[HBannink]

Seeing the thread advertising a 106ah deep cycle battery that does not fit in the engine bay prompted me to add my experience to the melting pot.
I was fortunate to lay my hands on two 96ah normal starting batteries and like an over exited kid with a new toy I attacked the battery cradle in the hope of a straight swap only to discover that the battery cradle in my gen 2 is too short to take this big brute.
Running 10 lights up front and a whole zoo of other electrical goodies this battery was the answer to a lot of possible problems so the small fact of it not fitting was not an option to consider. Armed with tape measures and a few bits of template paper the solution was more simple than I thought. All that was needed was to lengthen the tray by 20mm and leaving a bit for in case I opted for 32mm X 2.5 flat bar to extend the one side.

After removing the tray I cut the rear side off and welded in another piece of 32mm steel that I had bent to the contours of the tray.

The second cut came after I had tacked the base back and used the extension as a guide to move the mounting back to the original position. The lot was welded and cleaned and then painted with 3 coats of hamerite to prevent rust.
A new liner was made of 4mm correx and tape to stop any electrolyte spill from reaching the metal and replaced.

Tools used was a few spanners to strip and reassemble, measuring bits, small grinder with 1mm cutting blade and flop wheel, mig welder, of course the obligatory hammer and some paint. If you can weld I would rate this mod as a walk in the park.

Henk

Dont forget the coke to keep the opperator lubricated and cool