1949 Dodge Wayfarer Battery Upgrade | Parallel - Dual Optima 6v AGM

1949 Dodge Wayfarer Battery Upgrade | Parallel - Dual Optima 6v AGM - Positive Ground

Рет қаралды 707

Күн бұрын

Project Goal: Replace the old (dead) flooded lead acid 6v with a single 6v Optima AGM battery using modern mounting hardware. Along the way it became apparent that I might be able to fit 2 Optima 6v batteries in parallel (it stays a 6v system) and the scope of the project and the budget changed!
Many will argue this is overkill, and that a standard 6v battery is enough to start the car, or that I did this to overcompensate for resistance in old wiring or a starter that needs rebuilding. The old battery worked fine starting the car prior to the last time it sat too long without being trickle charged. I did this for the extra capacity. Look across this hobby and you will find countless opportunities to give your car more power than it needs, but most often this is horsepower and torque rather than battery capacity…
The previous owner of this 1949 Wayfarer (who lives in my neighborhood) dragged it out of a barn where it had sat for over 30 years, he got it running and drove it periodically. One day I spotted it with a for sale sign and later called and walked over to give it a look, the rest is history in the making.
0:00 Project intro - 1949 Dodge Battery Upgrade
0:24 Removing the old 6v battery
1:20 Inspecting the stock battery tray
2:09 Unboxing Optima 6v battery #1
2:24 Temporary install and start-up (single battery)
3:35 Battery tray removal and clean-up
4:52 Dual battery mounts revealed
5:30 Final assembly and installed
My goals for this car are simple at this point. Make it run well on the original drivetrain, making some changes to improve reliability and safety. (Plans may change over time)
Parts used in the video:
(2) 6v Optima Redtop AGM starting batteries amzn.to/305jXOH
(2) 6v Rigid Clamp Trays (single trays) optimatrays.com/collections/o...
(2 pair) Brass Marine Battery Terminal Clamps amzn.to/3ab8Eq2
18” 2 AWG Copper Cables amzn.to/3AlweLj
1’ 2 AWG Copper Cables amzn.to/2ZTRdIu
Oil based terminal corrosion protectors amzn.to/3BlRMsm

Пікірлер: 12

@rustyshackleford6092 Жыл бұрын

Very cool idea. Keep the 6 volts but double your capacity. I am thinking of copying this in my vintage truck. Appreciate the leads on all the cool stuff I didn't know anyone built.

@ronsteltz7538 2 жыл бұрын

Nice job.

@MattsGarageMiscDIY 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ron :)

@ronwaters478 2 жыл бұрын

The real problem here is that you were using 12V battery cables (4 ga), when you should be using 0/1 ga. The other issue is that your wiring is old and corroded. This creates resistance and makes the car difficult to start. Try rewiring the ignition system, rebuilding your starter and your car will start like new, using a single 6V battery.

@MattsGarageMiscDIY 2 жыл бұрын

Ron, thanks for the feedback. This car sat for over 30 years, and now runs. It does need a lot of work to be reliable and safe. It started fine on the old battery when it was holding a charge, but you can’t just have someone jump start you in this situation if you were away from home and had a dead battery. So the dual AGM 6v batteries redundancy should eliminate this situation, and I happen to think it looks cool too. I’m not budgeting thousands of dollars for a show car paint job, so the cost of an extra battery is not braking my bank.

@ronwaters478 2 жыл бұрын

@@MattsGarageMiscDIY Matt - You could have a dead battery with your new setup as well. And those Optima batteries are, like, 200 each. Yikes ! For that price, you could rebuild your starter and get fresh 0/1 battery cables. Just FYI, I have that same CarQuest battery in my 6V 55 Desoto. If the car sits for weeks, I put it on the charger for about 30 minutes since it will take a number of cranks to get the carburetor bowl filled. But even after sitting for a week, it will start pretty easily.

@MattsGarageMiscDIY 2 жыл бұрын

@@ronwaters478 I hear you for sure. This is my first 6v positive ground car, but certainly not the first old car I've owned and worked on. My grandfather worked his entire career as a mechanic at Chrysler/Dodge dealerships. I was handing him tools in the garage at a young age as he worked on his Hemi Imperial, and a variety of other 60's and 70's big block Mopars but these flathead 6's escape my memory. A lot of guys will jump right to a 12v conversion, I thought this would be a unique approach to not do that, and I do have the car on a trickle charge when not being driven for periods of time now. Would love to see some video on that DeSoto...Cheers

@ronwaters478 2 жыл бұрын

@@MattsGarageMiscDIY - There are pictures of it on the Desoto Club fb page. Just search for my name. It's also a 'patinamobile', but has been gone thru mechanically and electrically, including a new harness.

@jacquespoirier9071 2 жыл бұрын

@@MattsGarageMiscDIY in reasonable condition, these flathead engines were very easy to start so a 12 V system is not mandatory. The most part of the problem is that the wiring degrades and that the generator does not have good charging characteristics at low engine RPM. That combined with the low speed these cars are generally driven and the fact that they are used for very short drives makes that the battery becomes dead. A bigger battery capacity will just extend the delay the battery dies.