I went for an Odyssey PC680 (extreme 25) gel battery after much humming and hawing as the car will be living on a trickle charger anyway. I also ordered an alloy bracket from http://www.tat-dlc.com a French company. They also do a beautiful bracket with an alloy washer bottle built in but the price is pretty as well so went for the cheaper option http://www.tat-dlc.com/en/catalog/lotus ... t-kit.html
The old battery came out with much more ease than I was anticipating. Remove the -ve terminal before the positive.
2012-04-17 18.29.03 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
You can see that whoever fitted it used some old newspaper and a piece of inner tube to get it to fit. I was also surprised how wobbly the battery was before removing it and wonder how much it was moving about whilst driving.
This was also an opportunity to remove all of the leaves and general crap which had gathered down here.
2012-04-17 18.29.15 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
In this picture you can see that I have moved the alarm out of the way. You also need to pull back the wires and the radiator cowl to squeeze the old battery out (and the new one in if fitting a standard battery).
Below is the new battery and bracket. I have fitted the battery terminals and wired in a charger port to allow easier trickle charging.
2012-04-17 18.36.19 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
You can see the size difference and the need for the new bracket. The gel battery is 7kg compared the 13kg weight of the old battery. I'm not expecting to notice any increased understeer as a result of this.
2012-04-17 18.37.04 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
I added foam tape to reduce vibration and create a snug fit after seeing the old bracket also had this tape on it.
2012-04-19 16.21.15 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
It went in easily and I attached the terminals before fitting the bracket as it was easier to manoeuvre the tools in the tight space (eh make your own jokes). I attached the positive first.
It was also a good opportunity to clean the old washer bottle and remove all of the algae and crap, I just hope Rachelle doesn't see this picture!
2012-04-19 16.44.20 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
And the final assembled picture complete with sparkling clean washer bottle.
2012-04-19 16.53.15 by ah_mr_smee, on Flickr
Now enjoying a turn key start, a novel experience in my Elise
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