I pulled the last 3 old batteries. The final 2 were hard but some rocking and bending (of the metal above) dislodged them. Then I placed 2 of the final 3 batteries in the car. The third needs to wait until I rewire the 12v accessory battery.
I picked up some inside wiring conduit and some various 10-12awg connectors, and my plan is to neaten the wiring under the hood. I should get a better fuse block in something I can seal. I also need a way to attach the welding cable with battery post clamps to the Evercel screw terminals.
While I was at IETF, my Rudman Regulators arrived. So, I should finally be able to charge the Evercels with the new PFC-20 charger.
Also, one day while I was away, the opportunity to acquire military surplus aircraft starting NiCds came up, at $1 per 34Ah 1.2v cell I jumped, and bought 300. This is also enough to power the car at the rate I'd like, but weighs more than the Evercels (and they're flooded batteries). But, I have insurance, or possibly backup strings (90 of them equals the voltage of my Evercels, and would weigh 270 pounds, adding about 33% capacity for about 60% added weight).
But I still need to go to Rome, NY, to pick them up. Sigh.
At long last I have progress on the battery front. I picked up nylon rope at Lowe's today, and tied it onto one of the batteries in the upper (innermost) rack in the rear of the car. Still wedged. Sigh.
Then I had my "Aha!" moment. If I'm pulling all the batteries anyway, perhaps I should start with the lower batteries in the rack and then see if I can bend the rack slightly to free the upper batteries.
So I removed the 6 lower batteries, and then tried to pull the upper center one. Nope.
Then I realized I could get more leverage by climbing into the hatch and standing in the lower rack. Pop! Got one right out, and the other 2 followed. I have 9 Trojan T-105 batteries which are decent but not new in my basement now. I replaced them with 6 Evercel M100 batteries, not wired in yet, but placed in the battery racks.
I then proceeded to the front, where I popped out 3 of the 6 batteries still in place up there, and have another waiting to be removed. The last 2 will be hard. And we had our first casualty. I pulled wires off a relay in the process. Before I proceed I will need to figure out where the missing wire is, and how they were connected. Most of the wiring is straightforward if sloppy. The purpose of this is non-obvious.