'88 911 Carerra need new battery (Optima?)

[Rubatoguy]

I need a new battery for my 1988 911 Carrerra.
Currently it has an Interstate MB66-60 (550CCA, 690CA) which has been discontinued.

I was thinking about getting an Optima, but understand that these will not fit with the factory mounting system. I don't really want to spend $300 for a custom rhinestone encrusted billett titanium battery mount. Are there more reasonable alternatives?

I'd love to hear from people who have sucessfully installed Optima batteries and what their experiece has been.

thanks,
Todd

[fintstone]

I love my optima...put one in my other cars too. You can buy a decent mount for $30 that adapts it to your stock bracket or make your own for practically nothing after seing how simple it is.

PM me if you want a link to the bracket.

[charleskieffner]

grab some aluminum and a hole saw and a recip saw and then hit search. some pretty cool mounts have been made dirt cheap here. rennline has some good pics you can copy from. optimas in every vehicle we have. and some vehicles have dual optimas. we get both summer and winter extremes here and they have proven themselves. usually $110 bucks or so for red tops.

[Wil Ferch]

here's a step-by-step emedded within--->

Optima battery questions

- Wil

[Rot 911]

I used the diagram in the thread Wil posted for my Optima.

[Mysterytrain]

Are there more optima models these days? I was looking at these recently and thought that I saw one with terminals placed and spaced like a standard 911 battery.

[hcoles]

I saw a company that sells a "sled" for holding an Optima in an 88.
I made a custom setup for my 89 but it was a lot of work and I had access to a machine shop and materials

[Jastx]

AJUSA sells an Optima adapter. Here it is:

http://www.ajusa.com/cgi-bin/pb/view_product?prod_id=0000000160&part_number=AJR%20611%20211&model_id=0048&session_id=c9d7d7564de03d8b3d0ec4895af5fc8c

The adapter is just an aluminum piece the longer length of a standard Porsche battery to which the Optima bolts. Very easy.

My advice with the AJUSA unit is to round all the pointed corners before installing it, lessening the chance of scratching your gas tank or another part of your car as you wrestle the battery with adapter into place.

I have the Optima 34R in my 930, fits great with the adapter. Nice thing about Optimas is no chance of puking in your trunk. Well worth it for that.

[Mysterytrain]

John ..did you need to replace the ground strap with something longer?

[Wil Ferch]

Does anybody read the embedded "install" stuff...when given?

Yes...the poles are on the wrong side of the battery and a separate, longer ground strap is required. Not a biggie. The ground point is very near the battery and simply gets bolted up. Read the info given.

- Wil

[Mysterytrain]

Geez Wil..I read it all. Some say they used a longer ground cable others don't mention it. My confusion was about the different Optima Models..which made me wonder if the ground strap was no longer an issue. Sorry for the wasted bandwidth.

[Dixie]

Here's how I mounted my red top Optima.

I bought a kitchen cutting board (because it's plastic and the right thickness to use with the factory clamp). I cut it to shape, then drilled and counter sunk some bolt holes. I bolted the Optima to it using stainless machine screws and nuts.

The net is a very nice $10.00 adapter plate.

[silvercar00]

Our cars have an altenator that is prone to sudden voltage reg failure and resultant overcharging that is not immediatley noticeable ( or picked up by the idiot light). Boiling an optima is a BAD thing. they blow up much easier than other batteries, its their biggest downside for use in our cars. You can get a 40 dollar battery that is a throwaway fix, as opposed to like 150 bucks for the Optima, which is less tolerant of this failure. At the very least, I'd look into some type of volt meter if I planned to run one of these in my car. It might save some gauges and electronics , too
( go ahead, ask me how I know this...)

[Jastx]

Originally posted by Mysterytrain
John ..did you need to replace the ground strap with something longer?

No, the R has reversed terminals and fit without modification.

[Jastx]

Originally posted by silvercar00
Boiling an optima is a BAD thing. they blow up much easier than other batteries, its their biggest downside for use in our cars. At the very least, I'd look into some type of volt meter if I planned to run one of these in my car. It might save some gauges and electronics , too
( go ahead, ask me how I know this...)

Please tell me about your experience.

[911pcars]

"...Boiling an optima is a BAD thing. they blow up much easier than other batteries.........."

Boiling any battery is a bad thing (to do to any battery), but what's the basis for the explosive reference? My first Optima lasted 9 years w/o producing any explosive noises. YMMV.

Sherwood
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[alf]

Consider getting an Odyssey. Much lighter than an Optima and works just fine in my 88. I had an Optima, moved it to the truck

Alf

[Wil Ferch]

Originally posted by Jastx
No, the R has reversed terminals and fit without modification.

...In that case, I duly apologize ......

- Wil

[Mysterytrain]

Not a problem Wil ...I was just bustin' right back at ya!
Thanks John...I kind of figured the 34R was a drop in. I noticed the old postings were for earlier model batteries.

[silvercar00]

Originally posted by 911pcars
"...Boiling an optima is a BAD thing. they blow up much easier than other batteries.........."

Boiling any battery is a bad thing (to do to any battery), but what's the basis for the explosive reference? My first Optima lasted 9 years w/o producing any explosive noises. YMMV.

Sherwood
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

Try throwng 15 volts at it for an extended period of time. Optimas are particularly prone to damage from overcharging ( as are all batteries) When your volt reg goes, you won't know it ( wuithout a voltmeter) until you're stranded with a dead 150.00 battery and all battery manufacturers warn about risk of explosions from gassing-out overcharged batteries.