Created 5/11/03

 I got the Optima Orange Top in tonight. According to my scale it weighed 34lbs compared to the factory battery at 46lbs.

It took some work to get it in in a way I was satisfied with it though.

First I had to get more slack in the positive cable as it was very tight stock. This wasn't a big deal, if you follow the positive cable forward at the corner of the trunk there is a cable holder that holds the positive feed in place.



The cable runs to the right side of the holder, if you take the holder off and swap it so the cable runs to the left of the holder it gives plenty of slack for the positive cable to fit on the Optima.



The bigger problem was the battery hold down. The Optima isn't as long as the stock battery.


There are multiple mounting holes for the factory holder but the one that would have been about right wasn't threaded so it couldn't be used. The next threaded hole in was too far in to be used with the Optima as the battery blocked it. So I had to use the same hole as the factory battery. To make this work I had to modify the hold down clamp itself. Stock it has a height tab away from where the bolt holds it down. I put this in my vice and bent this flat with the rest of the holder and drilled a new hole. Since I didn't have a drill press I used two nails in a 2x4 to hold the bracket while it was being drilled.



This moved the reach of the holder out enough so it fit on the Optima and prevented any movement. After doing this I needed to add a nut on the threads below the bottom of the clamp to get it about level with the Optima's hold down point. Several washers would work well too. Without them the clamp goes down below the battery and can't hold it well.



With it mounted this way there is no movement at all in the battery, it is as solid as the factory battery was.



The Optima is slightly taller then the factory battery so the terminals push against the bottom of the trunk liner a little. It isn't very much but it is worth mentioning.

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