Mounting the "Optima" in the trunk, is fairly simple. You have to mount it in some sort of battery box. Then run a "long positive wire" to the starter solonoid. I use a length of new arc welder cable, with the battery post clamp on one end and a good size copper lug, soldered on the other and then bolted to the solonoid. Routing under the car can be a bit tricky, so as not to get near exhaust or moving part's. Insulated cable clamps are cheap and will hold that cable where you want it. The ground cable can go from the battery to the frame, in the trunk area. Would recomend putting a isolater switch in the positive cable circut, for safety and theft deterent. Most dragstrips, require this switch to be readily accessable, from outside the car, in case of accident or fire, etc.
I found it necessary to run the ground cable all the way to the front. My car had hard starting issues until then.
For racding it gets the weight to the rear of the car. And for the street it cleans up the engine compartment. I have 2 batteries in the trunk.
You don't have to run the cable under the car. I ran mine through the car. If you push the cable up the side of the quarter panel, inside the trunk, towards the front of the car on the passenger side, the cable will eventually emerge in the rocker rail. You have to remove the sill plate, and then replace when you get the cable settled in the channel. I routed mine into the kick panel from there, then through a grommeted hole in the firewall. After that, I used cable supports, similar to coax supports for cable on the side of your house. Run the cable over the shock tower and right down to the solenoid. Next time I do it, I am going to relocate the solenoid to the trunk and run the cabe straight to the starter. They say it works better that way and doesn't drag the starter as much. I had my ground strapped to the front in all the regular places, and ran a cable from the battery to the rear frame rail. This caused the starter to run slow at times. If I wasn't going to relocate the solenoid, I would run a negative cable up to a starter bolt. I bolted a metal battery tray to the frame rail, then used the metal bracket to hold the battery to the tray. Never had issues with leakage... Wouldn't be any worse than if it was up front and damaging the fender apron/front frame rail. I wasn't racing, so a box wasn't a must.
thats the way I did mine. Mine is not in a box either.....its a gel battery from O-reilleys.....more cranking amps and $20 cheaper than the base Optima.
Its actually more like around 100 pounds and when your on the quest for every last bit of performance.......100 pounds makes a difference.
