Getting Ready for Battery Boxes

With the motor in place it is time to start on the battery boxes. There will be four boxes in total, one in the front engine compartment (4 batteries), two along the sides of the drive shaft (4 batteries each), and a large box behind the rear axle (6 batteries). I based the design of my boxes off of Kurt's S-10 conversion here.

The frame of the boxes is going to be a combination of square steel tubing and flat steel bar. I have never purchased steel before so I had no idea where to get it. I visited a local welding supply store and they pointed me to a supplier in my town so I headed on over and purchased what I needed. I ended up purchasing the following:

• 1.5" x 1/8" square tube: 28' total - rear box upper supports
  
• 2" x 1/4" bar: 60' total - front and rear box supports
  
• 3" x 1/4" bar: 12' total - rear most box inner supports. Used this wider bar to support the longer spans in the middle of this box.
  
• 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron: 8' total - Front battery box

When all said in done I had about $200 worth of steel. I spend a long time trying to figure out how much steel I will need to complete my boxes. I tried using Kurt's list at first but it seemed to be more than I needed.

The next issue I had to solve was how to build the rear cages of the battery box. The problem is the 2" bar I am using needs to be shaped like a 'U' and the batteries placed within them. I initially thought to just used my chop saw to cut the pieces and then weld them back together to make the 'U' shape. This sounded good at first as I already had the welder and chop saw in the garage. However, I opted not to go this route because I have never welded before and am already worried about how strong the welds I need elsewhere are going to be. So rather than add more possibility for failure due to my inexperience, I opted to purchase an oxyacetylene torch and cylinders so I can heat the steel and just bend it. I was shocked at how expensive the cylinders were but I bit the bullet and purchased a 80 cubic foot oxygen and a 75 cubic foot acetylene and a cheap $50 torch off Amazon. I had the option to rent the tanks on a 5 year lease to save a little money (about $100) but ended up not doing that in hopes that if I don't need them in the future I can recoup some of the cost by selling them.

Well it has been an expensive day. Lets hope these are few and far between.