Dry Cell Round Up

[sessa]

I want to replace my batteries with dry cells, I've searched the archives and can find the obvious choice sideways mounted optima’s, but I'm not really crazy about the look. Does anyone have any other experience with Stinger batteries, do they fit early 911's. I remember a post a while back that I cannot find (not that I tried real hard) that also brought in a third brand. The only other wrinkle is that I live in Canada can I ship from any of these sources in the US.

[Jack Olsen]

I use the Stinger. Same footprint as one of the stock batteries, but shorter. Lighter and smaller than the Optima. Not much bigger than your morning cup of coffee, in fact.



Can't say I love the graphics, though. Although that black part is a metal case that you can bolt into your floorpan so that it never slides around.

[stormcrow]

Just replaced my battery recently. Was going with the conventional, but because I already have two Optima's on my boat, I decided to install one in my P-car.

The optima has a 5 year warranty and is not pro-rated. It can also be discharged without the fear of having problems by doing this. Cost was about $125.00.

It sits a little higher than the other battery, and you don't have to worry about battery acid spills because it's a dry cell battery.

Steve

[marc weintraub]

For the early cars, go with the Stinger. I have one, thanks to Jack's recommendation, and have not had a problem with it in over two years.

The Optima is a fine battery but there is no point in mounting it in the early cars due to it's size and mounting problems. The Stinger has the same rating and fits perfectly in our stock battery boxes.

Marc

[Phoenix]

i'm thinking of doing this as well. would i need 2 stingers or woudl i have to covert to a single battery?

[marc weintraub]

You only need one Stinger. Don't bother with the second one... they have plenty of cranking power and loads on reserve.

Marc

[sessa]

So how do you take care of the second "hot lead" that you are not useing?

[304065]

Remove the second battery cable. Do NOT tape it off, the tape could wear through and short to your fuel tank.

A while back I suggested that it could be used in place of a $1000 speaker cable for a high end "audiophile" system. Mine is currently keeping mice out of my hangar: they think it's a snake.

[nhromyak]

FYI:

My Optima "leaked"! More like boiled. It splattered the acid gel all over my battery area. My alternator was putting out over 17 volts.

Be careful.

[Phoenix]

John - If I use only one battery, will it not disturb the front end left-to-right weight distribution? I read somewhere that the primary reason early p-cars had two batteries was to keep even weight over both front wheel to improve the overall handling of the car?

[J P Stein]

Hey......were did that Stinger come from?
How'sa bout some info.......website maybe...phone #?.....it can be bolted down ?...I got just the spot for one of those.

Somehow I get the feeling this ain't gonna be cheep.

[ttweed]

Oliver-

You don't have to worry about upsetting the side-to-side balance. Porsche put two batteries up there to get more weight over the front wheels, for sure, because of the inherent rear-engine weight bias, but every time you drive the car alone, without a passenger, your weight in the left seat does more to upset the side-to-side balance than the Stinger ever would. Have you ever corner-balanced your car to see how different the weight on each wheel is? Depending on your ride heights at each corner, the differences can be surprising.

If I were you, I would mount it on the passenger side to try to offset some of the driver weight, and even consider moving it back to the smuggler's box if you don't have A/C equipment in there. Then, if you're going to track the car, cut out your battery boxes to get better air flow to your front brakes and oil cooler (if you have one) thru the horn grilles, and get a good race shop to do a 4-wheel alignment and corner balance it for you. That's what I did on my '73.

TT

[304065]

Mr. Tweed has a good point, the weight differential is probably negligible, particularly if you go with a Stinger, which weighs a bunch less than the Optima, and a little less than the stock battery.

You may want to do a search in the archives, I've written a few long ones about relocating my battery to the smuggler's box- was thinking about doing it and then decided to go with the starboard battery box- much simpler than relocating and my fuel system for fuel cell went in the smuggler's box.

You're right, Porsche went to dual batteries, some say to improve the handling, other say that there were no high amperage batteries that were small enough to fit up front available in those days. My buddy StuttgartDavid's '68S had two cast-iron lumps in the front bumper that were intended to increase polar moment of inertia to correct a perceived oversteer problem. The judgment of history, I think, is that the oversteer concern was right in the middle of Nader trashing the Corvair, and so was a knee-jerk reaction by Porsche to a liability concern. Others say that snap oversteer was a function of aerodynamics. But what's certain is the later cars had one up in the left front, possibly offsetting the weight of the a/c compressor at right rear (but they also had the heavier bumpers).

[304065]

Mr. Tweed has a good point, the weight differential is probably negligible, particularly if you go with a Stinger, which weighs a bunch less than the Optima, and a little less than the stock battery.

You may want to do a search in the archives, I've written a few long ones about relocating my battery to the smuggler's box- was thinking about doing it it and then decided to go with the port battery box- much simpler than relocating and my fuel system for fuel cell went in the smuggler's box.

You're right, Porsche went to dual batteries, some say to improve the handling, others say that there were no high amperage batteries that were small enough to fit up front available in those days. My buddy StuttgartDavid's '68S had two cast-iron lumps in the front bumper that were intended to increase polar moment of inertia to correct a perceived oversteer problem. The judgment of history, I think, is that the oversteer concern was right in the middle of Nader trashing the Corvair, and so was a knee-jerk reaction by Porsche to a liability concern. Others say that snap oversteer was a function of aerodynamics. But what's certain is the later cars had one up in the left front, possibly offsetting the weight of the a/c compressor at right rear (but they also had the heavier bumpers).

[Jack Olsen]

Their very annoying web site:

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/sting_products/batteries.asp

It's not cheap, though.

Buy it here for $172

Buy it here for $185

Buy it here for $215