R89S Battery headed South
 

I think this one has finally bit the dust. Although, it was significantly low on water. So, while I am contemplating what to do, I filled it with distilled water and have it on the tender.

Will see if it comes back.

Bought it 18 years ago. Kept it in dry storage until 2012. Filled with acid and charged it up. Guess I was lucky to get 6+ years out of it.

Here is what I am thinking of doing. Tell me if it is a really dumb idea. When I relocated the battery on my Opel GT, I used a Braille battery. Lightweight small battery with lots of power.

Thinking of gutting the R89 battery and inserting a braille battery inside. Not even sure how to do it. I guess the first step would be to empty the acid into something safe and figure out some place to safely dispose of it.

Anyone ever do anything like this?

Following!!

PS: I have a repop R59 cut apart but can’t find a cost effective small battery to put inside. The PC925 Odyssey is 75% of the cost of a new repop....

Ideas?

Thread stealer?

Ryan W31

There is a battery which will fit on it's side.

The F.A.S.T. guys were doing it for years. Even some of the P.S. guys were doing it until they cracked down on it.
I used to have a pretty good write up on how that was done, as I experimented with it myself several years back. Have no idea where that is now but there are bound to be forums for the F.A.S.T. racers where this question could be answered. I don't surf the internet much.
Great way for weight savings though. I got to the point I was carrying my bathroom scale and weighing various brand batteries. It's surprising how much difference there is among brands.

Don't worry about a thread hijack Ryan.

The Braille batteries are not particularly cheap, but very lightweight.

I think I removed a 40+ pound battery from the nose of the GT and put a 12 pound battery back over the rear axle.

Thanks for the heads up on the FAST arena.

Rick's has (or at least their website shows) an R89S battery. But it is about $450 with shipping.

The repop correct battery’s have a small odyssey type inside the case, use one of those vibrating blade tools and cut around the inner edge, the odyssey is held down with epoxy, it pulls down so you can unhook the cables from the battery and retook them to the new Braille , yes they are expensive, like $200.

Good luck with an original one, but the repop ones are dead all over the place and look better than the lids

I remember Tom Shaw writing an article about this for MCR back in the day! When did the pure stock techies crack down on this??

Ryan: Where did you cut? Can you post some pics? I know you are busy with all the little details on your car, but lets see some pics when you get a chance.

My R89S is still on the trickle charger. I am not going to hack it open until I know it is a lost cause.

Just went and looked at the Braille in the Opel. It is 21 pounds.
part number is b3121, 892 cranking amps, so I doubt it would be an issue using it in the Camaro. Jegs sells it for $229.99 with free shipping. Not cheap, but less than the repop from Rick's Camaros.

Mine has the positive on the left side. The B3121 on Jegs shows positive on right side, but I think it is available either way.

Just checked the trickle charger and the battery is up to 13.9 volts, and the green light isn't flashing yet. Will give it another day.

Ryan: I have a very cool E3000 Y59 display battyery (no guts) circa 1974. I bought it in the 90's. Just thought it looked cool. It would be great to convert to modern mini battery power EXCEPT, about 10 years ago it fell off the shelf and the top broke along the back edge. Pics show the damage. It is a shame, as it would have made someone a great modern battery.

Lynn

More pics.