My '72 911 S/T project…

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Batteries.

I had a brief conversation with Chuck at Elephant yesterday about their dual ST oil fender-mount oil cooler kit. My question was whether or not the battery boxes on my 72 would interfere with them. While they can remain in place, airflow would be significantly impacted and would negate some of the benefits of running the [expensive] dual-cooler set up in the first place.

My concern is with removing 60lbs of weight from the nose of the car and the effect on center-of-gravity and handling. Sure, I could add lead ballast, but would prefer to lower the curb weight of the car vs increase it. My initial plans call for adding a lighter odyssey battery in the smugglers box. What are some ways I can keep the CG within an acceptable range, save weight, and still remove the batteries from the nose?

[RickWhite]

I wouldn't worry about it. My S/T racecar has both battery boxes removed for big 993 coolers. The battery is mounted in the nose ahead of the fuel cell, but it is a light AGM battery. There is no real impact on handling.

My RS clone when it was an autocross car had only a battery on the passenger side to improve weight distribution. I had it up on the scales and it was pretty impressive 50/50 right to left, obviously rear biased, but with 3/4 a tank in the Carrera plastic tank and my fat ass in the driver seat it was only 55/45 or so.

[geneulm]

I have what you are thinking about doing: Chuck's left side cooler in addition to cooler on right. Yellow top in smugglers box with both battery boxes present. (It's a 73). Twin plug 2.8.

You won't notice any handling difference. My car has never even gotten close to running hot, much less overheating.

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I have what you are thinking about doing: Chuck's left side cooler in addition to cooler on right. Yellow top in smugglers box with both battery boxes present. (It's a 73). Twin plug 2.8.

You won't notice any handling difference. My car has never even gotten close to running hot, much less overheating.

Good to know. I sincerely doubt this car will ever see a track, and our summers aren't that bad. I'll likely remove the battery boxes and run an odyssey in the smugglers box since the AC is coming out. If it does become an issue with corner balancing, I can always add ballast.

No progress on the car this weekend. My hangar was starting to look like a junk yard so I took Sunday to move the car out, sweep and get better organized. My airplane has been out for maintenance since October, so I'm planning to take advantage of warmer, longer evenings to build some work benches and cupboards along the rear wall, and add more shelving for my 911 parts hoarde. I've been pretty diligent about bagging, tagging, labeling and boxing every part I've removed, and it'll be good to have all of that stored somewhat logically.