Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

[Larry E.]

Have a older car that uses a side terminal battery. I always unplug one side of the battery when car is not used or at
a car show. The terminal (plus side) of the battery has broken on me. When I try to put the battery cable on it the inside
of the terminal spins and can not get the cable tight. Is there anyway of fixing this? Perhaps drilling a small hole and
inserting a screw as to use it as a "pin"? Would this work or does anybody have other ideas? If not I guess the battery is a throw away item now. No I do not have a battery
switch; perhaps I will get one now. Thanks in advance; Larry

[Joe L.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Have a older car that uses a side terminal battery. I always unplug one side of the battery when car is not used or at
a car show. The terminal (plus side) of the battery has broken on me. When I try to put the battery cable on it the inside
of the terminal spins and can not get the cable tight. Is there anyway of fixing this? Perhaps drilling a small hole and
inserting a screw as to use it as a "pin"? Would this work or does anybody have other ideas? If not I guess the battery is a throw away item now. No I do not have a battery
switch; perhaps I will get one now. Thanks in advance; Larry

Larry-----


It sounds like the threads are stripped. That's easy to do with a side terminal battery since the threads are cut into LEAD. You should be able to carefully Heli-Coil it. Make sure you don't drill any deeper than the original hole, though.

[Edward J.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Larry, I would not advise any drilling if the inter terminal spins, drilling any holes may end up with battery acid leaking if you go to far. if its as Joe says, a heil coil will work.

[William C.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

What year car? What size is the nut on the battery bolt!When ST batteries first appeared, the bolt in the wiring was heat treated and had a large head size. After complaints about stripped batteries, we were forced to retool (With great difficulty and stress to the bolt making machine) to use a 5/16 head size. I believe at that time we also quit heat treating them, although I was in another area at that time and my memory is a little fuzzy. The bolt was to be the weak link at that time, so if the battery is not accepting the bolt, and it is the small head bolt, I'd suggest the battery is toast.

[Terry M.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

The story I got from Delco when I wrote the Restorer stories about the introduction of the Side Terminal (ST) battery is that the threads were stainless steel. They buried SS nuts in the lead of both terminals, however, the focus of my questions to them was the original ST batteries that had different bolt/thread diameter on the positive and negative terminals. I do not know if that design changed as the small head bolt (same thread diameter for both terminals) was introduced. Since I would very much doubt you have an original AC Delco ST battery, there is no telling how other manufacturers now days make the terminals. My guess would be "the least expensive way," which pretty much precludes SS nuts buried in the lead.

You do know that there is a torque value for those bolts? I know it is in the AIM, but that would be the value for the AC Delco constructed battery. It would be interesting/fun to find the torque value aftermarket battery manufacturers recommend, or if you get a "deer in the headlights look."

[Larry E.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

What year car? What size is the nut on the battery bolt!When ST batteries first appeared, the bolt in the wiring was heat treated and had a large head size. After complaints about stripped batteries, we were forced to retool (With great difficulty and stress to the bolt making machine) to use a 5/16 head size. I believe at that time we also quit heat treating them, although I was in another area at that time and my memory is a little fuzzy. The bolt was to be the weak link at that time, so if the battery is not accepting the bolt, and it is the small head bolt, I'd suggest the battery is toast.

William:

Car is 70 Z28; bolt size on the cables is 3/8". (on both sides); Bolt head on the cables is 7/16". AFAIK the threads are not stripped. Battery is a fairly new DELCO. The way it is sounding
I got a throw away item unless someone comes up with more ideas. Thanks for all the responses; you guys are the best. Larry

[Dennis O.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

I would try a couple of strips of solder, the same length as the bolt hole is deep, slipped into the hole. Then try to tighten the bolt. If you can get it to grab, you probably lucked out. Never touch that terminal again. This is a short term temporary fix just to get you going. As someone said above, prepare to buy a new battery soon.

[William C.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

First design bolt, much tougher than the battery insert, buy a new battery and DO NOT overtighten! See my earlier post, you hve the first design HARDENED bolts. They were changed to the later design for just the issue you have described.

[Terry M.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Bill,

This will not help you with your question, but FWIW:

I know squat about 1970 Camaro details, but I can tell you my January 29 built (on trim tag A29) 1970 Corvette came with an R79S battery (I wish I had kept the dead soldier, but who knew.). The R 79 had 3/8-inch positive threads and 5/16-inch negative threads. By the SOP (Start Of Production) 1971 Corvettes the battery was R 89 with 3/8-inch for both terminals. My car came with 7/16-inch heads on both bolts, but by SOP 1971 both bolts were 5/16-inch heads.

Good luck with your problem.

[Larry E.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

First design bolt, much tougher than the battery insert, buy a new battery and DO NOT overtighten! See my earlier post, you hve the first design HARDENED bolts. They were changed to the later design for just the issue you have described.

William:

OK; sounds like a plan; thanks. I thinking about buying a "Lightweight Restoration battery" from Restoration Battery from Cincinnati. I believe
my battery should be a R89. I think the maintenance free battery has a smaller battery inside a Delco Case. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway does
anybody know how those inserts are on these types of batterys? Thanks Again--Larry

[William C.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

All the GM lines used the same battery bolt, only one part number and one bolt header machine in the company for this application. I forget the details of how the changeover was managed, 40+ years ago is a long time but I rember it was a real hassle and GM wanted it done BADLY!

[Larry E.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Bill,

This will not help you with your question, but FWIW:

I know squat about 1970 Camaro details, but I can tell you my January 29 built (on trim tag A29) 1970 Corvette came with an R79S battery (I wish I had kept the dead soldier, but who knew.). The R 79 had 3/8-inch positive threads and 5/16-inch negative threads. By the SOP (Start Of Production) 1971 Corvettes the battery was R 89 with 3/8-inch for both terminals. My car came with 7/16-inch heads on both bolts, but by SOP 1971 both bolts were 5/16-inch heads.

Good luck with your problem.

Terry:

Thanks for input. My 70 Z28 is a late car with 06A on the Trim Tag. Also believe cable size was different from Base Camaro and Z28. Larry

[Domenic T.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Larry,
My post didn't post yesterday but I ended up in the emergency room while twisting the positive post of my side post battery.

My pickup wouldn't start when I stopped at a hobby shop and i knew the battery was fully charged, so I lifted the hood and grabbed the side post and gave it a twist.

The battery exploded because the ignition was still on and the broken side post sparked INSIDE the battery igniting the gasses.

I was blinded & cut by the blast and brought inside to wash my eyes out and get the acid off myself but the store owner insisted I go to the emgcy room where they did more damage to my eyes than the acid did. They rolled my eyelids open and ran water on my eyes for about 15 min because they forgot me and went on to another patient.

DOM

[Roger W.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

Wow! Sorry to hear about your accident. It is very easy to forget how dangerous a battery can be. At least a few of us have learned a vaulable lesson from your misfortune.

[Terry M.]

Re: Need help fixing a side terminal battery.

When I was in school for Auto Shop I was taught that exploding batteries are the leading cause of blindness. Not sure if that is true any more, but it happens far more often than most people know. ALWAYS wear safety glasses and/or a face shield when working near/on a battery.