It's a sears product; probably Chinese.

Cheapo battery

Will it work?

Should work just fine.

sears is now owned by k-mart...

cheap battery... china...

Lemme see. It's small, relatively low AH, posts are reversed, it may not clamp down properly, and 914s (make that all cars of this vintage) tend to have electrical issues. On the other hand, it's cheap (probably in more ways than one). You pick.

The Cap'n

Some googling gets no real negative reviews. I would worry about the thing bolting down to a 914 (well, I wouldn't, but that's because my battery is in the passenger compartment). Review I saw also said to make sure the liquid top off things stay tight...

So that right there is why I only would consider an Optima on mine. They are more expensive, but given the propensity of these cars to have issues with rust and the resulting "hell hole" consequences, its worth the extra $130 if you can at all swing it.

Like that old Fram commercial went: "you can pay me now, or you can pay me later..."

Decent quality lead acid batteries are only $20 more at your local auto parts store.

Really they are all garbage nowdays. I really like my Orbital battery. Like an Optima but supposedly stronger.

I've got a big optima right now. I kinda wanna get a braille battery to save some weight (well, technically one of these: http://www.eastpenn-deka.com/default.aspx?pageid=510) apparently the same as a braille.

somebody ought to post a "how many have gone to optima battery" survey. i'll bet it's more than half of the 914 owners.

............and how many have had problems, maybe how many have gone back to a conventional battery? I've replaced them in numerous cars, mostly because they puked one time too many for the frustrated owners. The Cap'n

gone back to conventional battery? your are talking dry cell? what kind of problems have you experianced?

mike

What goes wrong with them? Mine's sat around for a while, run for a while, sat for the whole time I was painting the car, which as Steve can tell you took a while, and still works just fine.

Wait! Are we talking about a battery? a battery? I got one from where ever and it starts just fine over 6 years now! A battery?

thats what i was hoping to hear... why... because i just spent $130 for one 2 months ago. the car sat for that time and the battery was STONE dead. it took a good charge though AND it came back 100%. it does have an alarm draw, so i'm going to put a battery cut off (except for alarm power) and also put a float charger on it.

I had an Optima that worked fine for over 10 years in my car. I did keep it on a float charger over winter hibernation, but it held up just fine after all those years.

For the rust issue alone, I'm sold on the Optimas! I also like that fact that you can get one with the poles in needed orientation (42R).

There are 2 options here that are never talked about. When I ripped my rusted out battery tray out I covered the everything that could get an acid bath in glass. (Eglass w/ epoxy resin) Also, built so it will drain off any acid. Now I have a cheap ass battery that I can get anywhere. BTW, E Glass is good up to 450F. The second option is to buy a small gel cell such as those you find in a UPS(uninterupted power supply) for computor back up power. These are cheap, very light weight and very compact. I used them in my plane for 10 yr's without a thought. They were great if you were upside down!

I have been using a Miata battery for the last few years, and it works great. It cost about $80 when I bought it around three years ago at Autozone. It is smaller than the stock battery size, turns the car over in winter, doesn't have fluid to top off or leak out.

Out of the 6 optima yellow tops I own, we had one of the small ones go bad in the autocross car. The rest are all working great, some are probably 10 years old at this point.

Kinda disappointed that the one went bad, but our car makes more vibration and g-forces than most 914s experience short of a bad collision, so it's understandable.

I am mainly just looking for a decent battery. the car will sit in the garage most of the time and get driven on weekend cruises. It will probably never see rain and I will wash it myself without drenching it.

That said, how bad would a conventional battery be? The reversed posts would probably be the biggest issue. It may come in different configurations, don't know.
Drilling a hole or two and clamping it down shouldn't be hard...heck a bungee cord was holding the old one.

Hmm, I'd be worried about death of the battery with that kinda use. You might want to grab a battery tender for when you're not driving it. Other than that I'd say go for it!

Dude, get a battery that is the right size.
I got mine at autozone...it was as cheap as I could find...I shopped.
It was also the right size and shape with the posts on the right side.

I take it out and clean the whole area, including the hellhole with a mixture of water and baking soda twice a year...its fine and all the paint is still there.

Rich

Another Optima user here. I've used them for 13 of the last 20 years. Had I used them the whole time I probably wouldn't have had to replace much of the fire wall as I did recently.A good quality (plenty of reserve power & 5-7yr warranty)traditional one though can still be had for around $50.00 .

But, of greater importance (perhaps) than rust issues, is that if for any reason the car doesn't want to start one day,(You'll be in middle of nowhere , of course) and You've got a cheap battery, it won't be long till You have Two problems(waving your battery cables at passing motorists ). I agree with HCRDAN a good battery can be cheap insurance. Also, it's a good idea to buy from a large Chain, so if/when it does fail , as some will regardless of Brand, there is somplace close to honor the warranty, ie. Walmart,Kmart, G.I.Joes.

The correct battery type for 914s is "Group 42". I sell and recommend Interstate because of the easy availability nearly everywhere. Toll free number right on the label. Sears would be my second recommendation, as they're also sold at K-Mart, and availability is pretty good nationwide.

The Cap'n