Last night after leaving my lights on I had the fun of trying to start my 323 by pushing it and popping the clutch. It didn't end up working. After a few calls to friends I found some jumper cables and got it started again. A project I am thinking about doing is moving the battery to the trunk and installing a remote mounted oil filter in it's place in the engine compartment. This would make it easier to work on more things in the engine compartment and also give me the ability to jump the car even if people have parked on three sides of me as they did yesterday. It would also make oil changes much easier. Has anyone already done something like this on a 323 hatchback or any vehicle for that matter? Any suggestions about what to do or not do and where to get the remote filter parts would be welcome.

 

I could not justify the price to buy the long battery cables along with a remote filter kit. The price of good quality cables has really risen with the cost of copper. Another problem with a remote filter kit is that you leave yourself open to an oil leak in the future. It can also promote premature engine problems due to the fact that it will take more time to build up oil pressure at startup. I would be a high price just for convenience or a novelty, in my opinion. I have never had one problem getting to or removing my oil filter.

 

Yeah, after talking to my dad who is an electrical engineer it sounds like the cable would have to be at least a #2 or bigger and ten feet of that is going to be pretty pricey. I guess the remote oil filter just seemed like a cool, convenient thing.

 

Well, I went ahead and moved the battery to the trunk. The cable wasn't too expensive. I bought a 2/0 cable (about 1/2 inch diameter) from Home Depot and it was about $1.50/ft. I found a big terminating block laying around the house that ended up lining up with some existing mounting holes just above the motor mount in the engine compartment. It took a couple hours because I had to take out a bunch of panels and the back seat to run the cable. A smaller cable would probably be fine and easier to work with. I already also had a nice cage for the battery to sit in. If anyone cares I'll post a link to some pictures.