This falls under the catagory of what a pain in the ass!

1. I had to grind about 3/8" off the cruise control bracket. That damned bracket is like way over built!!

2. I had to clearance the battery tray a little. The lip retainer at the front is too thick for the thicker battery. Since I don't want to void warrantees, I modified the tray. I used a 1/2" thick grinding stone and fixed that little problem.

3. On the far outside edge of the tray, there are two tangs. The Optima is a bit wider, so I had to grind them off, too.

Everything looks like it is fitting just fine. More reports later.

I think I'll stick with the Fleet Farm battery I have in my car ;-)

Which one did you get, yellow top? Blue top Marine? That's the one I need since I always forget to use the battery cut off switch and unintentionally deep cylcle mine 10 times a year...

Red top. I do drive daily, so that should be ok.

Did you check the frame for rust from battery acid while you were in there?

Glad you got the Optima to fit, considering that, I'm going to go with a normal battery.

Good info. Glad you got it to work. Are you using the Group 75 w/ dual posts or the group 78 w/ side post only? I was deciding between a yellow top Optima or a sealed Rayovac Maximum...... this confirms my decision to go with Rayovac.

I put a red top in my 85 and had no problems. It even has top posts

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this is what i like to hear lol

ggrassmid - any bets they already did the mods? I don't see how it would fit in the OEM tray without the mods.

I got the group 75 with both side and top. I thought, I guess wrongly, that the group 78 side posts were opposite for positive/negative terminals... oopsie...

Either way, it is almost done.

Bill - I took care of the rust on the frame eons ago. It looks pretty good under there these days.

I need to now clean stuff and get it repainted (I don't want to leave bare metal where I grinded away materials.

With all the mods, I am expecting at least .25" clearance from the cruise bracket and the positive terminals

I'll see if I can figure out how to post some pics on here. I dont think it was modded already, but I'll check and try and snap some pics.

cool!

Optima Red Top in my 85

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you did it right. I have it in my 96, it has 6,000 miles and I have no issues.



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it's been modified, for sure.

The little tabs would be on the last pic of the 2nd post. They are gone, gone, gone!

The notch in the cruise bracket is non-stock, too.

red top in my cavalier with the stereo of doom lasted about 3 months.

Glad to hear positive reports from you guys tho

Been Dunning the Duralast Gold's in everything since then (cavalier, silverado, vette and blazer)

Cranks the vette like a mofo even after sitting a month

Here's the score: Any battery will fail.

The key is this - will the battery survive abuse? I suspect, Rich, that the stereo of doom was run frequently without the engine running... that'll kill a battery. Most car batteries are not designed for deep cycle, Red Tops included.

The thing with Optima's is that they seem to last either 3 months or 10 years+. My tint dude, John, in FL, has one in his old CJ7 and one in his oldish (early 90s?) Nissan pickup. Both are over 10 years old.

This is also an experiment as much as anything... Is the Optima as good as advertized. Considering my luck with lead acid of late, I need to do a change-up.

Must be an early to late thing. Mine slide right in without a problem. I didnt want to take the panel off, as well as my body kit rocker cover either.

no... yours has been modified to fit. Someone had an Optima in there before.

how so? I didn't see anything cut like the other guy posted.

I got my pics mixed up... however, it looks like you have a different cruise mount, which makes one piece that doesn't need to be modified.

I am also willing to bet that the tray was modified. Or else it won't lay flat.

I didn't do anything with the tray. I bought the car with a standard battery 4 years ago. Replaced it with a Red Top this spring. had no problems putting the battery in. I also autocross, and know that they check to make sure the barrery is secured. I've had no problems with it.

What I am saying is that someone prior to you may have made the mods.

Or there are differences in the battery tray.

NEVER run the system in the Cavalier without starting it up. Dead honest, it's one of the things I'm a fiend about heh.

Dunno, just didn't have the best luck with the red top in that appliation

I find that interesting.

When the car is running, the alternator should be handling most of the load...

Agreed, it's a 130a alt as well :/

very odd.

My 89 came with a red top optima with dual posts. Now I have to look and see if it was modded. The PO pointed out the battery but did not mention modding anything to make it fit.

From my experience, it requires modification. Optima does not list a fitment for the C4 Corvette at all, so any thing we do is "non-standard."

My Die Hard has lasted 7 years. If I get another Die Hard and paint the top red would it still be a red top?

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Ah, yea.

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Call it a Red Top Mod.

clowns are disturbing.

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coulrophobia

{practicing for tonight}

oooh... there is a real phobia for it. Ok, I have it.

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Spelling bee?

How about Ortographobia...the fear of spelling mistakes.