what brand batrey ya got?:confused:

Several years ago I went through 2 Delco batteries. Issues with leaks and not being able to handle numerous starts at the track.

Switched to an Optima yellow top and haven't looked back since 2001.

Optima red top. :thumbsup:

A friggin Wal Mart brand 1000 CCA with a battery topper :D

12Volt

If You Want A Good Battery Get A Douglas.they Made The Top Of The Line Sears Diehard And Les Schwab's Good Ones In The Past. Avoid Exide And Walmarts "never Start" Imo

replaced a DieHard after12-years with another DieHard.

WalMart MAXX battery(yellow,not sure of the CCA's), after 3 yrs one of the side posts came loose, took it back and got another for FREE.

Optima red top since March of 1999

2ea Optima Red Top
1- Navigator
1- Camaro

Wal Mart has the best deal going. I've only had one go bad, and it was covered under warranty. Their batts are cheaper in price than anyone elses for the same CCA and CA. The Maxx series I bought comes with a nine year warranty and has 1000 CA. Cost about $60.

Interstate is overrated. You're paying more for a perceived reputation. I've seen too many that failed early.

I've tried lots of batteries but for me, the Optima is hands down the best I have ever used. :D

Optima batteries are sealed and don't corrode like regular lead acid types. :thumbsup:

I have a HOLLY racing cell (battery). My non-racing choice would be interestate. They have a pretty good product as well as service just about any place on the planet.

I like interstate {johnson controls}, BTW johnsons controls also make advanced auto parts auto siler etc lines of batteries.

But for my chevelle i always use the optima red then in '99 i switched to an optimae yellow top,yellow top is flawless :beers::yes::D:thumbsup:

We got 8 years out of the factory Acdelco in my wifes Malibu so I put another one in its place late month. Normally I use Diehard gold form Sears but the acdelco has really impressed me with its longevity in Iowa's winters. imho

Optima red top in the Chevelle 3 years now. So far so good. That and the Powermaster starter whip the 540 over pretty good. But I gotta mention a Diehard I have in my ol 78 Bronco. Its gotta be close to 10 years old now, sits outside all the time here in Mich. Looks bad. Its got like white foam on top of it where the hold down contacts it. It looks like it couldnt power a flashlight. Yet, it just keeps on cranking. I actually got a good product from Sears.

Optima's used to be good but not now. They are now made out of the country and the quality is gone too. A guy who sells several brands, including the Optima, recommended the Hawker Odyssey.

Costco.Same battery fits my Chevelle/K5 Blazer(2ea)and the 78 Trans Am I have been working on.Good warrenty and no problems

My Optima Red top lasted only 2 1/2 years... Replaced with a Autozone top of the line and so far have not had any problems.

Die-Hard Gold in all my cars

O'reillys Super Start here. Side terminal

Les Schwab special. No problems in 3 years.

optima red top!

we have 2 Sears DIEHARD batteries they are a dream they have never let us down ever but i want to get optima batteries only cause they have nice cranking amps and life expectancys than ordinary batteries:thumbsup:

Odessey 1700 in my Camaro and optima red in my Big Foot Blazer!

Bob

optima red top

Optima yellow top in the car and about to put one in my K5 too.

Optima red top. Been in the car for 10 years now and is getting just a bit weak.
Ron

So...have the Optimas just got bad recently? It seems that several have had them for a few years. Is an Optima any lighter than a conventional battery?

So...have the Optimas just got bad recently? It seems that several have had them for a few years. Is an Optima any lighter than a conventional battery? Yes Bob, the new ones aren't holding up at all. Brian has already gone through one. The Odyssey starts fine even after sitting for prolonged periods of time and is smaller and lighter.

I have an old white case Delco top terminal battery that I bought way back in March '92 for my Chevelle. It came with a 3 month warranty because it was old stock and they were being phased out for a combination side / top terminal battery. It has finally given up, so now I want to go with a resto type Delco R59. I have heard some discouraging things about the repros, and at $200 I guess that is why the battery 'topper' was invented.

My 2003 VW Passat (it was the 1st 2003 V6 5-speed manual GLX wagon sold in Canada) still has the original factory battery in the little sealed compartment in the firewall (that's where they put them). It was just tested and is just fine despite 5 years and 192,000 kms on a car loaded with power accessories, driven through extreme heat and cold. I guess a long time ago I resolved to have good habits in order to be gentle on my hardware.

I have the older gen Delco R59 repop that i bought in jan/2001 thats still starting my bbc when cold or hot 7 yrs later.

But this past yrs i did notice on real hot 90 deg + days it cranked a little hard once in a while on hot retsarts when it didnt use to do that so maybe the battery is on its way out being 7 yrs old only having 1 more season or so of " reliable hot starts " left in it but time will tell on that one.

I have owned the car for 30 yrs and i had only 2 sears diehards in it during the 1st 23 yrs i owned it,the 1st diehard lasted 12 yrs and 2nd one lasted 11 yrs but i dont think this repop will ever last that long.

They now have a newer version on the R59 called SR59 which has a new glass mat plate design with no need to add acid when new & charge or add distilled water as required. Its a totally sealed unit for $229 from i believe Axion Battery (formerly Newcastle Battery) in P.A..
The new glass mat plate design uses a lot less acid then the older std lead/acid battery design does.

But i am concerned that our older cars with mech type volt regulators have a tendency to overcharge the battery at times could possibly boil out the small amount of acid in the newer glass mat plate design causing the battery to fail prematurely.

I would suggest anyone buying an expensive SR59 repop to also invest $20 in a new design direct repl solid state voltage reg that controls the charging much better to avoid an overcharge situation resulting in premature battery death.

Scott

Red Top on a Battery Tender

Optima Yellow

I have the older gen Delco R59 repop that i bought in jan/2001 thats still starting my bbc when cold or hot 7 yrs later.

But this past yrs i did notice on real hot 90 deg + days it cranked a little hard once in a while on hot retsarts when it didnt use to do that so maybe the battery is on its way out being 7 yrs old only having 1 more season or so of " reliable hot starts " left in it but time will tell on that one.

I have owned the car for 30 yrs and i had only 2 sears diehards in it during the 1st 23 yrs i owned it,the 1st diehard lasted 12 yrs and 2nd one lasted 11 yrs but i dont think this repop will ever last that long.

They now have a newer version on the R59 called SR59 which has a new glass mat plate design with no need to add acid when new & charge or add distilled water as required. Its a totally sealed unit for $229 from i believe Axion Battery (formerly Newcastle Battery) in P.A..
The new glass mat plate design uses a lot less acid then the older std lead/acid battery design does.

But i am concerned that our older cars with mech type volt regulators have a tendency to overcharge the battery at times could possibly boil out the small amount of acid in the newer glass mat plate design causing the battery to fail prematurely.

I would suggest anyone buying an expensive SR59 repop to also invest $20 in a new design direct repl solid state voltage reg that controls the charging much better to avoid an overcharge situation resulting in premature battery death.

Scott Anyone who has gotten over two years out of a Delco battery has witnessed a miracle. Every one i ever had went dead at the end of the warranty period. Absolutely the worst product G.M. ever made.

I have used Odyssey's model PC1200 for 12 years and really like them. I get about 6 years of life out of them and they only weigh about 36lbs. Plus they are a dry cell battery.

Harold,wow,you have had bad experiences with AC Delco /GM bateries.

The original delco battery in my wifes 98 old was replaced in nov/2004,lasted approx 6 yrs,the original delco in my 80 z28 was replaced in 1988,lasted 8 yrs.

Now you have me curious ,how long do the repop delco's last on avg,mine is looking like it will be approx 6-7 yrs,i wonder what others are getting out of them.

I have to admit i maintain the older gen lead acid (not newer glass mat design) repop Delco R59 battery very well always ensuring the electrolite lvl is always above the plates ,use only distilled water as requiredl,and use a maintainer/charger to keep it fully charged thus reducing sulfation from non use.

Scott

I think that a lot, but not all, problems with batteries are due to the batteries in these old cars sitting most of the time and putting around the rest. The old 37 amp alternators don't put out a lot of juice. The batteries are never are fully charged up. Most of our driving has a minimum of 10 mile run and usually 40-50 miles. My old Delco batteries have lasted on average 7+ years. I wrap the starters in a heat reflective blanket and never have a slow roll problem. That's good enough for me. Race cars would probably need something more.

How much do the Odyssey batteries cost? I like the lighter weight since the battery is still under the hood.

Here in Michigan they are $169.

I got the S&W catalog in the mail and they sell Odyssey batteries. The PC925 (part#85-403, $146.49) has 470 CCA and will crank over engines up to 500 inches, the PC1200 (part#85-404, $178.49) has 630 CCA will handle up to a 800 inch engines. It says that both batteries are the same as a 1000 CCA wet cell battery. Do you have to charge these between rounds if your running a alternator at the track ? I was thinking about one for my bracket car.

Keith,BINGO!!!!!

I have said the very thing in the past esp with respect to hot start issues.

People dont realize batteries loose x amnt of charge wkly/monthly and our classic cars/street muscle cars often sit for 1/2/even 3wks + at a pop with non use .

Then when someone cranks up their hi comp bbc or sbc to go out for a cruise the battery is already down 10/20/30% +on power with a whimpy 37 or 42 amp alt that takes longer to recharge the battery after ctranking up the motor.

Then after the car has been sitting for 2/3 + wks then they go for that ride and decide to stop for gas,then stop a 2 or 3 friends houses & a handy stop in a short period of time with mult re-starts (4-5 inc initial start)and not enough time for the 37-42amp whimpy alt to recharge the battery that's already down on power by 20/30%+ from the get go your destined for hot start issues esp in summer weather with a heat soaked starter.

This is why when i recommend fixes for hot start issues i mention using a battery maintainer to ensure battery is at 90-95% charge before leaving the garage,getting a battery with a min of 800 CCA(NOT CA) for more reserve power to better motivate a heat soaked starter,and upgrading to the very least a stock GM 55 or 61 amp at a min for faster battery recharge inbetween mult starts. I had the stock 37amp alt in my chevelle upgraded to approx 65-70amp @ a local automotive rbld shop.

Using the battery maintainer alone could easily extend a car batteries life by a yr or more due to redeucing sulfation that occures durring non used periods with no charging going on not to mention the fact your starting out with a fully charged battery so you have less of a chance of having hot start issues due to a partially discharged battery from sitting/lack of use & proper charge.

I used a bettery maintainer on both the dihards i had in my car and those 2 batteries collectively lasted 23yrs + lasting 2-3x longer then your avg car battery does . But i dont think the delco R59 repop i have will last that long,maybe 8 yrs if i am lucky but time will tell on that one.

If you have a battery you can actually check the electrolite lvl on you should use distilled for refilling when required becasue it doesnt have the minerals std tap/well water has that can cause havick with plates in the battery considerably shortening it's life.

Scott

Rich,not picking on you at all,i am just miffed at what that battery mfg told you and the somewhat deceptive advertising they are putting out.

I have been working on hi comp bbc/sbc/GM V8's in general for 36+ yrs i can tell you 1st hand that a 470cca battery will not " reliably start a heat soaked hi comp perf bbc or sbc " unless maybe they have a very lrg cams in them bleeding off plenty of compression along with a new more powerfull aftermarket starter.

Mind you i am talikng about motors still running a stock gm hi trq starter and the battery mfg may have run their tests on 500 inch motors with lrg cams bleeding off plenty of cyl/cranking compression (which many lrg 500" motors would be running) along wit ha more powerfull new gen aftermarket starter too.

And think about this,when they state 630cca will start an 800" motor,anyone with a 800" motor is obviously running a race motor and motors of that size are generally running huge cams that bleed off a lot of cyl pressure which helps a lot when it comes to starting motors along with again a more powerfull aftermarket starter which is what they dont tell you.

Most people running 800" motors with aftermarket starters & are on the strip where the motors are started running only 5-10 mins then shut down never seeing any heat soak issues or mult starts in 20-30 mins like when getting gas,stopping at people houses to visit,etc.

Even if the 470cca battery does start a hi comp 500" bbc when hot when it gets 2-3 yrs old and looses a little of its power your SOL because thats marginal at best 470 cca battery is now only 350-375cca due to degrading over time and that wont cut it for a hi comp bbc when hot on the street with out a huge cam bleeding of a lot of cyl pressure and a new more powerfull aftermarket starter.

There is not way a 470 & 630 CCA battery can be = in cranking power to a 1000cca amp battery that are all tested using the same battery industry std CCA test thats done below 32deg f ,period.

CCA are derived by a test where basically a direct short is placed on the battery when it's below 32deg f to see how long it will hold a specific voltage /amp lvl and that determins a car batteirs CCA. CA is determined when the battery is above 32deg f.

But the bottom line is when thoses 2 batteries your reffering to were tested for CCA its the same test the 1000 CCA battery had so there is not way the 470 CCA battery can have = cranking power to a true 1000 CCA battery.

There is a lvl of deceptive advertising in the aftermarket car parts perf field and to me this battery statement of 470CCA is good for a 500" motor is definately one of them esp if using stock gm hi trq starter on the street with a moderate cam that doesnt bleed off a lot of cyl/cranking compression. Now if this battery mfg stated that these huge motors had lrg cams and aftermarket starter i would notbe saying their advertising was deceptive. But when an avg guyt comes along and reads the add you did your arent thinking about the details of huge cams in lrg motors bleeding off cranking comp let alone the newe gen hi output starters ther are using too when the avg guy may still be using a stck gm starter and a hi comp motor without a lrg cam so the cranking compression is hi too and collectively that setup requires a lot more CCA when heat soaked then a non heat soaked 500 or 800" motor that has a huge cam and new aftermarket starter.

The same thing goes for example selling perf distribuotrs stating they are for street perf duty with absolutley not provision for a vac adv which 9 or 10 street perf motors with aftermaket perf cams will really benefit from unless its maybe a 7 second drag car that run on the street once in a while.

I see a fair amnt of posts here in t/chevelle when inexperienced peole buy new perf dist for street that have no vac adv and are having tuning/dirveability issues without a vac adv. But the dist mfg never states on the box "not for street use or perf results my vary when used on street due to lack of vac adv",thats deceptive to me because the mfg knows this is an issue in that case and people buy it for street use no realizing the vac adv is really needed for a most street perf apps.

Scott

I got the S&W catalog in the mail and they sell Odyssey batteries. The PC925 (part#85-403, $146.49) has 470 CCA and will crank over engines up to 500 inches, the PC1200 (part#85-404, $178.49) has 630 CCA will handle up to a 800 inch engines. It says that both batteries are the same as a 1000 CCA wet cell battery. Do you have to charge these between rounds if your running a alternator at the track ? I was thinking about one for my bracket car.

I run a 100 amp Powermaster alternator so I don't charge between rounds. But I do make sure it has a full charge when I do my post race checks, this way it is ready for the next outing.
As far as heat soak starting goes, it seams to do ok for my 14.5 to 1 BBC 525 C.I.
In the later Heads-up rounds at Milan the supercharged and turbo guys don't have time to change the water out and install ice in there reservoirs. I think it is about 12 to 15 minutes between rounds.

Tom

Scott I was going off the information in the S&W catalog . I had my eye on a Autozone battery that claims 1000 CCA and if something goes wrong the store is right down the street for the exchange. Thanks for the information Scott and Tom.

Tom,your setup is exactly the point i was making,your running a max performance 525CI/8.20/@160mph so it obviously has a very lrg cam that will bleed off plenty of the 14.0 comp your motor has which can be easier on the starter then a short cam'd 10:1 heat soaked street bbc . I would not be surprised if your running a new more powerfull aftermarket starter too helping the situation when having a low 470cca battery but i dont know that for sure.

I was just making the point your avg guy with a street perf muscle car (not a drag race car) reading the odessey battery advertisement would not realize the 470cca battery was relistically not = to 1000CCA battery in cranking power (thats BS) not being a good choice for a heat soaked street 10:1 bbc with a mild cam that creates higher cyl pressure along with the heat soak issues when running a stock gm starter & solenoid esp with no heat shield which is the setup avg setup your going to see on at least 55-60% or more of the street chevelles.

The odessy battery is ok for drag race apps as you already know but its not a good choice for your avg street perf hi comp bbc or sbc chevelle with a gm starter . I have found over the 36+ yrs working on GM V8's moist of the time you need a min of 700 CCA but i prefer more (800-1000CCA) to ensure reliable hot starts for more then a yr or 2 when a batteries CCA power will naturally start to drop off as the yrs go by. But if you start out with a marginal CCA battery like 470CCA-600CCA that will have less CCA after a couple yrs service causing hot start issues. But if you start with 800-1000cca then when the higher CCA battery is 2,3,4 yrs old it will still have enough umph to still reliably start the motor when heat soaked with a hi comp bbc or sbc.

The autozone 1000CCA battery is likely 1/2 the cost of the $150 odessey bettery with over 2x the CCA and they are both non stock in appearance so thats a wash,for STREET USE go for the autozone 1000CCA battery and dont look back.

Scott

Scott, what would be the theoretical cranking cylinder pressure of said 10:1 BBC with a mild cam?
The reason that I ask is, I have an example of a very high cranking cylinder pressure BBC with the Odyssey battery. You are correct in saying that my race car 525 has low cranking compression as it is only 150 PSI.. But please keep in mind when this car was street driven 10 years ago with the 11.5:1 BBC with 185 cranking PSI. it had a battery that was sold by Holley which is the same as the Odyssey PC1200. The reason for me to start using this style of battery was I didn't want to have a battery box for the NHRA rules. I would not dismiss this style of battery from use in an everyday street car as I have real world examples of that also. I guess in the long run people will do what they are comfortable with and so be it. Would you believe that an 11lb battery will start a 15 to 1 427 C.I. engine with 190 PSI cranking PSI? Oh and by the way this last example was built and tested for a true street class which consists of a 30 mile cruise and then 3 back to back runs.

Tom

Mine has a 195 compression with 10.5:1 pistons but with the mini starter I use a small battery and it spins like a Nissan motor when cranking.

My 396 with very mild cam & 10:0 comp has approx 200-205 cranking comp (ouch!) and it still fires up ok when hot/heat soaked over this past summer with the 7 yr old delco repop & stock gm hi trq starter even with running 81-20 deg base/initial timing.

But a high quality mini starter like your runing is more powerfull even with a lower CCA output battery like the odessey being talked about in this thread .

It's the more stock street apps with mild hi comp perf motors and stock gm starters i am talking about when i state the odessey batteris will have problems handling at times,not always .

It's the lrg motors with lrg cams bleeding off plenty of cyl pressure & new hi power mini starters that put out motor power with less CCA batteries where the lower amp odessey batteries are doing ok .

So far it seems like the people chiming in stating they run an odessey battery are running lrg inch racing motors with lrg perf cams that bleed off cyl pressure/compression some running . like 8 sec 1/4 miile times. Some are also likely running new hi power mini starters too which again was the point i was making all along,the odessey battery is fine for most drag racing apps & not hi compression short cam'd heat soaked bbc/sbc street apps and no starter heat shield at times too. Thats a rcp for hot start issues with a low power 475 CCA odessey battery esp when a std lead acid 1000 CCA battery can be had at less then 1/2 the cost. Uness you need to loose wt under hood for an all out competitve racing a low CCA output odessey battery is not the way to go for that type of street app IMHO.

I know you guys are getting tired of me by now so i will stop beating it to death.(LOL!!!!!!)

Have a good one.

Scott