Another Update.
1. Started getting a "low coolant temp" related CEL. popped up a couple times. best i could figure is that the thermostat was sticking open. I had IAG replace the thermostat while they did my 30k service recently, since they drained the coolant for that anyway. only added on about $40 to my bill, and i didn't have to deal with it lol.
2. Battery finally getting weak/dying. not bad for 6 years and 165,000miles. I knew it was coming as it had a lot of trouble last winter on the really cold days. well, I bit the bullet and bought a new battery after it left me stranded in the Best Buy parking lot and
@awptickes had to come jump start me. if the car didnt start on the first try, it was out of juice and would just crank really slow until I jump started it. If i started the car too many times in a short period it would drain it fast too. I bought a small jump pack to hold me over until the battery was replaced.
I wanted something just as powerful or more powerful than the stock battery, and smaller/lighter. I considered the Odyssey PC680 that a lot of people run, but it just seemed too small to make it through a real winter. I also didn't want to mess around with relocating it So I went with the Odyssey PC925. 900+ CA and 330 CCA, sealed AGM battery so no worries about how it's mounted or any fume emissions/acid leaks.
So I had to make some custom stuff to mount this battery and I came up with an idea that i was happy with. My idea was to get some kind of plate that fit in the bottom of the stock battery tray. something rigid that i could mount my battery mount to, then hold the whole thing in place like the stock battery with the tie down. I threw around the idea of using wood for ease of getting and working with, but it's not as stiff as i'd like, and i worried about it rotting over time (even painted). So i settled on a piece of aluminum from McMaster in 12"x8"x3/8". I measured the bottom of the battery tray to be 9"x6.5".
So I used a bandsaw to cut the piece down:
then i test fit the mount on it and marked where the mount holes were. Then drilled and tapped the mount plate. i decided to use studs so that i could keep the bottom flat and not worry about the plate not sitting flat in the stock tray. used 5/16-18 stainless steel studs. I didnt use metric because metric studs were like 10x more expensive in stainless ($8/stud) and i had a tap for 5/16-18 lol.
then sanded/painted and used red loctite to keep the studs installed.
mounted the battery to the plate using a washer, bronze split lock-washer, and a stainless nut.
mounted the battery in the stock tray. fits perfectly. the only problem was that with the battery in this configuration, some of the wiring did not properly reach the terminals. The only wire I had to extend was the POS(+) cable to the starter. it was about an inch too short. Luckily the wire leading to the fuse box was plenty long enough to reach. So I used a piece of 4gauge welding wire and made a new starter cable with tightly crimped copper connectors + heatshrink with sealant adhesive inside. then made sure to properly position the new wire in the stock wire hold down on the stock tower. re-wrapped the whole thing in the stock loom, re-used the stock rubber boot at the starter, and re-wrapped the whole thing in electrical tape for a stock look.
For the Negative wire, I was able to re-use the stock wiring. I rerouted the wire to go in front of the battery instead of over the top and it was an appropriate length. I did flip the bolt going through the NEG(-) terminal so that it was easier to access, had to leave the POS(+) terminal bolt upside down though so the stock terminal cap would fit. Since the Neg wire was reaching around the corner of the battery now, I added some loom material around the edge to keep it from ever rubbing through. bolted it all down with the stock tie down and it's solid.
Started it up and the car has never cranked so fast! this little battery has a lot of power. overall i think i'm maybe 5lbs lighter than the OEM battery. the mount setup weighs maybe 3lbs and the battery itself is about 26lbs.