Euro/Non-US members with factory rear battery?
 

anyone with a 323ti or (possibly) euro compact that had the battery mounted in the back from the factory? if so, could you please take and post pics?

this is all i've been able to find so far ...

http://staff.connect.com.au/lheather.../msg00465.html

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...64&hg=12&fg=29

i'd love to do this "factory" and want to find out where the cables are routed from the front to the back, where the back ground cable attaches, how the battery is mounted, etc.

any help is greatly appreciated!

Add "Euro/Non-US Owners" to the title. May stand out a bit more.

try emailing that Jao Costa guy in your link- I think he has been an active member on the yahoo list till recently. There is also a 325ti yahoo group but does not see much action:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/bmw325ti/

Also- isn't there a japanese ti website?

my frined has a 96 318i...his battery is in the trunk,...im not sure if that would help you any though, but i can get pics if you want

good suggestion!

any info is appreciated. i really want to do it factory, but even finding out how others have done it is useful. thanks rob! if you can also get the other info i listed (where he routed the cables, attached the ground in the back, etc), i would greatly appreciate it.

from what i understand, his battery was in the trunk from the factory...unless the previous owner did it, but i dont think the previous owner did it either

cool. gather what info you can :)

i tried emailing joao and we'll see what i get. it didn't sound like he HAD one, but got to SEE one so i don't know how much info he'll have.

sweet. i know me and my friend will be working on his car next week when he gets out of exams to install his new sterio equipment (subs and headunit), so i will get some pictures then...if i run into him before that ill see what i can do but it looks like i wont be able to look at until next week

any euro guys or gals???

my friends subs came in...just waiting on headunit...ill go those pics i promise!

check out the user gallery for pics of his battery...

the negative terminal is immediately grounded to the metal chassis...not anymore than 1 foot of cable is used it seems.

the power cable was tough to follow all the way up. you can see it goes along the back side, through the wall of the back seats and down into the carpet. thats as far as i could follow it without ripping the rest of his car up, but we were in the middle of a project and i didnt want to digress too much.

i hope the pics help in some way, but it seems like the pics just show what would probably be common sense as how to wire the battery

Somebody needs to do a write up on this. I'd like to move mine to the back.

The positive cable runs under the carpet on the right side, through the firewall in front of the glove box, and attaches to the terminal block located where the battery is on US 318 ti's. There is a knock-out in the fire wall, and the insualtion is similarly marked for cutting, which produces a factory look.

The factory cable has a rubber boot which seals to the fire wall.

Also in the stock 318ti battery location is the secondary air pump. I continue to get a CEI due to this not being attached. I do a temporary attachment to pass emmisions, but otherwise it sits on the bench, because there is no room with the battery there!

Can post some pics of this? I don't quite follow. Is your battery in the trunk? Did you need to move the SAP because of the swap?