1931 Battery Holder

E

Ed in Maine

Well-known member
I am cleaning up the battery holder. Rather than getting a repro I decided to spend some time on the original. I am putting on a new plate and replacing some bad metal on the frame. I do have another rusty battery holder I picked up at Hershey and there appears to be a layer of material between the plate and the holder. It looks like a layer of hardened rubber. Was there an attempt to cushion the battery in the holder? I also noticed that one of the battery holders has a drain hole in the dimpled portion of the frame. The other does not. The battery holder is not covered in the Restoration Guidelines and it would appear that there are variations in its construction. Ed
 
Page 4-9, and 4-10 of the Restoration Guidelines and Judging Standards revised 2011 covers the battery support assembly.
 
You'll be glad you fixed your original holder. They are the only ones that look right and fit right. There is nothing between the frame and plate. I used the water cooled 220 volt spot welder at the local high school to do the 8 spot welds on the plate.

I think Bratton's catalog tells about the different plate holes, as well as the J/S.
 
I've seen the black stuff in between the parts before,it is actually old corrosion.I've seen a lot of this on old equipment where the batteries have frozen,cracked and leaked over the years.The stuff will look like a black composite material until you break it up.Lay thay battery holder on an anvil and hit it.Chunks of what will look like old bakelite will fly out.No resemblance to metal,and it is no longer magnetic.
 
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I used a grinder to grind away the remains of the old plate by grinding the tops of the 8 spot welds. I then sandblast the frame and clamp the new plate in place with a couple Vise-Grips. I use a black felt tip to mark where the original spot welds are, then use the high school spot welder to finish the job.

On the bottom 2 pictures you can see this is a 1928 battery support by the forged top pieces for the battery clamps, and to fasten it to the frame. The top picture shows the later support frame.
 
I use a piece of 1\4" thick rubber matting under the battery. A number of people I know do the same. The group one batteries on the market today are smaller than what Henry used. This helps raise it up a little. Another thing I do is drill holes in the vertical threaded posts and use castle nuts and cotter pins. This will allow the battery to be snugged down against the rubber without putting to much presure on it and cracking the case. The cotter pins will prevent the nuts from backing off.

I had an exciting experience while touring though Yellowstone a number of years ago. While driving along the cockpit filled with smoke. I pulled over and we excited the car and the smoke stopped. We pulled the floor boards and found both battery hold down nuts had worked loose and dissapeared. The top section of the holder somehow jammed between the power post and the frame. It burned a large hole in the battery near the top. A traveling companion had some extra nuts and a roll of duct tape. We patched the battery and were back on the road. When I got home I bought a new battery and installed the cotter pin modification.

Tom Endy
 
Tom Endy said:
I use a piece of 1\4" thick rubber matting under the battery. A number of people I know do the same. The group one batteries on the market today are smaller than what Henry used. This helps raise it up a little. Another thing I do is drill holes in the vertical threaded posts and use castle nuts and cotter pins. This will allow the battery to be snugged down against the rubber without putting to much presure on it and cracking the case. The cotter pins will prevent the nuts from backing off.

I had an exciting experience while touring though Yellowstone a number of years ago. While driving along the cockpit filled with smoke. I pulled over and we excited the car and the smoke stopped. We pulled the floor boards and found both battery hold down nuts had worked loose and dissapeared. The top section of the holder somehow jammed between the power post and the frame. It burned a large hole in the battery near the top. A traveling companion had some extra nuts and a roll of duct tape. We patched the battery and were back on the road. When I got home I bought a new battery and installed the cotter pin modification.

Tom Endy
Click to expand...

I know this is a really old thread, but is there any chance you can point me to some examples of what you might use for the 1/4" rubber mat? I'm curious what you've found to work. Thanks!
 
If your car is just a 'driver' and you are NOT looking to meet 'Judgement Standards', you are more that 'safe' to retain the 'rubber insulation' that you found. If the car/battery has been converted to 'negative' ground you are should remove all material down to the bare metal and repaint.
 
Because of modern size differences I once made a plywood box for my battery in my 28 RPU. That battery lasted four years beyond its expiration date, and I think the box may have
had something to do with that.
 
I put mine on a batterymatt. I don't even trim it, just set the battery on it. From there I cut an old radiator hose length wise, and snake that down the two corners so it has some hold. Clamps.

The new battery tray are junk compared to the old ones.
 
I had a battery box built -- the same ones you see that have hydraulic brake master cylinders attached, minus all the hydraulic brake stuff. For a hold down, I used one from a 1980's Ford that secures the battery in the middle. It works like a charm.
 
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