Can someone recommend where I can get a quality set of replacement battery cable set (both pos and neg)? I went to Auto Zone and wasn't impressed with what they had - didn't look well made. I have a 70 442 W-30. Appreciate the advice!!

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Hector
1970 Olds 442 W-30
1985 BMW 635 CSi

 

M&H Electrical.

Call them and tell them you want to upgrade to 2 gauge.

Look stock and work great.

 

THank you sir.

 

www.fusicks.com For correct Olds parts.

 

I had a very nice set custom made at the local battery distributor. They cost much less than retail too!

 

Fusicks or Supercars Unlimited

 

Does anyone have a pic of the battery tube and bracket on their engine? My pos. cable goes directly to the starter but it passes under the alternator and under the block and to the starter on the side. I can't visualize where this tube would go but I'm pretty sure I need it since I'm having trouble with hot-restarts.... appreciate any input.

Fusicks says,

Positive battery cable is routed through tube at rear of engine for heat protection. Made of brown heat resistant material, mounting bracket is included. Automatic transmission cars used 5 1/8” long tubes while manual transmission cars used 7 5/16” long tubes.

 

Fusick's sells a nice reproduction of the original spring clamp positive cable. As far as the battery tube...4 speed or automatic car?
You can take a look the the 70 Assembly Manual on www.oldsperformanceclub.com/

 

Automatic

 

Here are a couple of shots of the tube on a 70 W-30. These are photos I took of mine with the frame-off, hope they help, Dan

 

002-1.jpg

003-4.jpg

I've put 1,000 miles on the Olds this summer, the engine bay needs some cleaning

I purchased the tube and both cables from Fusick. Both were extremely heavy items that fit perfectly

 

Thanks for posting your pics. A couple more questions:

Fucsick catalog doesn't say what gauge cable is, does 2 GA have to be special order?

And finally I've posted some pics of engine bay, I have headers that run very close to starter where (+) cable goes, do you think the cable tube will fit down there?

-Hector

 

The cables Fusick sell are very nice reproductions of the original cables. You may have to relocate your battery tube to clear the headers.

 

the cables are at least 2ga, possibly 1 or 0. the positive cable is indeed a spring clamp but the negative is a side approach bolt type clamp. the original battery size wouldn't allow access to a spring clamp. the headers that were on the car when I acquired it wouldn't allow the tube to be used.

 

Thank you all, I put an order in today on Fusick's for a set of battery cables and a cable tube that I'll have to figure out where to mount. Appreciate all the helpful feedback!!

-Hector

 

SO to go back to original I should have a positive cable with spring clamp and negative with bolt, I wondered why it was that way, I thought it was because both pos/neg were not reproduced and you needed to just go with what was avaiable, I'll have to check the assembly manual... interesting.

 

Hector, the pictures that others posted (of a battery cable tube mounted on the frame rail) are for an automatic, which I assume is what you have, since I see A/C in your pictures. Manual trans cars used a tube mounted onto the back of the engine block; the cable ran along the top of the valve cover and then down the back of the block. The reason I mention this is that you may want to consider this routing to avoid your headers. It won't look perfectly stock, but then again neither do headers.

All of this stuff (cable routing, tube and clamp type and location, and battery cable ends) is shown quite clearly in the assembly manual. Most of it's back in the electrical section (11? 12?), but the mounting of the tube to the back of the block is shown in the engine section (6).