69 replacement battery question

[Jamie F.]

Re: 69 replacement battery question

Recently replaced the positive cable on my late '69 with side terminals facing forward.
The transmission was out of the car so it was easy.
I could see getting at a couple of those clip nuts with the trans in place might be difficult. The heat shield also has to come down.
Plan this job for when you are doing the clutch or trans.

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 replacement battery question

Joe,
My battery has the terminals oriented toward the front of the car, but they are side terminal cables. I think they have been replaced and are wrong because I have a very early car, serial 1291.

Thanks for all the info, I will take a look when I can to see how big a job it is to change the cables and go from there.

Thanks again,
Joe

Joe-----

All 1969's with side terminal batteries have the terminals oriented towards the front of the car. This changed for 1970 and later to a rear orientation. In fact, this is the reason it's such a pain to get jumper cables on a 1969 (tip: using a dual terminal, 78DT series battery solves this problem but may create a greater judging problem).

I don't see why someone would convert an early 1969 top terminal battery car to side terminal, especially using the 1969 side terminal orientation (i.e. if one were going to convert why not just convert to the much more convenient 70+ configuration?). However, 1969 build 1291 sounds way too early for a 1969 side terminal. It could well be that some "pilot" cars were built very early with side terminal batteries. So, I'd suggest examining this whole installation VERY carefully before destroying a potentially "historically significant" original installation.

One thing to look for: 1969 side terminal batteries used an unusual terminal configuration. The thread size on the two terminals was different. I suppose the idea was to keep folks from improper polarity installation. However, this idea was soon "scrapped". As far as I know, it was used for only1969 side terminal batteries. It's possible, though, that it's use continued for some time after 1969. I do know that by the time I replaced my original battery, batteries with the different thread size terminals were no longer available. So, I had to change one of the lugs on my battery cables. The original lugs were of the normal "captured" style (i.e. they could not be easily removed from the cable ends). Plus, to install the new lug, I had to ream the cable end to a larger hole size. This, of course, eliminated the "captured" feature for that lug. If I recall correctly, it was the negative lug, but it's possible it was the positive, I just don't recall, for sure.

Anyway, if you check your battery lugs and find that one of them is not captured and the other one captured, this MIGHT be an indication that the battery cables are original. Of course, this presumes that any early "pilot" side terminal batteries also used the different terminal size battery. I would expect that they would have, though.

The other "flaw" in this is that if a field conversion were made very early from the top terminal to the side terminal battery, the original-type 1969 cables may have been used. That would still have necessitated a lug conversion when the next battery replacement was needed. Still, checking the lugs will provide an important "clue".

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 replacement battery question

Joe-----

All 1969's with side terminal batteries have the terminals oriented towards the front of the car. This changed for 1970 and later to a rear orientation. In fact, this is the reason it's such a pain to get jumper cables on a 1969 (tip: using a dual terminal, 78DT series battery solves this problem but may create a greater judging problem).

I don't see why someone would convert an early 1969 top terminal battery car to side terminal, especially using the 1969 side terminal orientation (i.e. if one were going to convert why not just convert to the much more convenient 70+ configuration?). However, 1969 build 1291 sounds way too early for a 1969 side terminal. It could well be that some "pilot" cars were built very early with side terminal batteries. So, I'd suggest examining this whole installation VERY carefully before destroying a potentially "historically significant" original installation.

One thing to look for: 1969 side terminal batteries used an unusual terminal configuration. The thread size on the two terminals was different. I suppose the idea was to keep folks from improper polarity installation. However, this idea was soon "scrapped". As far as I know, it was used for only1969 side terminal batteries. It's possible, though, that it's use continued for some time after 1969. I do know that by the time I replaced my original battery, batteries with the different thread size terminals were no longer available. So, I had to change one of the lugs on my battery cables. The original lugs were of the normal "captured" style (i.e. they could not be easily removed from the cable ends). Plus, to install the new lug, I had to ream the cable end to a larger hole size. This, of course, eliminated the "captured" feature for that lug. If I recall correctly, it was the negative lug, but it's possible it was the positive, I just don't recall, for sure.

Anyway, if you check your battery lugs and find that one of them is not captured and the other one captured, this MIGHT be an indication that the battery cables are original. Of course, this presumes that any early "pilot" side terminal batteries also used the different terminal size battery. I would expect that they would have, though.

The other "flaw" in this is that if a field conversion were made very early from the top terminal to the side terminal battery, the original-type 1969 cables may have been used. That would still have necessitated a lug conversion when the next battery replacement was needed. Still, checking the lugs will provide an important "clue".

Joe, As usual you have nailed it exactly.

The original side-terminal batteries had 3/8-inch positive terminal bolts and 5/16-inch negative terminal bolts. Some time later (during the 1970 MY) BOTH terminals became 3/8-inch, as they are today on side terminal batteries. My end of January 1970 built Corvette came with the two different size connectors.

Many sleeps ago (1986 or 1988, someplace in there) I did several stories for The Corvette Restorer on the introduction of the SST (Sealed Side Terminal Battery. It was in conjunction with that story that I interviewed the liaison between Chevrolet and Packard Electric who was involved in those changes. He happened to be an officer of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club, and I knew of him through my membership in that organization. It was he who mentioned the 1969 "test shot" of the copper-clad aluminum battery cables that made production in later 1971 or SOP 1972.

I have been looking for one of those 1969 Corvettes since then -- how obsessive is that? I'm hoping.