[toolapcfan]

I agree, 4 gauge is kind of small considering your starter can pull a lot of current. I would say go with something nice and thick like 2. I would buy brass ring terminals and solder them to the wire. I did this with my 4 gauge stereo wire, I heated the terminal up with a torch after I put flux in it, then filled the cup half full of solder, and quickly slipped the stripped 4 gauge into it while it was melted. Once it cooled off I put a big tube of shrink tubing around the joint and heated it up with a lighter. A nice alternative to battery relocation is to get one of those dinky ass, lightweight odyssey batteries. If you do decide to do the battery relocation, I'd put a big ass fuse holder right by the battery and another in the engine compartment where you connect the cable to the OEM starter cable and other electical cable. I don't know what the locked motor amperage of our starters is, but you'd want to know that so you can use the right fuse size, and remember that fuses are underrated, and you want to get a fuse size that is as close as you can get to the locked motor amps of the starter, you don't want it to take long to blow, because you can fry wiring before the fuse blows. You can also buy high amperage circuit breakers at stereo shops and those work nice, as you can use them as a switch to cut battery power while doing electrical mods. I'd find some sort of isolated terminal that you can bolt to something, and use that connect the OEM wires in the engine compartment to the cable running back to the battery.

 

[toolapcfan]

You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose.

Good point. Unless you have a sealed battery or gel cell you've got potential gas. Shouldn't be a problem to vent with a hose, as there is a trunk vent right below the jack, where you can run the hose. Or better yet, drill a hole through the trunk, install a rubber grommet and put the hose through that, maybe even silicone the hose in place if it's not snuggly fit into the grommet.

 

[toolapcfan]

I have a fluke clamp meter and can figure out what the amperage pull during starting is. However, that might not help that much because I've yet to figure out how DC fuses are rated. I know AC fuses are rated at 125% and you only load them %80. So a 20 amp AC circuit will actually handle 25 amps and you only load it to 16. However I was helping a guy out that I sold power windows to for his Tempo, and even with the motor locked, it didn't blow a 5 amp fuse, despite that my clamp meter read well over 20 amps of current. I didn't hold it there until it blew though, wasn't sure if my test wiring would give out first and didn't want to find out. So, even if I were to tell you what the current draw of my starter is, not only would it vary depending upon temperature, but I couldn't tell you what fuse size would safely protect the circuit. You'd want the fuse size to be as close to the actual current draw as you can get it, without it blowing the fuse. But remember, when the temperatures are extreme that will change and you might have to up the fuse size. If I find out more I'll let you all know.