One of the things that was mentioned during the recent MOT Test for the Corolla was the lack of a battery security. It’s actually something I’ve tried to “solve” before but other things, like the steering rack and drive shafts kept taking priority. It was a bit of a tricky problem too. Soon after buying the car I noticed it didn’t have a battery clamp and so, I bought a replacement. To my surprise it didn’t fit. The OEM clamp bolts to the slam panel, which was fine, but on the battery end I had a hole but nothing to bolt it down to. The OEM clamp didn’t fit over the battery properly either. When I questioned the authenticity of the clamp I was told it was definitely off the right model so I assumed I had a different battery.

There was still the issue of how any sort of clamp would bolt down though. The battery was sitting on a plastic tray that was clipped onto a bracket. There seems to be nowhere at all to hook a threaded rod into to tie down the clamp.

Tonight I decided to make myself my own tray and clamp. After using sheets of aluminium on my old Civic I have a few sheets left over so I decided to use part of that to make the tray. The aluminium is only 0.9mm thick but compared to the plastic tray that was holding the battery in place it’s pretty sturdy. I first cut a piece of timber to match the internal of the old tray before then marking out the size I wanted on the sheet of aluminium. The great thing about 0.9mm aluminium is it is so easy to cut with tin snips. Once I had the shape cut I centralised it on the wooden block and screwed it down and beat the edges down to form the new tray. Four well place rivets and the new tray was held together. I gave it a test fit, found a couple of holes I could bolt to, marked and drilled them in the tray.

Before I could refit the battery though I needed a clamping system so I found two strips of 1.6mm steel and cut a top and bottom clamp. The bottom clamp was bolted under the new tray and the top clamp was roughly shaped to wrap over the battery. I still had the battery clamp system off my Civic so I was able to salvage the hooked threaded rod to use on this new system for the Corolla. Everything bolted together really well and now the battery is finally secure.

It’s not as pretty as I wanted it to be but with a bit more work it will easily be brought up to standard.

Going back to the OEM battery clamp issue. After checking around on Google I’ve found plenty of images that show a different clamp to the one I was sold so it’s no wonder it didn’t fit.

This is the one I was sold:

This is the style it should be:

I now feel the need to warn anyone looking for spares about the lad that sold me the part and others. You can find his eBay profile here and he can also be found on various Corolla forums. I don’t normally “shame” someone but when they make mistake after mistake people need to be warned. He’s sold me:

Engine Cover – Broken and without the bolts I asked for
Arch Liner – Wrong Side and when I tried to return it despite saying he was in, he wasn’t and on a second trip to return it yet again he disappeared. I eventually got the right liner in the post but it was again lacking the fittings I asked for.
Front Grill – Broken Clips
Battery Clamp – Wrong Clamp, Didn’t fit at all.
Driveshafts – Although they were being refurbished one of them had been pulled in two when being removed which would have meant I would have had to fix it anyway.

He also tried to sell me some wind deflectors when I said I was looking at some. I said I was after OEM parts only and he went away and found the “OEM” set he had. He had asked how much they were brand new and came back with a price of a third of the new price. The wind deflectors with Team Heko replicas, without any form of clip system to hold them in place. As soon as I saw he was trying to flog cheap Team Heko as OEM I walked away. I haven’t been back since and I don’t plan to again. Be warned if you use him.