Optima battery under hood

[Don]

Was thinking of putting the optima battery under the hood along inner fender above starter and was unsure of what the heat might do to the battery,.any one done this???Tks This is on the 35 RD

[supereal]

I have an Optima in that position. It is contained in a wooden box that fits the battery tray and hold down. I have had an Optima there for years, the latest one is seven years old.

[G.M.]

Originally Posted by Don

Was thinking of putting the optima battery under the hood along inner fender above starter and was unsure of what the heat might do to the battery,.any one done this???Tks This is on the 35 RD

Don, I put one in my 35 roadster 8 or 10 years ago. No heat problem and works great. G.M.

[Don]

Sounds like a nice improvement over the floor position and can do away with foot sw.Have wanting to do away with foot sw for long time.

[Bruce in southern OH]

Nice!!!!!!!!

[Ianrhall]

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I have an optima on my 53, works very well, just looks "too modern" is there a period looking box I could fit it into?
Thanks
Ian

[Terry,OH]

IMO I don't feel it will improve appearance. You can change the foot start without moving the battery. Could mount the solenoid near the battery location and not see either. With the Optima there is no maintenance anyway.

[Don]

Good point Terry!!!!!!

[Ed Pitts]

Don, here is my solution for the removal of the foot starter on my 36. It uses the foot starter mount and the existing cables will hook up with no changes. Ed

[supereal]

I made a wooden box to fit the tray and hold down. I did have to lengthen the hold down bolts just a bit. The sides of the box were made of "bead board, and the top is routed to resemble the lead-acid type. Adding three filler caps completed the illusion. If you do this, be sure to have a vent hole on the back where it isn't visible, as these batteries do give off some gas, After a couple of coats of semi gloss black, it actually looks so real few can catch it. It is a whole lot easier, and cheaper, than trying to use an actual battery case.

[Don]

This is what I had in mind Ed but was also going to trigger a 6 volt relay on out put of selinoid so I could apply full voltage to coil when starter is energized. It starts fine the way iti is but just a little add on might help sometime.

[wga]

Exide makes a battery that has the traditional battery appearance, uses the same AGM technology. Lower cost than Optima, and USA made.

[Bruce in southern OH]

This is where I mounted my solenoid in the 34
.

[Shadetree]

Don,
Its not kosher but I put my Optima Battery under the hood probably three years ago, not sure. You can mount it without drilling a single hole in the frame by using what's there. I have not had a single issue with it. I also placed the green cut off switch that some had trouble with. Not an issue there either. Its handy and so easy to isolate the battery when being stored. I like the push button starter switch idea too but didn't want to drill a hole in the dash so I kept the floor start switch.
Bud

[Ed Pitts]

Bud, here is my solution to the starter switch. I wanted some additional gauges, so made this to hold the starter switch. Ed