33/34 Battery

[Steve Staysko]

I have a 34 Ford script battery with an Optima battery inside the case which is deader than a door nail and Optima doesn't make that size battery anymore. Does anyone know of a manufacturer that makes a battery that fits the original battery carrier? If not I may have to modify the battery carrier to fit a lead acid battery. I cant find anyone that builds a battery that's the right size let alone Ford Script battery case any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Angledrive]

Suggestion: hook a known good battery fully charged to your dead optima. Hook charger to known good battery and set charger on low. Charge for 24 to 48 hrs. Then unhook and check voltage of Optima. If over 10.5 or if 6 volt, 5 volts, then hook charger directly to Optima and charge for a few hours. You just might salvage it.

 

[Steve Staysko]

Suggestion: hook a known good battery fully charged to your dead optima. Hook charger to known good battery and set charger on low. Charge for 24 to 48 hrs. Then unhook and check voltage of Optima. If over 10.5 or if 6 volt, 5 volts, then hook charger directly to Optima and charge for a few hours. You just might salvage it.

Yes I already tried to bring it back to life just like you suggested and it wouldn't hold a charge at all...

 

[lotsagas4u]

http://cgfordparts.com/ufolder/fordpart.php?number=OPT-2LF-SP

 

[keith oh]

Steve, Did you try amazon, they sell optima batteries and just may have one of those left over?

 

[ford38v8]

http://cgfordparts.com/ufolder/fordpart.php?number=OPT-2LF-SP

If you read the C&G description, it clearly advises that the Optima sticks out the bottom of the 2LF case by 1".

You could try a BFH: Results May Vary.

 

[1935coupe]

don't know if this will work but I just bought a 6 volt lithium battery for a motorcycle as a emergency hot shot it is small and is rated for 275 cca. After I looked at it I thought I should get 3 and do what you are doing.

 

[ford38v8]

don't know if this will work but I just bought a 6 volt lithium battery for a motorcycle as a emergency hot shot it is small and is rated for 275 cca. After I looked at it I thought I should get 3 and do what you are doing.

That's an idea!


But.....

Hover boards !

Tesla's !

 

[OptimaJim]

Steve, rumors of the discontinuation of our 6-volt batteries are greatly exaggerated. Now, finding one in Canada may be a little trickier, but all our major retail partners should be able to order one for you, if they don't have one in inventory.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

 

[ford38v8]

Steve, rumors of the discontinuation of our 6-volt batteries are greatly exaggerated. Now, finding one in Canada may be a little trickier, but all our major retail partners should be able to order one for you, if they don't have one in inventory.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

Jim, your reply deceptively implies that the redesign of the Optima 6v still fits the Ford 2LF case, which it does not.
Apparently you are ignorant of the difference between a 2LF and a 2HF, or you are a salesman of the most despicable variety.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Karl]

Steve there is place somewhere online that provides brand new exact size and appearance Ford script rubber cased batteries- I'm sure it will be at a cost but they are out there-Karl

 

[tubman]

I have never had a reproduction battery that was not a big waste of money. Of course, this was 10 or 15 years ago when I swore off of them. They may have gotten better since then, but I wouldn't buy one unless I had a good report from someone I trusted.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

Steve, rumors of the discontinuation of our 6-volt batteries are greatly exaggerated. Now, finding one in Canada may be a little trickier, but all our major retail partners should be able to order one for you, if they don't have one in inventory.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

Jim, never heard rumors of your six volt red top Optima batteries being dicontinued. The redesigned, ~ 1/4" taller, 6v red top Optima is available all over the internet with Amazon offering the best price that I can find + free shipping. In reality the Antique auto battery manufacturers stopped producing the 2LF Ford script batteries, that looked like the original lead acid batteries, except with the Optima hidden inside, because they no longer fit w/o cutting out the bottom of the case. The 2HF battery with an Optima hidden inside is still available, but will not fit correctly into the stock floor mount battery box of the earlier Ford V-8's w/o making some changes.
If you really want to do something constructive for the hobby, convince your company to make an Optima that will actually fit into an original style 2LF case again. JMO

 

[OptimaJim]

My apologies for mis-reading your post Steve. When I read, “I have a 34 Ford script battery with an Optima battery inside the case which is deader than a door nail and Optima doesn't make that size battery anymore” my first thought is that the applications I've seen like that are typically 6-volt batteries and we still make those. They can be challenging to find at some retailers, because they are not big sellers and many retailers don't want to give up shelf space for them.

Alan (and John), I finally tracked down one of our longer-tenured engineers, who was traveling on business this week. When I asked him when we re-designed our 6-volt battery, he looked at me like I had a third eye. Re-designing any of our products requires a significant investment in capital and tooling. I sat through part of that process when we started offering the DS46B24R, which is identical in every way to our Group 51 battery, except that it has the “pencil post” terminals commonly used on the Prius. I've only been working for Optima since 2009 and even at that point, I wasn't privy to all the aspects of the business. So I guess I have to ask you guys at what point did you notice a change in the design of our 6-volt batteries?

If I can find that out, I can at least have another conversation with our engineering team about the changes made to the 6-volt. I would say it is unlikely that any changes would be made in 6-volt production without significant commitments for additional volume that will justify the expense. I'm not allowed to disclose production volume, but everyone in the industry knows 6-volt sales are by their nature low volume, because it's a 12-volt world. It would probably take an OE customer, like the VW Eos, to make a legitimate business case for a change in the 6-volt because a small segment of the collector car market just isn't big enough. Is it possible there was a change around 2005 or 2006, which led up to the launch of the Eos?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

 

[rotorwrench]

Long gone are the simple times when the batteries were just rebuilt. The tar was scraped off and old cells removed for scrap. The case was cleaned up and a new set of cells were dropped in then recovered with new tar. Add electrolyte then charge it up and it was good to go.

The EPA would have a field day with that process but it was likely cleaner than the salvaging process that scrap batteries go through now days. I watched a documentary on the modern process not too long ago and it was a nasty mess.

 

[ford38v8]

My apologies for mis-reading your post Steve. When I read, “I have a 34 Ford script battery with an Optima battery inside the case which is deader than a door nail and Optima doesn't make that size battery anymore” my first thought is that the applications I've seen like that are typically 6-volt batteries and we still make those. They can be challenging to find at some retailers, because they are not big sellers and many retailers don't want to give up shelf space for them.

Alan (and John), I finally tracked down one of our longer-tenured engineers, who was traveling on business this week. When I asked him when we re-designed our 6-volt battery, he looked at me like I had a third eye. Re-designing any of our products requires a significant investment in capital and tooling. I sat through part of that process when we started offering the DS46B24R, which is identical in every way to our Group 51 battery, except that it has the “pencil post” terminals commonly used on the Prius. I've only been working for Optima since 2009 and even at that point, I wasn't privy to all the aspects of the business. So I guess I have to ask you guys at what point did you notice a change in the design of our 6-volt batteries?

If I can find that out, I can at least have another conversation with our engineering team about the changes made to the 6-volt. I would say it is unlikely that any changes would be made in 6-volt production without significant commitments for additional volume that will justify the expense. I'm not allowed to disclose production volume, but everyone in the industry knows 6-volt sales are by their nature low volume, because it's a 12-volt world. It would probably take an OE customer, like the VW Eos, to make a legitimate business case for a change in the 6-volt because a small segment of the collector car market just isn't big enough. Is it possible there was a change around 2005 or 2006, which led up to the launch of the Eos?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

Jim, I was in my grumpy old fart mood the day of my criticism so please accept my apology for that. Your engineer may not want to address the subject of the redesign, as it likely had been a Bad Day at Black Rock in those days. From what we've been told in the past, there had been a rash of internal faults at the post connectors, the fix resulting in the additional 3/8" (or so) height of the case. All we know for sure is that it used to fit the 2LF before the redesign.

 

[carguybill]

When I installed an Optima in my '34 a couple of years age I had to drop the battery carrier by 3/4". Bottom line I love the Optima and will never go back to the "Reproduction" battery. On the other hand I'm not interested in serious concour showing.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

My apologies for mis-reading your post Steve. When I read, “I have a 34 Ford script battery with an Optima battery inside the case which is deader than a door nail and Optima doesn't make that size battery anymore” my first thought is that the applications I've seen like that are typically 6-volt batteries and we still make those. They can be challenging to find at some retailers, because they are not big sellers and many retailers don't want to give up shelf space for them.

Alan (and John), I finally tracked down one of our longer-tenured engineers, who was traveling on business this week. When I asked him when we re-designed our 6-volt battery, he looked at me like I had a third eye. Re-designing any of our products requires a significant investment in capital and tooling. I sat through part of that process when we started offering the DS46B24R, which is identical in every way to our Group 51 battery, except that it has the “pencil post” terminals commonly used on the Prius. I've only been working for Optima since 2009 and even at that point, I wasn't privy to all the aspects of the business. So I guess I have to ask you guys at what point did you notice a change in the design of our 6-volt batteries?

If I can find that out, I can at least have another conversation with our engineering team about the changes made to the 6-volt. I would say it is unlikely that any changes would be made in 6-volt production without significant commitments for additional volume that will justify the expense. I'm not allowed to disclose production volume, but everyone in the industry knows 6-volt sales are by their nature low volume, because it's a 12-volt world. It would probably take an OE customer, like the VW Eos, to make a legitimate business case for a change in the 6-volt because a small segment of the collector car market just isn't big enough. Is it possible there was a change around 2005 or 2006, which led up to the launch of the Eos?

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

Jim, some pictures attached of two Optima 6V Red Top batteries. The one on left in these pictures, date coded June 2001, is the shorter version that would originally fit in the 2LF Ford Script battery cases. The one on right, purchased ~ 2007/8, is 1/4" to 3/8" taller than the one on the left, and is the same height as the most recent Optima 6V Red Top that I purchased in 2015. This taller version will not fit in the 2LF size cases w/o cutting a foot print of the Optima out of the bottom of 2LF cases. This is what we are calling the re-designed Optima that was made taller to supposedly provide additional space at the top for current carring parts that were shorting and causing failures in the shorter/earlier versions.
You could download these pictures and send them to your engineering team so they can better understand what we are talking about.
Thanks for your help on this.

 

[rotorwrench]

It might just be an optical illusion but the later version looks longer too.

 

[Steve Staysko]

Nope thats no optical illusion this battery of which I bought the complete package from Optima about 8 years ago and is the shorter version that fits in the 2LF Ford Script battery cases.