Correct Restoration Battery for my Z
 

What battery is acceptable to use for a correct replacement for my late build 69Z

I don't see the exact replacement in some of the repo companies.

Car is a 09E of 69 build, X77 car.

Appreciate the advise - need to get one on order!

Eddie,
To the best of my knowledge, nobody reproduces a correct battery for any 69 Z28. Your car should have had a Y77 sidepost battery.
The only sidepost repro is a R89 which is not indexed correctly .
Same problem for early cars that would have a Y55 top post battery. Maybe someone knows something different but from what I know 69 Z owners are out of luck in the repro battery market.
Chris

must be why I'm having difficulty finding the right one!!

so the R89 - what is the index issue??

Was The R-69 used in these cars?

Eddie. my burnshed brown x77 Z my date is very close too yours i used the R89 side post, judged no deduction in points in 2006:3gears:

Eddie,
69 Z28 battery cables are indexed with the negative cable next to the radiator and positive cable nearest the fender.
R89 batteries are the reverse of this with the negative cable near the fender and positive next to the radiator.
67 442, Not on Z28's. R69 batteries were a HD option on cars that called out for R59 top post batteries.
Big block Camaros could have and I have a few buildsheet for 69 SS396 Chevelles with it.
They are equipped with cables that are reversed from what was used on the Z's.

many thanks for the advise

Usage: http://www.camaros.org/underhood.shtml#Batteries

My plan for a 302 Car is to "WHY" Yellow it out, the Z28 using the Y55 & Y77 are the the "normal" Yellow E-3000 series ( Amp hour rating of : 45 Ahr)

So a compromise would be to Yellow out the restoration battery by using Yellow painted delco eye caps & The color was used on the caps and to highlight some of the text on the battery; to give it the appearance of the reverse post batteries which are currently not available.

I saw someone post a Y77 conversion of the current side post offering in a effort to look the part. Nothing you can do about the positioning of the posts in relation to the fenders etc.

Might be a good option.

JIM

FWIW, I tried again to order an R-79 from Restoration Battery last week to no avail. The old guy told me on Monday that he is in the midst of closing his company down as he can no longer get the batteries to continue on. The only ones who were making the restoration batteries were Antique Auto Battery out of Youngstown Ohio, but the daughter and err to the company has been partying for the past year and has driven the company into the ground while failing to deliver any stock to those who they used to supply.

I heard last week the Antique Auto Batteries were ringing up 10's of thousands of charges on other suppliers credit cards and were no longer fielding telephone calls from anyone. Sounds to me like they are one step away from bankruptcy and disappearing all together. Apparently their battery cases were all being made in Mexico where the molds and tooling are located and that they had failed to renew licensing efforts with GM, Ford and others where they can no longer continue having batteries made.

I am sure there's more to the story but the future looks bleak for anyone wanting an older looking battery now days. :no:

This is a CF for us!!

Auto battery restoration
 

I also ordered a battery from Auto battery restoration some 8 weeks ago for my 70 Road Runner 440+6 and the owner just left me a message that he cannot fulfill the order. He stated that his supplier had cash flow problems and is in financial problems. He also stated that as a result he was cling his business.Bob

May be time for some of our innovative members to step in. Opportunity may be knocking. BTW, I NEED A BATTERY!!!! ;>)

How 'bout something like: send yr old repro battery in to have it refitted with new juice, or something like that!

Do they deduct points for using a battery topper hate to do that but cant find a battery for my june built z/28 either

Also the y77 used in the late 69 z28 cars had the negitive cable close to the fender and the positive next to the radiator correct ?

Funny you say that as the first thing I said when I heard the mfg of the batteries was being mismanaged was "who has the tooling"...maybe I should buy them out. He laughed and said there 100's of thousands in tooling and molds and that it was all in Mexico. I then said if it's in Mexico, then someone else owns it and I'm sure they'll make batteries to order. That's when he brought up the Licensing and additional costs.

I'm going to look into this further and have a few coals in the fire now.

Sweet! Good luck and keep us posted!!!

Yes you are correct. I misspoke regarding the indexing on the Y77. Y55's are reversed but Y77's are setup with the negative terminal out by the fender. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Replying to Graeme's post. We will have to live with battery toppers and that is the way any judging will have to be I guess. If it does not exist we can't buy it so...................

again, this is a CF

we make everything else for these cars, but we can't get the right batteries?? WTF

X2

maybe nobody thinks there is a "real" market for them Fast Eddie.

sammmmmmy, i not talking about just camero's but all the other cars
that used delco batteries....so there has to be a good demand - i would think.

yea, you would think. I have 2 and will need to replace my camaro soon. I got atleast 5-6 years out of the one in the camaro.

So, what are we going to do Fast Eddie?

I just got one of them in early November prior to MCACN. Must have got one of the last ones.

This is terrible news. I love those batteries. The one in my '62 409 has been in there for over 10 years and still works great!

Do you need to have a "real" battery in place for judging? Reason I ask is that I have a display battery (lead posts, but no guts) that I was going to install a modern battery into.
Not going to do that, so just wondering if you can drive to the show with a Diehard or something, and then put the display battery in for judging.

----I would think it would only matter if theres an operational check. Most indoor shows want the battery disconnected anyway.......Bill S

Unfortunately no one makes a correct battery topper for a 69 Z either. Early car that is (reverse polarity)

Antique Auto battery
 

Tried to order a battery for my 70 Road Runner 440+6 from them. Phoned them numerous times and no seems to answer the phone.Left a message for their sales department to call me for an order and so far no one has called back.Finally filled out an online quote for a battery .They seem do be very indifferent for a business.Sales must be very good that they don't answer the phone or call back.Bob

This was my attempt at a Y77

That Y77 looks amazing. How did you paint the caps? What type of paint did you use?

Scott

Anyone happen to have a picture of an early 69 Y55 battery??

Here's a Y77. Can't recall where I got these pics but they must have came from here or CRG

There was another battery company called New Castle in Indiana that I used years ago, are they still in business??

Antique Auto Battery bought out New Castle in 2005

I stopped by Antique Auto Battery today at about 4:45pm. The place still looks to be in business, or at least it is not abandoned. There were signs on the door to ring the door bell and wait. No one came to the door however. There was still an AAB sign on the building.

I did leave a message to call me. I'll let you know if there is any life there... if I get a response.

Phil

Good info Phil,

I called again Monday and spoke to a guy at AAB. We had a long discussion and he stated they are still in business but have a long back order on batteries and are waiting on cell groups to put into cases. He said they should start shipping orders next week and that it will be 4-5 weeks before normal stocks return as he said they had 400+ on back order. I found out they buy the stamped rubber cases out of Mexico and the cell groups are USA made for them. They assemble them in house but only have 1/2 guys doing assemblies so I was told.

Here's to hoping that things return to normal. I will wait until they have stock before trying to order any myself.

Goôd to know!
Buddy