Curious about alternative battery mounting. New tray is $90 so I thought I would see what some of your solutions were. Not a lot of room under there with the 390.
I put mine in the passenger side trunk. Used #0 welding cable and ran it over the wheel house trough the rocker up to the solenoid. I also wrapped the cable in that spiral plastic you see hydraulic hoses wrapped in. My 460 has 10.50 to 1 compression and needs a fairly stout battery to crank it over so it wasn't going to fit in the stock location. Randy
Not a solution..just an idea I had at this point I'm going to check out once I start assembling the front end sheetmetal back on my car. My plans are eventually for the 4.6 dohc engine and the battery tray in stock form I'm told will hit the head, so my thought was to alter the inner wheelwell by building in a box that would let the battery go under the fender behind the headlight. I won't know if it'll interfere with tire clearance until I can mount the wheelwell and actually do some looking and measuring, but I should know pretty soon. My plans were to use an Optima battery that could be mounted on it's side.
@62 I too plan on mounting the battery in the trunk after I install the 460.
I like em in the back too. Keeps all that weight of the fender etc. I sure wouldn't want to
pull a wheel to get at it. :003:
62galxe & Rich:
I think there is plenty of room in the space behind the headlight. That is where I mounted my pretty good sized K&N air cleaner for the Paxton-Novi supercharger on my 57. I do think if you do this you should consider a water/gravel/mud/etc. splash shield to keep it from getting nasty when driving. Here are a couple of photos showing what I'm talking about. Getting access could be an issue, as it would require removing the tire and splash shield. But, I don't recall having to access my Optima battery very often after I installed it. Note: Obviously you wouldn't need the air tube cutout in your splash shield and you can run most of your wiring hidden in the upper portion of the fender.
Bob
57 AGIN
My thought was to modify the inner wheel well skirt so that the opening for access was from under the hood, just as it is now, only pushed in under the fender and laying on it's side.
Rich
@62 did you just remove the stock tray and do you have any pictures of the rear battery and ground points?
whats so hot about a Optima battery?
Quote from: geraldchainsaw on 2012-02-28 08:10
whats so hot about a Optima battery?
Absolutely nothing as far as I'm concerned. Jim
Quote from: JimNolan on 2012-02-28 08:22
Absolutely nothing as far as I'm concerned. Jim
That's exactly what I love about you Jim 100% no Bull****.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Jim...after watching a video on which optima batterty to chose, I'm wondering which one you had a problem with...the red top or yellow top?? before I watched the video I wasn't aware there was apparently a major difference in the two...to the point where the final statement was "if there is any doubt about which one you need...choose the yellow top. Since my engine compartment is red and black, I thought the red and black optima would at least look great, but I'll probably go with the yellow top when that time comes....in fact I think I remember seeing a chrome cover for these.
Are these the only batteries that can be mounted on their side?
Rich
Antique Auto Battery is the world's largest supplier of hard rubber raised-letter batteries and innovators of their non-sticky Poly Tar (R) battery tops. Most of their batteries have a minimum of 780 cold cranking amps to power all the new electronic accessories and audio equipment. All batteries carry a four-year warranty pro-rated after 90 days. Each battery is hand-made for quality, and major battery and O.E. manufacturers officially license all logos. Antique Auto Battery uses Optima battery technology in their replacement batteries for maximum amperage and reliability. This means the average observer will not be able to tell you are using an Optima battery unless they remove the cell caps on the replacement unit.
Sounds nice doesn't it. One of these babies cost $299 if you get a 29N Power Punch replica case. I used one all the way through the summer. I did notice if I started and stopped the car many times ( like a trip to town with four or five stops) the cranking power seemed to be down. This winter I let it sit for about 20 days in a heated hanger and it wouldn't even try to crank the engine. Then, when I looked up how to charge the optima battery it took a special charger to do it correctly. I have just a small 10/2 amp charger. I needed a charger that delivered 100 amps for a short period of time. I've used Gell Cells before. I had one in my airplane. I needed it for aerobatics. The last one I had lasted 8 years and believe you me it went more than 20 days sitting without problems, and I don't ever remember charging it. The only reason I changed it when I did was because I was flying IFR at the time.
But, you've got to remember, I'm SPECIAL. There's no one like me. No one would ever have the problems I did with an Optima battery. It's just me. LOL LMAO Jim CMEOCITA$300D. There's a new pneumonic. Crying my eyes out cause I threw away $300 dollars.
I have had my Optima battery for nearly 20 years and it still cranks my 312. The first 5 years i used it in my 57 Delivery with a 429 and always started. I'm very happy with my Optimabattery and will for sure buy a new one when its necessary. HR
See, I told you it was only me. Jim
Rich, Here is what I found on the choices of Optima batteries. hrsky has had no problems with his for almost 20 years now. I could have just got a bad battery. Jim
Choose the Optima Red Top? battery for a general starting battery. It is especially helpful for modern vehicles that are loaded with accessories. The Red Top will last longer and if it does require a recharge, it will recharge faster than a traditional battery.
Choose the Optima Yellow Top? for deep cycle battery requirements. Over the period of discharge, the Optima Yellow Top? delivers consistent power so you will never experience your equipment straining or slowing down under load.
Choose the Optima Blue Top? for all marine or RV use. The unique combination of exposure to excessive vibration and the need for both starting and deep cycle energy are two challenges for a battery in the marine or RV environment. Those challenges are easily met with Optima?s complete line of Blue Top? batteries
plus there's the gazillion other questions with the "antique Auto Battery"....Optima technology...does that mean it's the same quality as Optima?...are they an optima owned division? which technology are they using in the battery you got..red or yellow? etc, etc.
Rich
"This means the average observer will not be able to tell you are using an Optima battery unless they remove the cell caps on the replacement unit".
Rich,
When I talked to them they said it was a Optima Battery inside. I read all reviews I could get hold of before I bought this battery and Optima had a good name. That's why I went ahead and bought it. It was very disappointing and no I don't think I'm special. The Antique Auto Battery was just junk. Johnson Controls wouldn't have kept this company if they weren't making money on it. So, somethings got to be good about it. Like you said, there has to be something different between an off the shelf Optima Battery and a Optima battery that's been transformed to incorporate a different case and terminals. Jim
Just goes to show you that anything that is made can be made badly. I like the Optima because it does not vent battery gases that ruin metal. NHRA lets me use one in the trunk without being in a vented box. They crank over my 290 Cummins, 557 stroker, daily driver, backhoe, and whatever really well. I will also point out that they are a little quirky about charging. The good with the bad. The next time I need a battery...it will be a dry cell. Sorry for your experience....$300 OOOh!
The Optima site has an article on a charger made specifically for the optima batteries, because as a commentor wrote..."normal charging systems don't work with the optima batteries"...whatever that means.
Rich
I rear "somewhere" (old timers, I think it was in a Street Rodder) that the Optima and other gell cell batteries need special treatment to charge. The process was to hook a good battery in parallel with the Optima. That is to say positive to positive, negative to negative and then hook the charger up, plug it in and wait.