1985 rebuld

[TurbinePower]

You two crack me up.

Did you try painting your axles?

 

[AWPGTI]

You two crack me up.

Did you try painting your axles?

yep repainted the other one and touched up the oil pan!!

 

[RonJitsu]

My current battery is 11"x7" the width is fine it's the length that is the issue......I'm sure that is a common issue for you Ron haha

Would a battery thats only 9.25 inches, or 10 inches help? The Optima's come in both of those lengths.

 

[rackaracka]

Will a small battery still have the CCA's to crank over the engine on cold winter nights?

 

[AWPGTI]

I have to do some real calculations on this but the only one that might do it is the 9.25

 

[compu_85]

You're going to want the biggest battery possible. 20 sec of glow time uses a lot of juice.

-J

 

[silverstar03]

I'm running a Optima yellow top 31A in my 86--orig bought it for a diff diesel, since it was newish, put it into the 86 when I got it in Oct...

It's a bit big, had to bend up one of the battery hold town tabs to get it to clear, then drilled 2 holes and put a battery clamp down kit (generic hooks with a rubber strap with wingnuts) to keep it settled. Then the negative cable didn't reach (doh!) so got a generic negative cable and attached it at the ground behind the batt to extended it. Took about 20 mins and now I have 1100cca deep cycle.

It seemed overkill at the time, but when my alternator pulley seized on the highway and snapped the belt, I had to drive 2 hours on the thruway with no alternator, then park and repark several times before making it to the mechanic a week later...all without recharging the battery. awesome.

HTH!

silverstar which optima are you running

 

[AWPGTI]

thats serious....on thursday im going to make a cardboard battery the same size as the optima to get a better idea on where it can go !!!

 

[AWPGTI]

Finally bolted down the valve cover, but first painted the spring strip, and throttle cable clip, thought the engine looked very nice took a few pics!!

 

[RonJitsu]

Will a small battery still have the CCA's to crank over the engine on cold winter nights?

Not all batteries are created equally...
The size of the battery is not always directly related to its performance.

If you look at the Optima batteries, they perform much better than other batteries that are much larger.

 

[AWPGTI]

Sure it's not about the size of the boat in the ocean.....we still talking about batteries??

 

[oilhammer]

Actually, Optima batteries generally are not well suited for these because they generally have a lower Ah rating.

 

[AWPGTI]

what batteries do you suggest??

 

[oilhammer]

I have been running Interstates in most all my cars, my A2 Jetta has an MT-41 in it right now, but you can also squeeze an MTP-H6 in there too. If you do not have power steering, you may even be able to get the big MTP-H7 in there, but at that point it is not really necessary.

FWIW, the winter before this last one, my Jetta started unaided after sitting overnight in MINUS 15 F cold, with a 5 year old MT-41 under the hood.

No reason to re-engineer something that when in proper order works just fine, IMHO.

 

[AWPGTI]

current battery specs Red Top

650 cca 720 cca
810 crank amps 910 crank amps
res cap 95 res cap 90
length 11" length 9 5/16
width 7" width 6 13/16
height 8" height 7 5/8




Well if i do use that red top, it seems like it would fit where I need to fit. I madea mocok battery the same size as spec, and was able to mock up what the bracket for the oil bypass will look like...

a new coolant bottle came in, the old one was filled with dirt i couldnt get it clean, it really bothered me

and I also got new brake lines for the time being, i plan on changing all the hard lines as well the look ****ty and rusty!!

 

[AWPGTI]

Actually, Optima batteries generally are not well suited for these because they generally have a lower Ah rating.

whats ah? amp hours?

 

[oilhammer]

Yes. It is how the rest of the world rates batteries, and is how 'normal' batteries are rated. For some reason, Americans decided to use 'CCA' for car batteries, which is useless unless you actually know what the load is during that test.

Ah is simple: 1 Amp per 1 hour.

Go to the store and look at any cordless power tool. Ah rating. Look at your phone battery. Ah rating. Go look under the hood of any new Volkswagen. Ah rating.

So, just because something has higher 'CCA' does not mean it has higher Ah.

FWIW, the correct Ah rating for the A2 cars with a diesel engine is only 64. So they are not too high demanding really. The A3 uses a 60Ah or a 72Ah, and I am pretty sure the 72Ah one (which is what the MTP-H6 is) should fit in the A2's battery spot.

 

[AWPGTI]

Very good info here!!

 

[coalminer16]

I think that battery you have there has 0 cca and 0 ah. The cardboard one that is. I have had an interstate in mine since 06 and 07 with fast glow plugs and it turns over just fine in -30 dF. They have a nice warranty as well on them and if it does fail on a trip there is enough dealers around the country. Although I am still running a 12 year old battery in my Harley sportster as well without issues. Battery tenders is key when not in use.

 

[RonJitsu]

http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/batteries/ml30c/
There you go Doug. Small battery, Big Ah.

Unfortunately, it costs as much as your engine did...

 

[compu_85]

Personally I'd just use the factory oil filter and factory battery location

-J

 

[oilhammer]

Personally I'd just use the factory oil filter and factory battery location

-J

That seems to have worked for tens of millions of cars. Heck, they are STILL building these cars!

 

[AWPGTI]

Oh boy!!! That is s hell of a battery though

 

[AWPGTI]

the red top that i was looking at has 44AH

 

[thecbdb]

I've gotta agree with compu85 here,

For all of the fuss this bypass is creating, what are you hoping to gain? If you run synthetic (as you should), you can already go at least 10k between oil changes. Plus, that bypass is going to require, what, another quart of $8.50/qt. oil? Put the battery where it belongs. I say get everything else dealt with and add the bypass later.

Remember, an engine doesn't need oil when it ain't running

Charlie

 

[AWPGTI]

Well the goal here to have this car take me too and from work for next 25 years when I retire, I wanted to do everything to make that possible!!

 

[AWPGTI]

i need a battery anyway my old one is leaking, so if i can get the smallest one possible and am able to run it with the bypass i see no reason not too,

this is what im looking at it will fit and might fit better then the optima

http://www.interstatebatteries.com/...1|&Title=Mega-Tron+Plus+-+85+Months+-+700+CCA

its the MTP-75

 

[cruisinflatout]

i see no reason not too

Exactly...and it could be reverted in the future if you run into power problems.

 

[AWPGTI]

So the most important thing about a battery for a diesel is AH so cold crank and crank is secondery?? is that correct if so i found a gem of a battery nice size and has 63 AH

 

[AWPGTI]

its the MTP-86
CCA 640
RC 105
CA 800
30 month warnt
85 month pro rate

the way you find AH is take RC and multiply by .6 that would give you 63ah