the evo at any drag tracks in any event as I will NOT put a cage in there

I am sure I won't have any problems at tech inspection - but if I do - i just wont run

I certainly am NOT going to mount any battery switches on this car

 

i went to the strip last night and they actually checked to see if it had a clutch switch. some tracks care some dont. my gsx had a battery switch that technically didnt work as i didnt attach it to the alternator, they checked to make sure it worked and when it didnt they signed off and let me run anyhow. alot of trcks just dont car all that much.