I was told not to install my new restoration battery
I just rcd my new tar top acid battery for my 66 and was told by a fairly knowledgeable person that I shouldn't install it in the car until I am ready for judging but that I should buy another battery to use until then because the acid battery will gas off and damage my newly refinished cad plated and not painted parts. Is there any real reason to be concerned here?
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Did Chevrolet recommend this? NO! Did Chevrolet recommend that you didn't close the hood to relieve the gases? NO!
That just doesn't sound reasonable and isn't!
JR -
Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Russ:
I didn't know that the old wet acid restoration batteries were still available and being sold. But if you have a wet acid restoration battery, the two biggest downsides in my opinion are:
1. A case leak or a top leak (of acid) that will damage the battery tray. I have experienced this a few times in the past.
2. Life expectancy is about 2-3 years after filling with acid and initial activation.
Gassing should not be a significant issue....unless your alternator/regulator is overcharging. So check this out when the car is running. You can also have issues by overfilling the cells with distilled water later on, so be careful with this.
Most folks (self included) have moved on to the acid-gel battery. Chance of leaks and gassing is nil and battery life expectancy is now about 6 years.
LarryComment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
The acid battery is still available from Axion Power in New Castle PA. The great thing about it is that the tar on top is soft-so soft that when I left one of the caps sit on the top over night it stuck and made a small impression.Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Chevrolet or any other car/truck maker didn't have an option back in '66 or until 77 +/-.
Reality - you decide what to do...
Batteries have acid inside them. They breath, do you remember when you bought those 70 LT1's new and with the battery behind the seat they smelled like acid all the time...if they had an electrical draw on the system? SO they used those vent caps...
So that acid fume is in the air, its going to eat on everything.
My original battery tray is just about gone due to corrosion errosion, top bracket paper thin.Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Last Spring I installed a new lead-acid tar top in my freshly restored 63. The car was driven maybe 50 miles and also trickle-charged by mid-July. During that brief time it leaked enough acid to eat the paint off of the tray and frame below it.
When I started the car to drive it a mile and a half to Nationals for judging, the bottom edge of the overflow bottle had settled into the tar and grounded the positive, so I had power to the car even with the neg disconnected.
After setting a world record battery for mid year battery change (less than an hour), I had put in a NEW tar top I had purchased fo my other car. That one dripped acid on the floor at Nationals and continued to damage the tray and frame.
Suffice to say I'm done with lead/acid. One of those batteries now has an Optima inside it and will go in the car soon.Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Actually, as you can see below, I'm just finishing up the wiring of the battery shell to the Optima. The Optima has had a pretty significant alteration done, just to fit inside the shell.Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
I am not sure what we are talking about here. I ordered this restoration battery about 3 years ago:
for my '67. Since it is maintainence free, and comes properly date coded as well, it has been great all this time and no loss of judging points either. I drive the car about 3 times a month for 40-70 miles, and keep it on a BatteryMINDer. I have had no problems and there are no acid issues at all.Big Tanks In the High Mountains of New MexicoComment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Michael, The sealed, maintenance free battery you have has a plastic top rather than tar. There have been many discussions here regarding its life (or lack of same) in our vehicles. It differs for everyone, so I won't comment on that. I'm not sure if you'd get full credit if a judge touched the tar/plastic (I don't think they are supposed to do that). The plastic is very shiny, though, and tar will be shiny for the first ten minutes its in the car (if you don't put your thumb in it during the difficult installation. The excess glare of the plastic is sort of a dead giveaway.
The batteries we're talking about are real tar top lead/acid batteries. They look correct, except you have to date them before you put the acid in. I got mine from a large Corvette suppler in the midwest. My experience, as noted earlier, has not been good. The hollowed out one (in the pic I posted) is one of those.Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
I understand, but the restoration and antique auto battery manufacturers call both types "tar top" batteries, as they are almost impossible to distinguish by sight. I am just wondering why anyone wants to have an antiquated battery design that can only be used for judging when you can have the maintainence free modern version that lasts for years, can be the only battery you need, and is just as good as the gel types for most applications, and passes judging with no point deductions. To each his own I guess.Big Tanks In the High Mountains of New MexicoComment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Michael, I've posted a couple of pics, one of a four-month-old tar top, one of a plastic top (in the car). The surface of the plastic top is much too nice to be real tar. If you get full credit for the plastic one in the car (ignoring the wrong caps), though, maybe I'll stop altering the tar top. I don't think you will, though.
Perhaps a real judge will weigh in here...Comment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Well, both my '66 and my '67 have been through judging up through the regional level, and I never had any deductions with the properly date coded maintainence free. Maybe they do at nationals, I have never gone there.Big Tanks In the High Mountains of New MexicoComment
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Re: I was told not to install my new restoration battery
Here is the battery I have in my '66, with no deductions:
Big Tanks In the High Mountains of New MexicoComment
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