Battery options

[Terrorist 5.0]

No, the specs do NOT show that a lawnmower battery has enough amps. Just because you did it a few times does not mean it's worth doing. Stock spec is 540CCA, higher amp lawnmower batteries go up to around 350CCA, with the standard floating around 250CCA.

You even said yourself that you ran into issues with running a lawnmower battery, so I'm not sure why you're out here posting stupid shit.








Realistically, it's a battery. There's no reason to overthink it. Like it's been said, there's not many manufacturers of batteries at this point, they're just getting slapped with different stickers. There is a difference internally between some of the levels, but find one with the appropriate CCA at a place that will stand behind it's warranty and roll on with life. WalMart is going to generally be the cheaper option, but they usually roll with a 1 and done approach to their battery warranties so if you snag one and it's defective or hasn't been properly rotated in their inventory, you'll use that 2-3 year warranty up in a week.

You are 100% right, I remembered a detail that I left out.

The battery in question had 400 CCA, and was a lithium power sports battery. It was under the lawnmower section but realistically it could be used on motorcycles, ATV, snowmobile, etc

The thing with lithium batteries is that while they have a pretty big advantage in power, they are also quite volatile if they overheat. They have a safety device which will shut off the battery if it senses over voltage. This shouldn’t be an issue in a lead acid battery, but the specs showed that the battery could handle 15V IIRC. My car put out 14.8V at 2000 RPM, with a very short spike when revved (15.8-16V IIRC). That may have set the battery safety off, and caused the battery to be taken out of the equation, and the alternator pegging.

It’s not dumb shit, I prefer the term “retard science”

I still think a high quality lead acid mower battery would be ok for one of these cars. Maybe not the most reliable, but I think it will work. I may be wrong, but I may try it again just for the giggles if I ever get another 79-04 Mustang.

 

[Daryl]

Is the battery relocation to the trunk worth it? Is the weight transfer noticeable? I like the idea of getting it out of that hot engine bay, but also don’t know if it opens a can of worms?

Is a sealed box better than no box? Not sure I’m convinced on the necessity of the box. Had one on a ‘64 ChevyII and found the box to be a PITA.

 

[ttocs]

I did it just to clean up under the hood. Heat is not an issue unless you are doing something like AGM/lithium.

 

[badass98svt]

Is the battery relocation to the trunk worth it? Is the weight transfer noticeable?

No and no, not for a street car

 

[Daryl]

I expected not. End of that discussion!

 

[shovel]

I stuck a motorsports AGM battery in the trunk, down in the spare tire well. Works pretty good. I also don't drive competitively so there's not really much value to the weight transfer, even if it is substantial. I'm going to be doing some stuff under the hood and the extra room will be useful.

 

[GTamas]

Both group size 58 and 59 fit in our cars.

Are you sure about the 59?
I had to replace my battery now and I struggled to find in my country one that is not bigger than group 58 size and has CCA and Ah not worse than the stock battery at least, while also the terminals are located correctly.
The biggest bottleneck was the terminal location: big majority of the batteries that would fit have the negative and positive batteries the other way around.

I read Group 59 has a height of 7 3/4 inches (196mm) so I felt lucky when I found a VARTA battery that is 242 (L) x 175 (W) x 190 (H) mm.

Turns out it is too high, I can't close the hood. :-(

I don't want to relocate it to the trunk and I don't want to buy a battery that is weak by Ah and CCA, so I'm thinking how to fit it under the hood. I think I need to win ca. 10mm space.

One thing I'm thinking about is modifying the battery tray to be more low profile. Do you think it is doable, or is there any reason the tray is raised like that?

 

[GTamas]

Are you sure about the 59?

I think I know what's going on... Seems like Ford used a lower profile battery tray from 1997 on. So probably 1994-1996 only fits Group 58, but after 1997 you can fit also Group 59. Is that right?
Then probably all I have to do is replace the my battery tray with a 1997+ version?

 

[07GtS197]

Possibly. I thought they were all the same between 94 and 04 but I could be wrong.

 

[GTamas]

I can confirm, the battery tray is different. The '97+ tray is lower profile and let's you use Group59 size batteries or 190mm high batteries. The '94-'96 tray allows only Group58 or 175mm high batteries.
The newer tray fits directly into 94-96 cars without any modifications.
I had to cut out a small slot on the side of the 97+ tray to fit the 242mm long VARTA battery, but it wasn't a big deal.