TR-B1500 battery and billet battery tray install.

[mines13]

This covers the Tomioka Racing TR-B1500 15lb gel cell battery and billet bracket installation in the FR-S. This would also apply to pretty much any other light weight battery and mount kit with a similar form factor. Switching to the TR-B1500 will save 15lbs vs the stock batteries 30lbs. The TR-B1500 sells for $175 and the lightweight billet mount kit is $64.90, these products are available at: http://www.tomiokaracing.com I was impressed with the quality of both of these items and the fact the battery is made in the USA.

Here is the TR-B1500 Battery.


OEM Panasonic vs Tomioka Racing TR-B1500


OEM Panasonic on the scale.


This is what you will see once you remove the battery and the tray, those holes in the two bolt bracket are for locating the OEM battery tray.
This will come in handy...


The mount kit parts out of the bag.


You can now see why those holes are handy, not wanting to cut the car up, I simply lined up two of the grooves with the holes in the 2 bolt OEM bracket.


You will need to carefully but firmly more this brake hard line while you loosen this bolt to remove the bracket, the other bolt is completely unobstructed. Even having to push the line, it is not very difficult.


After I had removed the bracket, I sourced a couple of flat washers with the correct ID to re use two stainless mounting bolts from the mounting kit. I had to clearance the channels slightly with a file, which only took a couple of minutes. Being aluminum and hidden I didn't worry about painting over the areas I filed down.


This is after I had mounted the base and supports back in engine bay, pre-bolted to the OEM 2 bolt tray location bracket.


There you have it. Knocked 15lbs out of the car. One could use one of the smaller or larger Tomioka Racing batteries if deemed necessary, but I felt the TR-B1500 offered a solid 50% weight savings vs stock while maintaining some decent stand by time.


Another angle.

[FrX]

That mount kit is pretty spiffy.

[chulooz]

Very clean install and results! Looks great, how much does the tray ect weigh; cant be much?

[mines13]

Originally Posted by chulooz

Very clean install and results! Looks great, how much does the tray ect weigh; cant be much?

It is all aluminum with stainless hardware. I did not weigh it, but it was pretty negligible.

[roddy]

Wow that thing's tiny! That's a good place to loose some weight as well. Cool how it is so small and still has more CCA than the stocker.

[Mo707]

With a smaller battery does that mean they will go out sooner or what? There has to be a down side to having that small of a battery. Right?

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by Mo707

With a smaller battery does that mean they will go out sooner or what? There has to be a down side to having that small of a battery. Right?

Spec sheet, shows better performance, but on batteries of these types of you drain them dead they often don't recover as well as their big brothers.

That's a big weight savings. Mounting is good too.
May consider it down the road. My last 3 Panasonic batteries lasted almost 7 years though.

[twincamRob]

FYI, you can get the same battery for around $70. The one above is just a restickered Deka. Here's a similar (restickered) one I put in my 240, bought it at Meijer for $65...

[RallySport Direct]

Originally Posted by mines13

I was impressed with ......... the fact the battery is made in the USA.

I think that is just referring to the sticker being made in the USA

-Zach