Probably being paranoid but I'll check with the experts anyway.

My '06 in the garage till spring and I'm about to hook up a battery tender.

The tender only allows about 18" between the + and - clips.

The s2000 manual says that one should only connect the negative post on the manifold.

Guess what - about 24" between the + battery post and that point.

My experience/knowledge says I can ground the charger on the frame somewhere but the manual made me nervous about the newfangled electronics.

Please advise.

 

hooked mine up to the negative and positive battery terminals many times without issue. The people writing manuals don't want inexperienced people creating tons of sparks around potentially leaking batteries so they try to steer you to other grounds. If you are somewhat accurate in hooking up leads to batteries there isn't an issue.

You could put it on any grounded metal part of the chassis but they can work with varying degrees depending on location. I still like going straight to the battery, disconnect the cables and hook up the tender.