Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

[William B.]

I have an original 65 battery, lead acid. Can I cut it open and insert a newer smaller battery inside and pass judging?

[Gary C.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Bill,

Send Tim Gilmore an email. Tim did a Tech Session for the Texas Chapter on cutting the bottom out of a C2 battery and inserting a new battery.

Gary
....

[Tim G.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Sent by email to both of those that inquired.

[William B.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Thank you,Tim, I reviewed your pics, did you cut open a restoration battery or an original AC Delco lead acid battery? I have the original battery from 1965, I assume it has a bunch of lead acid cells and dividers. I guess if I am careful, I can cut out the bottom, clean out the center section and somehow attach cables to the top terminals? looking for advice from someone that has done that?
Bill

[Tim G.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Two folks from our seminar did bring batteries that were original, and they were cored out. That raises an entirely different set of circumstances as far as acid and lead. The two we opened up during our seminar were Restoration Batteries with a sealed battery inside. I have an original never used 1967 battery and someday I may open it up and remove the plates.

[Vinnie P.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Here's a link to 2 articles that appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of The Restorer


https://www.ncrs.org/restorer/Battery%20Article.pdf

[William B.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Thank you Vinnie, that's what I was looking for.
Bill

[John D.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Thank you,Tim, I reviewed your pics, did you cut open a restoration battery or an original AC Delco lead acid battery? I have the original battery from 1965, I assume it has a bunch of lead acid cells and dividers. I guess if I am careful, I can cut out the bottom, clean out the center section and somehow attach cables to the top terminals? looking for advice from someone that has done that?
Bill

Bill, We had a seminar on this at Fort Pitt Classics years ago.

[William B.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

John, Yes we had a seminar on cutting open a reproduction battery and replacing the internal agm battery already set up inside.
My question is has anyone cut open an original equipment battery, cuting out the internal cells and attaching a cable to the original posts, I am sure I can do it, just looking for surprises I might encounter?

[Gary B.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

William,

Yes, people have cut open OEM batteries and installed a smaller AGM battery inside, and connected to the OEM terminals. What you will be faced with shouldn’t be called surprises. The presence of toxic metals, toxic fumes, and perhaps acid (if the OEM battery was ever used), is a near certainty. Be careful.

Gary

[Jimmy G.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Very dangerous course of action for MANY reasons Buy a repo and take the points hit

[David H.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Very dangerous course of action for MANY reasons Buy a repo and take the points hit

Agree.

For C2, new DELCO service replacement battery loses 12 Originality (and no Condition) points - out of 4500.

Pick your poison on cost vs more "authentic looking" units.

Standard Deduction Guidelines are generally a gift on maintenance items.

Dave

[Michael H.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Sent by email to both of those that inquired.

Tim do you know what size AGM battery they put inside the battery once it was cut out ? What CCA ?

Mike

[Tim G.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Mike, I used this battery and it fit perfectly.

[Michael H.]

Re: Cut open a lead acid battery? Possible inert a gel or agm inside?

Mike, I used this battery and it fit perfectly.

Tim seems like the CCA is pretty low only 330. Wouldn't you want something in the 400-500CCA range ?

Mike