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I've seen the batteries and hydraulic pump located
behind the seats on more than one Legacy and the W&B has been very good on
those airplanes. These were equipped with IO-550s and 3-bladed props;
Hartzell and MT. I haven't seen any W&B data from a Legacy with
firewall mounted batteries. If needed you could move the hydraulic pump
farther back to compensate for more weight up front, but it would be a real pain
in the butt to service if it's behind the baggage compartment
bulkhead.
From the picture of the pink Legacy these
batteries look similar to the Odyssey
or Panasonic batteries which weigh quite a bit less and are obviously
much smaller than the conventional Gill or Concorde batteries. I've heard
good things about them. I know of a guy who's using an Odyssey PC680
(rated at 595 cranking amps for the first 10 sec) in his Chevy 350 powered
pickup and is very happy with it. As for mounting I'd avoid
putting batteries on the aft side of the firewall simply for access
reasons. Once the rudder pedals and panel are in place anything bolted to
the inside of the firewall will be hard to get at. (Have you noticed I'm
big on serviceability?)
BTW, Van's sells the Odyssey PC680 for
$128.
Tom Gourley
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