When I first got the jeep I found that it had certain problems. Then engine started up and ran great. However the turn signals didn't work! When you push the turn lever down, the amp light in the speedo lit up! As I got further and further into the project I found that lots of the wiring was really poorly cared for and heavily chopped. There were several wired held in place by the fuse for the circuit. Also the PO had added an aftermarket oil pressure guage that leaked in the cockpit. He had actually purchased a new one and never installed it. I'm not a big fan of these guages so I chopped those out as fast as I could. The PO told me that the stock guages never worked, but that the Speedo was new with the engine. Too bad he put in the wrong speedo. After looking at wiring that was making me sick, and considering my future uses of this jeep as a primary vehicle, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a new wiring harness. I decided that I liked Centech Wiring harness and to upgrade to Dual optimas while I was about it. After nearly going nuts over the various things I would purchase I finally had a preliminary list of items I would need for the upgrades.

Here's what I decided to do:



Dual Batteries

 The picture isn't so great, but here you can see the battery isolator and the solenoid I connected it to. The solenoid will allow me to use my spare cell to jump start the jeep with the flip of a switch. This gives me the benefits of isolated batteries and the full amperage of the system on demand. The isolator is produced by Sure power and is availible at most Autozones for around $30. This is only a 95 amp model. When I get around to installing a winch I plan on upgraded to a 150 Amp model and installing an 84 Corvette Alternator rated at 128 Amps of output. It's an easy upgrade but the 95 Amp isolator can hold me until then. Update: After much gnashing of teeth on the alternator issue I found that a 1994 ford mustang with 5.0 HO alt bolts right in. Better than most of the GM stuff I've tried. 130Amps and most parts stores keep it in stock.  

When I added this feature I wanted to have the most versitile system possible. I chose to use an isolator and normally run my batteries as seperate power supplies. The isolator will allow me to charge both batteries with one Alternator and keep one side of the system from discharging the other. I also added a solenoid in the system so that I can combine the batteries in paralell to effectively double my amperage. This way if I'm winching or jumping someones car I'll have as much juice as I need. I decided to go with the Optima Gell Cells due to their small size, durability, and operation from any position. I chose to purchase a Tomken Battery tray for the conversion. There was a small problem with my choice of tray. It was designed to sit down low over the stock heater motor. My upgraded heater motor (for a '75 Blazer with A/C) was too big. To work around this I decided where I wanted the tray to mount, well above the heater motor. Then I drilled a new hole in the upper mount bracket of the tray. Next I drilled the firewall for the new mounts. My body is fiberglass so I cut a 1.5" x 4" piece of steel, drilled it to match the bracket of the tray, and welded on some grade 8 nuts so I wouldn't have to mess with dropping the bolts all the time.

  With the Tomken Machine Battery tray mounted higher than the new heater motor the fender is now over an inch and a half away from the bracket that came on the tray. Here you can see the bottom of that bracket which clearly doesn't touch the fender. You can also see the location of the bolt on the upper bracket where I drilled a new hole.
After that was done, I used a chop saw to remove the front mounting bracket from the Tomken tray. After some comparison work I found that I could flip over the bracket and it would reach nicely to the now far away fender. I use my chop saw again to extent the slot that Tomken had created to clear the ridge in the fender. Then I took a grinder to the tray and the bracket to clean the area where I would weld the bracket back on. Next I bolted the tray to the firewall like it would normally mount. Then I hooked up my MIG welder to place the bracket. I held the bracket against the fender and the tray in the correct position and made a couple of tac welds.

   Since the original bracket wasn't long enough I cut it off and rotated it 180 degrees. Here you can see my new welds as well as my isolator peeking through the slot for the ridge in the fender. All those loose wires are hanging out waiting for me to terminate them in my ongoing jeep rewiring mission.

Next I worked the bracket and the tray over and made my welds nice and solid. After that I removed the tray complete with bracket from the jeep to weld the bottom of the bracket up. After thouroghly welding everything together I cleaned everything with a wire brush, let it cool and primed it. Admittedly I fried the old powder coat from the front edge of the tray, but I just primed it and painted it over with black engine enamel. After everything was dry I remounted the new tray and installed my new batteries.

Here you can see the freshly mounted Optimas! Note that the Deep cycle is mounted on the inside. This way I can use a side post wire to power the winch I will eventually buy. If you look close you may notice the long screw sticking up where the hood will be on the left side. I plan to correct this problem shortly. I may be able to simple cut it down to where the nut is, or I may need to modify the crossbar on the batteries so I can clear the hood.