Battery box and bumper pan problem

[Pater C]

I have a 2001 2720 SL. I discovered that the floor of the back battery compartment was warping and the bumper pan was pulling out the screws. It looks to me like a previous owner modified the compartment cutting into the floor. The problem is that the battery box weight is completely supported by the thin sheet metal.

I am thinking of looking for a different battery box or creating a frame under the battery to transfer the weight of the box and battery to the floor.

[Bill]

Another approach - maybe easier? - would be to get four strips of 1 x 1 wood, each about a foot long, and screw them to the outside of the box just under the top lip. The weight of the box would ride on the strips, which would transfer the weight to the top of the floor. Maybe even better would be four pieces of 1 X 1 aluminum angle stock.

The idea, of course, is to get the bottom of the box off the thin aluminum at the bottom of the cutout.

Bill

[Pater C]

Thanks, Bill. What I meant by a frame was something like you propose. Thanks doubly for the diagram!

[Pater C]

I got a friend to help and is more handy with wood. We decided it would be better to patch the hole rather than put all the weight on the battery case. If it failed going down the road I could have a battery dragging behind. Here are some photos.

[Bill]

Looks like a nice neat job that meets the intent. I'm not sure what I am seeing in the third picture. The bottom half of the box the part that sits on the floor - looks quite shallow. The upper half looks deeper and looks like it has a sloped edge. (Is that just the camera angle?) Straighten me out, please.

Bill

[Pater C]

The third picture is the battery box with the cover on. There is a little camera distortion that makes the top of the box look slanted. There is also a little bit of slant in the box. It is hard to get it completely flush because of the wires being a little thick, in particular, the ground.

The bottom part of the wood that the battery box sits on is pretty shallow. It is also fairly tight. I figured the tight fit plus the weight of the battery would hold it in place.