I am sick of my WalMart battery crapping out on me and constantly replacing it under warranty.

off to CostCo to get an Interstate today!!!

what is the good group family and size that the terminal won’t be almost touching the radiator support and also fit in the tray and the hood down clamp works? I am also curious about those Vintage battery toppers that make a new battery look vintage. Is there a specific measurement I need to find? p.s. the topper is not really that important to me. But a proper sized battery is.

if you know Interstate batteries well enough what size do you recommend?

 

I usually go with a battery with highest CCA that will physically fit the tray. In my 67 I use a group 24, 750CCA. I'm surprised you've had so much trouble with a Walmart battery as I've found them to last a long time. Which battery did you use?

 

Walmarts Everstart batteries are made by Johnson Controls. Interstate is not a manufacturer of batteries. It is a marketing name. Johnson Controls also made Interstate battles sold by Costco. I think Interstate recently switched to another real battery manufacturer, Excide. I use Costco for non classic car batteries. They have a flat top and are black, not the crazy green color Interstate once used for their cases.

 

I recently got a Costco Interstate Group 24 for my car and it fits the tray perfectly. It has a black top, unlike the online pictures that show a green top.

Try looking up on the Interstate web site to see which group is recommended for your application.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/

 

The original battery in a 1970 442 was an R71, which is a Group 27 battery. Dimensions were 12 1/32 long x 6 13/16 wide by 8 3/4 high. The common Group 24 and Group 34 batteries are somewhat smaller at only 10 1/4 long. This is why 442s came with larger battery trays than did lesser Cutlii.

 

Should there be a noticeable battery performance difference between a Group 24 and a Group 27 Battery in a 442 with a 37 Amp Alternator ? Do any of the manufactures make a flat top, black battery in either size ?

 

The original R59 Group 24 battery was 335 CCA. The R71 Group 27 was 410 CCA. That's 1970 technology. Today's batteries can have higher CCA in either package.

 

Costco sells a flat top that will receive a topper. Currently, I recall Costco uses Interstate as their supplier.

 

So I went to Auto Zone and bought a new battery. With the aftermarket retro battery top the battery ground cable only goes down about 3/4 of the way down the battery negative post. Actually I don’t know if it will go down any further anyway due to the design of the ground cable. I got it down as far as it wants to go. The positive cable sits fine. If I leave as is, will this have a negative effect on my battery performance ? Will the alternator be able to recharge the battery properly ?

 

If it is bottoming on the topper, purchase a post extension. If not, perhaps you are not using the correct cable.

 

I bought the battery cables from Fusick - they are correct for my car - ‘70 W30. Was wondering if anyone else had the same issue with this. The retro cover is pretty thin so I do not think that is the problem.

 

I had the same problem with the r59 topper on my recent 70 resto. There is a raised area on the topper around the battery post. I ground that area on the topper flat so the neg cable would sit further down on the post. It’s fine now and you can’t see the ground down area on the topper once the cable is on the battery.

 

Haven't had an Interstate since I switched to a Northstar AGM a few years back. These are just the ticket for cars that see winter storage. Mine have lasted five winters on smart chargers for four months and show no signs of degradation.

 

Have you fitting it on the post without using the topper? Spring ring type? Can you post a picture or two?

 

I used an Antique Auto battery AGM on a MOPAR for almost 15 years before they croaked. I say "they" because there were two AGMs in the repro case.

 

Exactly my experience. This is why I suggested that Big M try to fit it without using the topper. Rather than grind, I used a post extension on one post.