"Kirk Kohnen" > wrote in message >...
> If I want to do that with my ION, will I have to relocate the battery to the
> trunk?
>

Possibly. One of the guys from the www.bobistheoilfilter.com
newsgroup removed the bumper off his truck and installed one in the
front of the car. He said it only took 15 minutes to remove and he
had enough room for BP filters for the engine and transmission. You
might feel safer to put a bypass filter on the battery mount. You can
buy relocation kits from Ebay and they are cheaper. Most of those
have a 20' positive battery cable and a 3' ground cable. I would buy
an additional cable for the ground. That way installation is alot
easier and you can attach the negative cable to the fuse box (where
the battery cable is attached). My brother-in-law, who is a certified
Saturn mechanic & put in the second engine, said not to use the
shorter ground because the chassis electrical connection from the
trunk isn't as clean. Not sure if this is true or not but with 2 20'
cables you can easily remove the setup in a couple of minutes. Also
get at least 4 gauge, 2 gauge is preferrable but anything larger may
make it harder when drilling the two holes in the side of the trunk
(see below)

The battery relocation was fun. It took a good part of a Saturday
afternoon during college summer break. You need a large drill bit or
dremel bit > 1" because the battery cables are pretty thick. Find the
place where the trunk sheet metal meets the outside and drill there.
Use rubber grommets for the holes where the cables are routed through
the trunk - they should be large enough to fit over the battery
terminals and the plastic insulation stuff I mention below. The sheet
metal in the side of the trunk a foot away from the gas cap is only
1/8" thick on the Saturn. This is the one metal corner that might cut
into the cable (and short positive to negative). You don't want this
(lots of sparks!!) so you want the rubber grommets. Be careful with
these holes; measure the outside diameter of the middle of the rubber
grommet and match the hole diameter as close as possible. If you have
a drill bit large enough this is the best solution. Put the rubber
grommet on the cable before you pull the cable through the hole. You
need to be careful to strap the cables away from suspension parts. I
used lots of twist ties and attached a few clamps to the frame under
the doors. I also used that plastic battery cable wrap stuff that I
got from Meijers - forget what it is called. You need it because it
helps protect the cable insulation. Wrap this stuff for the entire
length of the cable minus the cable ends. It comes in different
colors and I wrapped the positive cable in red and the 20' ground
cable in black plastic. If your battery is a side mount terminal you
might have to drill holes through the side of the plastic battery box
- takes a couple minutes.

> "Jonnie Santos" > wrote in message
> news:Nqocd.69282$Lo6.15671@fed1read03...
> > Thanks for the detailed explanation. Did the cables for the remote
> > battery go through the cabin or under the car? Hope you get a bazillion
> > miles out of your Saturn! (smile)

Thanks for reading! }