I purchased a 34R for teener, but have had no luck finding proper clamp- have lost thread that was discussed here- senior moments??

go to optima's website, call customer sevice, explain your situation, and ask for one. a Group 78 Adapter. they should send you one.

k

I tried that, and while they didn't give me one, they did direct me to Batteries Plus, where I was able to purchase one for about 4 bucks.

after the last go round the poor soul in c.s. probably got a ton of calls starting with "i have an optima in my....can you send me one of those adapters?". cheap bastards . the 2 local bat stores optima told me to call didn't know what i was talking about, both suggested i call optima.

k

You could always get this from renegade.. but I bet it's more than $4

You can use a piece of fuel line on the stock clamp to make it work. (thanks Trekkor!)

I like getting the Exide Orbital batteries because they fit the stock clamp without modification. It's the same battery technology, so what's the difference? I'll take the one that fits thanks.

but you lose the grain silo look and the groovy "see my fancy battery?".

k

If you do not mind doing a little fabrication this is what I did to secure a Optima battery, I wcut and welded a peice of 16 Guage steel to the original bracket. The thing sits in there rock solid. See the attached Pisc.

Steve

QUOTE (rhodyguy @ Mar 21 2005, 10:11 AM)

but you lose the grain silo look and the groovy "see my fancy battery?". k

No you don't.

Pic #1

Oh crap it will not let me upload my file

picture please. don't preview your post, if you are.

k

Make sure it's a JPG and that it's small enough. Image resize FAQ - here.

Aerospce has some cool stuff!

great look with that one, i like it. bet it's not for the budget challanged.

k

Sorry for the small pic. This one is larger. The unit is about the same price as the Battery.

Thanks for the input on how to resize pics, Here is the first one

Here is Pic #2

The Optima battey fits perfect in the back of the stock battery tray in the 2 notches, all you have to do is fabricate the front latch like above

hard to tell. did you rivet or bolt the tray down?

k

The tray is bolted down

great idea. welding the thing in is so much fun.

k

on rare occassions @ work we'd get a good used Optima battery returned by a customer stating the battery is bad, but normally is still good and we resell them for $25 + $8 core charge.....

Thanks Rhodyguy, definetly the cheap way to do it, but still functional

Quick and dirty.
Joe

will that pass tech on sunday the 24th?

k

When I bought my Optima, I had the same problem with the factory hold down. It just would not work properly. I called and they sent me a plastic hold down that fits the Optima perfectly. They told me it comes with the battery. I did have to trim the battery with a belt sander to fit flat in the tray though. Eddy

Aluminum Strap. Cheap and secure.

QUOTE (rhodyguy @ Mar 21 2005, 04:18 PM)

will that pass tech on sunday the 24th? k

Unless the back side is securely held down, no. I had my Optima bolted on one side like that and it tipped over on the track. So I hope you guys are doing a better job than I did. We won't be looking to fail anybody but the battery needs to be really secure.

The stock bracket is not long enough, mine is. It does not move.
A bracket like that got /L.s car through tech twice.
Joe

What I do is scallop the back lip of the tray (to match the six pack profile of the battery) as well as the hold down clip, and put a piece of rubber edge trim over both.

I changed to the Optima battery as well. I looked on the board here and others suggested that the "R" (Reversed terminals) was the one to use.

After purchasing the 35R and then returning it to the seller, I used an Optima 35, not the 35R as suggested.

The "R" style battery end up with the terminals tucked in toward (kind of under, in fact) the body of the car.

Too close to a "ground fault" (positive voltage to ANY metal componet on the car) for me.

The electrician in me would not "have it".

With the standard terminal configuration, the terminals are out toward the engine where they can be accessed for charging, disconnection, service and such.


This configuration also allowed me the space of adding a "quick disconnect device" (about six dollars) so that when car work involving the electrical system is needed it is simple to matter to just "turn it off".

Additionally if one wanted to they could remove the "quick disconnect key" (kind of a bolt really with) and disable the car, not the ultimate "car theft" answer, but as my father would say "better than a sharp stick in the eye!"