Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications General Mods Optima Batteries

Glad you found one locally so quickly. I looked around a couple places and they dont carry them.

Yeah you are lucky they had one in stock. The standard for the 34R seems to be an on order item. Glad you could get one on the spot.

i called like six store but yes it was good to get one so fast

my local farm and barn.. thats all they carry for red tops

So far I've had good luck with a red top (in an SVTF) but I do hear that the yellow is the better way to go. My alternator packed up on a NFS run (need for speed) at like midnight, I drove behind someone for about 20 miles on parking lights till I could find a safe place to park overnight, I came back after sunrise and drove it the remaining 50 or so miles home on the same battery. It easily took a full charge, and then drove it to the shop, again on the battery. If the Yellow is better it must be pretty good...

They make blue tops.......?

why would i want to put the battery in the trunk

Clean up the engine bay...aka, make it look nicer. Other guys put it in the trunk on the passinger side of the car to help offset the weight of the driver. Makes it easy to get power to your amp. Uhm...and whatever other reasons you can possibly fathom.

The blue top is a marine battery. Most marine battery are deep cycle (like the yellow top), but I dont know why you would want that over the standard yellow.

FYI, the Red Top is classified as a "Starting Battery", which means it has more Cold Cranking Amps, and it is not designed to be constantly drained and recharged like a deep cycle.
The Yellow Top is a "Deep Cycle", with less CCA's, but can discharge and recharge with little to no ill affects.
The Blue Top is a hybrid of sorts, more CCA's than the Yellow, less than the Red, but is also a Deep Cycle battery like the Yellow. Kind of the best of both worlds. They are also the most expensive if I remember correctly.

I was able to fit the Red Top in my 2000 CSVT, but I had to get creative with the battery box and battery cables (I had to remove everything, trim some of the battery box, then re-route the cables to make it work. One other thing to watch out for regarding the Optima, it is taller than the stocker, so you "may" have contact of the negative pole of the battery with the hood. You can grind down the pole a bit, or leave out the foam at the bottom of the battery tray. Don't ask me how I know.

Tony