If it seems as though I spent an inordinate amount of time on the battery tray, you’d be correct. But — to steal a saying from Home Built By Jeff — “anything worth doing is worth doing twice.” I re-did all the brackets to move the battery down and back, so it would sit slightly farther away from the engine.
I shortened the angle bracket and raised the hole at the rear, where it bolts to the frame.
I finished the plastic pillar/clamp support at the inside rear of the box. This was complicated by my unwillingness to spend one more damn cent on hardware. (The cost of new fasteners has been one of the unexpectedly painful parts of this project.) It’s not pretty, but it holds the battery tray solidly and didn’t require any frame mods.
And finally, a new front bracket, hiding behind the brake line P-clamp. Looking closely, you can see the ample space between the top front corner and the spark plug lead. With my initial setup the battery was barely kissing the base of the plug lead where it exits the blower housing. Yeah, this was worth the re-work.
The big velcro strap is a suitable retainer for now. The battery is pretty snug in there, but I might need to add a strap that goes over the top of the battery as well.
