Westfield Elevens

No42 was fitted with a Halfords HB038. A small, conventional battery. I picked up a Bosch S5 for around £50 at Costco (at half the High Street cost!!). It's a bit beefy, despite being the smallest S5 and apart from needing the battery pan modified, it's probably overkill for the application!

My SEiW uses a small racing battery, and I was considering using an Odyssey PC680 on the XI. These are available from Tayna for £92 including delivery. It weighs in at 7kg, vs the 10kg of the 038, or 13kg for the S5.

Any thoughts or recommendations, please? The S5 has a lifetime warranty from Costco (normally 5 years), the HB038 has a three year warranty and the PC680 has a two year warranty.

I have an Airflow battery conditioner that should fit the bill nicely.

Edit to add that the PC680 has a design life of 8 years and is a dry cell type.

If its of similar rating to the battery its replacing it should be ok.
Are you using the original starter motor?
If so, i'd recommend switching to a high torque on like this http://www.cambridgemotorsport.com/MG-M ... rter-Motor. This will still crank the engine even if your battery hasnt been charged for a while and wont disengage until you ask it to!

If your trying to save weight then switch batteries, if not and as you've already bought one continue with what you have.

I ditched the stock Westfield tray as it was designed for a Mini size and I could only find them in tradiaional wet economy brands of battery. I made up a steel tray to suit the smallest DIN size I could readily get (175 x 175 mm). As you say probably over size for what it needs to do, and if I get the chance I'll probably replace it with an Odessey or similar when funds allow. Bosch batteries are good BTW!

Yes, I rate Bosch Silver highly too. I have a huuuuuge one to crank my 3L diesel. I have the original starter motor, but would like to have one of those denso-based starters in the future.

I was a little concerned about the weight of the Bosch on the ally undertray - I could see it flex, and that's another reason for going for the Oddessey. The HB038 is fine, but outperformed by the other two. I would like to start a thread on adding lightness - though there doesn't seen, at first glance, too much to address (callipers, alternator, battery) before you start to look at carbon clamshells!!

I am using the odyssey 680 with no problems at all. I used the Odessey billet battery tray, but mounted it in the rear just ahead of the axle on the pax side.

I had it run down to a very low voltage before I was able to install it and it would not begin charging until I connected another battery in parallel. After a few hours, it was up high enough to continue charging on it's own. This trick works on all non wet cell lead acid batteries that refuse to begin charging. I was told that this is because the newer types go to zero resistance when flat and chargers will not allow current to flow, the piggyback battery fools the charger into working.

I am also using a 680 Odyssey in my old LHD car, forward mounted, on its side, right next to the reduction gear, high torque starter. The RHD car has the Genesis 12V16EP (same as the PC680 Odyssey, but about 40% less expensive) mounted in the rear, standing upright, using a steel, fitted bracket for the Genesis and Odyssey batteries.

I don't bother with conventional led acid batteries on these cars anymore. Too big, too heavy, too messy. While the lead acid batteries are cheap, the Odyssey batteries are actually competitive as they seem to last longer, and require no maintenance if plugged into a proper Battery Tender trickle charger. The Genesis is an excellent battery as well, and should last just as long.

If you want to get rid of weight. get rid of the stuff that you don't really need, like the rear wheel houses. The alternator can be replaced with a small "mini" type, dropping about 6 lbs or more. An alloy cylinder head is always a possibllity, and the Odyssey will save about 6 lbs or more.

Stripping out the interior saves a bit as well. If it is an early car with alloy, flat floors, you have already saved a bunch of weight. My early car weighs about 1040 lbs empty, which is about 80 lbs or more lighter than the new, steel drop floor RHD chassis. Of course, I have the lightweight Datsun gearbox in my car, which weighs quite a bit less than the 95 lb CR type 9. The RHD car's 15" wire wheels are also a bit heavier than my LHD's 13s (but the 15" race tires are lighter). More on precisely how much when I change to the 15" wires as well.

Hi Guys,

I was reading about the Genesis batteries - from the same stable, I believe. The more I think about it, the more I am going to go down the Odyssey route. It's a reasonably tight space in front of the axle and the PC680 in a new battery tray with strap will fit well. I'm tempted to try and revive the older Halfords battery to tide me over until I can get the PC680 and parts, as there is a well-engineered tray clamp etc already in place.

I have come across the problem of deep discharged Gel batteries before, while using my Airflow charger trickle charge a small battery I was using for an audio device. If it ran too low, I'd have to do exactly as mentioned below to get the charging circuit to kick in. Once it did, it was fine, but had me scratching my head for a while until I worked it out! I thought the battery or charger must be faulty!

Well, I have a new Odyssey Ex Racing 25 with a Powervamp cage and brass thimbles. I intend to move the batter over to the nearside and mount it up against the seat bulkhead. The positive lead will reach no probelm and I will re-fasten the negative lead to a suitable point on the chassis / bolt. Should work fine.

Does anyone run a Denso alternator at all? I see some here have the geared starter, and I have one of those on my (long) shopping list.

I found a new Denso-a-like for £50 delivered (around the same price as the Denso ones used in Kubota garden machinery in the USA). I did hear rumours of a special deal with a geared starter and full, lightweight alternator kit for around 400USD, and might be an easier route to take to avoid the need for any fabrication.

Jon

I use a Denso, and a Suzuki Samurai alternator (Which could be a Denso rebuild, or a Chinese copy, new).

Both require a bit of modification, and both will require the fabrication of a bottom bracket. I used a pair of left and right hand threaded rod ends, with tube, threaded internally left and right. This allows the tube to be turned, and the belt tension to be adjusted.

You may have to change the wiring to accommodate both a switched 12V lead, and a battery fed lead. If you can come up with a single wire alternator, then you only need to connect to the battery. It all depends on which alternator you have. If your alternator has a "sense" wire, you can ignore it.

The correct Suzuki alternator is easiest to modify (filing a couple of mm off the top bracket on the case) to ensure pulley alignment. These alternators can be purchased new (China) for less than $90 USD with the V belt pulley.

A real ND alternator is around $230 USD. These are very good. Small, with a single tab mount on top. The Chinese copies... Not so much. However, for less than $90 shipped, I might try one of the Chinese units. If you check the WestyXIownersbuildersdrivers site on Yahoo, the "Last XI" photo album, you will find pictures of the mounted, small sized ND.

While some guys swear by alternators from garden tractors, or fork lifts, I think that an alternator from an actual automobile might be better.

The geared starters here come from "British Starters", produced by Gustafson Machine. Honda starters, with an adapter. Mostly excellent. I have run one for quite a few years. I believe that Gustafson is selling a modified alternator as well.

The bottom bracket is pretty easy to make. $400 US is not really too bad for a real ND alternator, with a bracket, and a starter. Gustafson's stuff is all based on quality rebuilt components.

My new chassis is missing the ground lug for the negative battery lead. I installed a !/4-20 rivnut and bolt for grounding point. You can also use a "Timesert", or other threaded insert. I don't like attaching grounds to the suspension bolts. I run those loose in order to save the bushings, and there is a lot of grease...

I've just spent a little quality time with my right-angled drill attachment and a random selection of bits in order to fit my battery cage.

Job halted due a half order of fasteners missing from a delivery. Never mind!!

I've mounted the cage on the rear bulkhead, in the aft bay, behind the passenger seat. It looks pretty neat there.

Getting the lower couple of M8 holes drilled ws a challenge due to the space available, but I got there in the end.

Just need to drill and riv-nut in a new earth point, or just buy a longer bit of black battery lead and plumb that in - probably easier.

Quick question:

Regardless of what the manual says, do the rear side/brakelights go outboard or do the indicators, please?

ATB

Jon