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Trying to Pass Track Inspection

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  • Trying to Pass Track Inspection

    I got Red a new stock battery mount from Ford:

    Click image for larger version

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    The strap rotted off of the original one. The folks at Hooked on Driving want to see two bolts holding the battery in, but none of the Auto Zone store-bought gizmos worked.

    The autocross guys busted me at the first event because Red's battery was being held in by nothing but the hood. They gave me two giant tie wraps. Their thing is to just not to be able to shake the battery around.

    So after that I went and got two straps from Tractor Supply. Battery secured, in reality, but they go across the filler-up caps:

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    But I'm concerned about passing inspection at AMP so I got the stock OEM battery mount, a new one and I will plead my case - no, it's not two bolts holding it down but that's the stock battery mount, and a new one.

    The thing is, and here comes your Laugh At peewee moment of the week, I can't get the positive terminal cable loose from the battery. I can't for the life of me figure out how to loosen this connection, and I've loosened a whole lot of battery connections:

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    This thing's nothing but a puzzle to me. It's funny but embarrassing at the same time. No, I really can't get this sumbeach loose, don't know and can't figure out how.
    Last edited by pdub; August 21, 2013, 03:27 PM.
    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

  • #2
    my sube went metal in the 80s, the connection..26 years of swapping those random. I bet it has had a dozen.
    use tin snips and pry gentle. don't need to cut all the way through.
    come to think of it, the old Weiss forged snips are no longer either..you may break the tip of modern snips doing what used to be done with them.

    If I was nearby, I'd weld up a battery mount with cheap rod and flat stock...thread the ends.
    first I saw of them was also the rally sube, needs nothing even now.

    those even capture bleed, as metal, other stuff lasts longer.

    worth a custom build if need be. A Mustang should have that in a parts catalog of extras someplace.
    Previously boxer3main
    the death rate and fairy tales cannot kill the nature left behind.

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    • #3
      Holy corrosion batman. I'd try loosening the top nut on the connection and twisting a straight slot screwdriver to spread it.
      "Somewhere the zebra is dancing". Garth Stein's The art of racing in the rain.

      Matt

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Orange95Z View Post
        Holy corrosion batman. I'd try loosening the top nut on the connection and twisting a straight slot screwdriver to spread it.
        No, that top-looking nut just holds a harness to the whole connection, wires that go somewhere else. The big bundle is still glued to the battery. And yeah, corrosion. Work to do. But I can't get the sumbeach loose.
        Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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        • #5
          PB Blast it, wipe off with paper towels, repeat..
          There is a bolt sideways somewhere the slot is ..
          Probably corroded to morphed into something else..

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          • #6
            Gawd-amighty, P! That is a NASTY-ASS battery.

            Get yourself a paper cup and some warm water, add a spoonful of baking soda, and stir until dissolved.
            Then pour slowly over the battery posts and top to clean it (it will fizz a lot).
            Rinse with more clean water, and wipe with a paper towel.

            You have NO EXCUSES! None!
            Last edited by studemax; August 21, 2013, 04:48 PM.
            Act your age, not your shoe size. - Prince

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            • #7
              Originally posted by studemax View Post

              You have NO EXCUSES! None!
              Absolutely no excuses indeed. None offered. A Hall of Shame scene right there.

              When I opened the hood, bats flew out. Now, lemme see...where is the battery on this car...oh there it is. Rue de le merde - look at it.

              Crimminy. Though I really do believe cleaning it up will not help me understand that terminal connection.
              Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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              • #8


                Here is a clean one. I think it might be the other bolt on it that squeezes it shut.

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                • #9
                  If you have a can of Coke around, that should also help dissolve some of the acid. Use a flat head screwdriver or old wire brush to break up the corrosion.
                  Bakersfield, CA.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by JWS4621 View Post
                    Here is a clean one. I think it might be the other bolt on it that squeezes it shut.
                    That's a great photo. That's what it is alright. The dumbest looking battery terminal mount in history. And sure enough the wedge is supposed to tighten it, but Red's was stuck shut. The nut was even gone from the post. Somebody took the nut off of it and just gave up at that point. So it was just stuck on by association and corrosion.

                    Superman came wandering across the street this afternoon to ask what I was doing to the car. Red's getting a baking soda bath.

                    So he jumped in and basically did it all. I "helped." The new battery mount is in, but Red's current battery is not even the right one for the car. Too tall, the bottom feet aren't right, not the right battery. And it's going on three years old, so new (correct) battery for Red tomorrow.

                    No wonder when I bought Red, the battery had mashed the windshield washer tube on the inside of the hood into dis-function.

                    See there guys, I'm learning. But it sure is slow, the learning....

                    And the strap is perfectly okay at AMP. The inspect-the-car-yourself sheet is right, the one little scene in the video was wrong. No need for two bolts. It's up to the car owner to determine that the "battery is secure."
                    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                    • #11
                      nice to have a "Superman Neighbor"... I'm sure he has been well compensated... glad to hear Red is recovering well from the procedure!
                      Patrick & Tammy
                      - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

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                      • #12
                        I try to learn something new everyday. So just keep at it.
                        I'm still learning

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Bob Holmes View Post
                          I try to learn something new everyday. So just keep at it.
                          And this was a day. Needed a nut to go on a bolt. An itty bitty impossible to find nut. But the bolt was boogered up, so no nut would ever go on it anyhow. Red was shut down over an eleven cent nut to go on a bolt.

                          Stuff you car guys go through every day, but Superman had a bolt and I had the nut. He couldn't help me today - I put it together and ARRR-ARRR-RARRRR WHOOM! Red lives again. New battery, the right battery and it doesn't look like one of those cauldrons that the Joker used to leave Batman to fry in.

                          I surely do see how car stuff could be addicting. I surely do. Did I say, "could?"
                          Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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