Optima Batteries

[First C4]

I am in need of a new battery. I have some cheap a&& battery and am looking to install an optima yellow top. I checked the optima website and they list no replacement at all for my 86. Is there a reason why they do not offer one for me? If I remember right I was offered a red top last year that I was doing some battery searching.

Can anyone help?

 

[c4cruiser]

The Yellow Top is more of a deep-cycle type battery or for cars with really big power loads like extreme sound systems or trucks with electric winches or RV's. The Red Top should work fine for Vettes.

The 86-87 uses a Group 75 battery and this one at Summit Racing should be the one that works: http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?Ntt=batteries&Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&searchinresults=false&N=0&target=egnsearch.asp

I believe that Optima's require a bit of surgery to get them to fit the battery tray. There are tabs on the tray and battery that interfere with the fit but otherwise the battery will sit in the frame once that interference is corrected. This battery also has top posts and the Positive post will sit very close to the angled frame/firewall support brace so you should cut that post down for clearance. You don't want contact with that post!

For the money, I would go with the Sears DieHard Gold. It's a very good battery and available at any Sears store for about $85 plus tax. The original AC Delco battery in my 92 lasted 12 years and I replaced it with another AC Delco battery when I traveled across the country to Bowling Green for the 50th Anniversary celebration. Figured that 12 years was enough for that battery and I didn't want to have it fail in the middle of Kansas. I had a load test run on the old battery after giving it a full charge and it never got below about 80% of it's capacity after 3 test passes. Right now, my club uses it to power our autocross timer.

 

[First C4]

I have been thinking of replacing my battery with a Delco original. Just for the sake of being original. The rest of my car is original. I dont have to cut my car or battery tray for an Optima, just the battery right?

 

[Chris Kennedy]

I have some experience owning an Optima, yet the best analysis of the battery was done by my father, who is a retired diesel/electric submarine commander (these guys know a lot about batteries). He was looking for a battery for his Infiniti Q45, which is very hard on batteries, and what he determined was that the Optimas were, well, nothing special ratings/power wise. I also don't think their warranties are any better, and my experience with the battery was that it was pretty typical. In other words, I think that this is another one of those products where all the marketers say that to be considered a really savvy person, one must own it, and that every other battery before this one was junk. Unless you want to mount it upside down, I would save the money and get a mainline battery at NTB or Sears, bolt it in, and enjoy the car. Not fumble around trying to fit in a very expensive battery which will give you no better service.

Chris Kennedy
Houston, Texas

 

[nearmiss]

I bought an Optima just to see if I could get it to fit. It looked like too much surgery and too close tolerances for my liking, so I took it back. I bought a Sears Diehard Gold which fits correctly and works fine. They actually have "northern" and "southern" versions. I believe that the northern version has more cold cranking amps - not sure what the advantages of the southern version are.

 

[Jeb]

I bought an Optima just to see if I could get it to fit. It looked like too much surgery and too close tolerances for my liking, so I took it back. I bought a Sears Diehard Gold which fits correctly and works fine. They actually have "northern" and "southern" versions. I believe that the northern version has more cold cranking amps - not sure what the advantages of the southern version are.

Better looking women?

 

[First C4]

Well in agreement with Chris and nearmiss I think I will be going with a delco battery...

I thank all who have posted here

 

[markone]

Just bought a new DELCO battery for my '92. It's a 72 month for $60.00, fit perfect and looks stock (w/o the eye).

markone