Photos of a new Optima battery and battery box.

[robroy]

Good evening!

I have a few random photos from today that I thought I'd put here for your amusement. There's not much of a story behind these, but I figured they might be entertaining!


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4124z.JPG




Thanks for looking!
Robroy

[fordman]

oops spin that battery around. or get some longer cables.

[robroy]

oops spin that battery around. or get some longer cables.

Hey Fordman thanks for replying! You're right--it's backwards! I hadn't noticed. I'll be sure to spin it around before bolting it in place. At the moment it's a gravity fit.

Thanks!
Robroy

[td]

Robroy,

as usual, great pics! i wish i could give your truck a good look in person, seems you have a great eye for detail much like myself i know you can't wait to spin that thing down the road after all the hard work and $ you've invested.

p.s. i love the air cleaner!!

p.s.s. could you take a couple overall shots of the engine bay and post'em in this thread for me?

[Joshpow]

Nice! I just got a red top in mine. A hand me down from my old dakota! Great batteried though. Especially for lack of corrosion. Big help for these trucks.

[ximy]

Looks good... I'm gonna need a battery soon... how much do those cost?

[fireguywtc]

I paid 125 a year ago for a red top, had a cupon though. They range a little but thats pretty close. I think yellow tops cost a little more. Bad part is about a month after I bought the battery is when my engine got bad enough that I decided to start tearing it all apart. I recently donated the red top to my volly dept.

[robroy]

Hi Td, Josh, Ximy, and Bill, thanks for replying!

as usual, great pics!

Thanks Td!!!

i wish i could give your truck a good look in person, seems you have a great eye for detail much like myself

Thanks, but you might be disappointed. Photos have a mysterious way of making things look better than they are--or perhaps it's simply that I don't post high resolution photos of all the rust holes!

i know you can't wait to spin that thing down the road after all the hard work and $ you've invested.

You got it! I originally planned on working on the truck for 2 to 6 weeks, and so far it has been one year and four months! Each layer I peeled off of the onion exposed funky stuff that I couldn't bear to accept. Before this project, I was amazed when I heard that guys sometimes spend five years or more restoring a car; now I understand completely.

My goal is to drive it by this Thanksgiving, and to start the engine for the first time by the end of the day tomorrow. I might actually make it!

p.s. i love the air cleaner!!

Thanks! After I'd already picked that out one, I read some forum posts saying that they think K&N filters are excessively free-flowing, to the point of letting too much dirt in to the engine. But in the absence of stronger evidence I'll just leave it as-is.

p.s.s. could you take a couple overall shots of the engine bay and post'em in this thread for me?

Your wish is my command! I'll take some tomorrow and post them here. I don't have any full perspective photos of the entire bay at the moment.

Nice! I just got a red top in mine. A hand me down from my old dakota! Great batteried though. Especially for lack of corrosion. Big help for these trucks.

Hey Josh! Yeah, the idea of rust-free operation sold me right away. Most old vehicles I've seen have been eaten alive by their batteries, at least to some degree.

The Red Top's a really nice battery too. I was split on my decision to go with the Yellow Top versus the Red, but chose the Yellow in the end just because the deep cycle idea appealed to me more than the sheer (C)old (C)ranking (A)mps idea.

Looks good... I'm gonna need a battery soon... how much do those cost?

Hi Ximy! Thanks! I bought this Yellow Top (part# ULT-9042-218) from Summit for $189.95, plus $11.95 shipping = $201.90 total. The Red Tops are slightly less expensive, and have greater (C)old (C)ranking (A)mps, but aren't as fond of being severely discharged as the Yellow Tops are. The Red Top is probably the best choice for most trucks, especially if you live somewhere with cold winters! And (sometimes) Costco has Red Tops in stock.

I paid 125 a year ago for a red top, had a cupon though. They range a little but thats pretty close. I think yellow tops cost a little more.

Hey Bill! That sounds like you got a great deal!

Bad part is about a month after I bought the battery is when my engine got bad enough that I decided to start tearing it all apart. I recently donated the red top to my volly dept.

I know exactly how that goes! I've had that happen with nearly new batteries a few times in different cars.

So you donated your Red Top to the fire department you work for? That's excellent.

Thanks again for the great replies!
Robroy

[Joshpow]

I agree on the yellow top being a much better battery. I would have had one if I could have afforded the extra $$$. But, there's always next time. And as far as the K&N, I have been told the same thing on my trucks. I had one on my 00 Dakota, and now I got one on my 02 Superduty. Both cold air kits. I love them. I have looked inside the air tubes and see no dust or anything. Sure do look nice too. I believe it's fine if you like it! I plan on putting one on my ol 72 as soon as I can round up a 14x5 or 14x6 filter! And the picturing well discussion, I bet it aint as deceivingas my 72! It hides lots of defects! I bet yours is still a very nice truck. Good luck.

[robroy]

Hey Josh thanks for replying! It's good to know that your K&N filtered vehicles don't seem to be suffering from dirty intakes!

Td, I took some photos just a few minutes ago of the engine bay. My camera doesn't have a wide enough perspective to get 100% of it in one shot, but here's what I came up with. Like before, the links under the images go to full resolution versions.

The wiring is looking very messy because I'm just now hooking it up! I haven't even started to make things look "clean" in that sense yet.


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4149z.JPG


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4148z.JPG


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4147.JPG

This one was taken earlier today and turned out better. My camera doesn't do so well in low light situations.


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4137z.JPG

Thanks for the great replies everybody!
Robroy

[td]

Robroy,

Just something i thought of looking at our pics here. i don't know what manufacturer made your headers but mine are headman and they along with some other companies recommend that you not do initial engine starting (break-ins) with coated headers. the temps of the constant prolonged higher RPM'S combined with no movement (airflow) to cool the engine bay can damage the (non-cured) coating and cause it to fail prematurely. the info that came with my headman's said if you have to do it to at least use a fan to move some air threw the engine bay. i just used a set of manifolds and swapped the headers in after my break-in.the idea here is the coated headers need normal driving conditions that create lower temp, gradual heat up and cool down cycles to properly cure the coating before their subjected to extreme heat =(heavy left foot driving )

p.s i say all this not knowing if your engine is newly assemgled and needing a break-in, if it is this could be good info for ya!

[Joshpow]

#50 is on its way to perfection looks like! How is the one wire alternator change working out ? I like the idea, but I'd like to keep my factory gauge intact and possibly functional. Do you think that is possible?

[robroy]

Hi Td and Josh, thanks for replying!

Just something i thought of looking at our pics here. i don't know what manufacturer made your headers but mine are headman and they along with some other companies recommend that you not do initial engine starting (break-ins) with coated headers. the temps of the constant prolonged higher RPM'S combined with no movement (airflow) to cool the engine bay can damage the (non-cured) coating and cause it to fail prematurely. the info that came with my headman's said if you have to do it to at least use a fan to move some air threw the engine bay. i just used a set of manifolds and swapped the headers in after my break-in.the idea here is the coated headers need normal driving conditions that create lower temp, gradual heat up and cool down cycles to properly cure the coating before their subjected to extreme heat =(heavy left foot driving )

Thanks very much for pointing this out! In my case, the engine was actually broken in at the engine builder's, so I'm OK there! I investigated this situation at the time also, and heard that the header finish can be damaged by bits of engine assembly lube that get shot out the exhaust ports, then catch on fire inside of the headers. That creates an extreme hot spot that can really mess up the finish.

The part about gradually applying heat to the headers is news to me! Thanks for the valuable tip. I'll be sure to do that. So far it's not hard to do that, since the engine's making such a funky noise that I haven't dared to rev it very high!

p.s i say all this not knowing if your engine is newly assemgled and needing a break-in, if it is this could be good info for ya!

Indeed, and thank you. I really appreciate your advice! If my engine hadn't been broken in yet, I could mess up an expensive set of headers (mine are Hedmans also).

#50 is on its way to perfection looks like!

I'm not sure about perfection, but it should be a very fun toy to take around the block!

How is the one wire alternator change working out ?

So far it's working out perfectly! I did away completely with the external voltage regulator and drastically simplified the alternator harness to match. I'll post a photo of that harness modification if you're really curious about what I did. It wasn't strictly necessary, but it removed about 90% of the wiring in the harness that wasn't being used anymore (since my new alternator has an internal regulator).

I like the idea, but I'd like to keep my factory gauge intact and possibly functional. Do you think that is possible?

That's a good question, and I'm not able to answer it fully. I'm sure it's possible, but I'm not sure whether it's feasible or not.

I think PA Performance sells a box that looks just like an external regulator that allows you to retain your factory harness and ammeter with one wire alternators, but I'm not sure about this.

Since my primary concern was for a voltmeter, I happily removed the ammeter wiring along with the external regulator. With all the updates I've been doing, I was ready for something on the truck to become more simple instead of more complex!!!

Thanks again for the excellent replies Td and Josh!!!
Robroy

[mrsnicks]

I'd like to see pics of the harness modification for the 1 wire alternator hookup.

Are you not going to use a hold-down on the battery?

Patrick

[robroy]

I'd like to see pics of the harness modification for the 1 wire alternator hookup.

Hey Patrick! I'd be happy to post a photo of that and an explanation of what I did. I'll do that pretty soon here. The modification isn't necessary for the 1 wire alternator to work, but it does simplify the wiring in the area a huge amount.

Are you not going to use a hold-down on the battery?

Good observation! At the moment I'm having other issues with the build that prevent me from needing a hold down quite yet! But I'll definitely strap it down good before hitting the bumpy road!

Thanks for writing Patrick!
Robroy