tie-down doesn't fit new battery

[Chuckles]

I hope this is the right form. My battery died and I decided to splurge on an Optima, but then save by getting it mail-order and installing it myself. Well, this was no sweat until I find that the new battery (correct size class, 35) is about an inch and a quarter less in height. So the plastic strap (tie-down) is sitting way above it. It'll still prevent the battery from going into orbit, although the hood will do that too, but it won't prevent it sliding around.

How can I fix this? What do they do at Sears and Autozone? I can't say I've ever noticed

Or is it not an issue since the battery is pretty heavy?

Many thanks,

[GoFast]

they have battery tie down kits that I am sure you could use. i honestly havent looked that close to the battery box but i am quite confident that one of those universal tie down kits could be made to work with a little bit of ingenuity on your part.

[GoFast]

ahh heck you are from chicago, ill give you a hand sometime if you need it. just let me know

[Chuckles]

they have battery tie down kits that I am sure you could use. i honestly havent looked that close to the battery box but i am quite confident that one of those universal tie down kits could be made to work with a little bit of ingenuity on your part.

I should have said in the original post that universal tie-downs look like they might not fit inside the battery box. But I guess I'll have to go look at them in the store. Maybe with some cutting...

[bykeryder4life]

get something to put under the tie down as a spacer that will hold the battery down

[TheMAN]

a group 24F battery is an upgrade for the 3... it will fill the battery box completely and is what canadian 3s come with

[Rotus8]

I had this problem in another car when I switched to an Optima. I made a spacer out of a block of lucite I had laying around, but you could make it out of anything. A nice chunk of wood would do fine, and easy to make into the shape you need. When you get it right, you can make it again out of something more esthetically pleasing like a chunk of aluminum or if you want to stay "organic" get a nice piece of oak or walnut. :)

[BillTheCat]

Rotus beat me to it. I've also made spacers out of blocks of wood for Optima batteries. Since my cars are never purty show cars, I've not felt the need to "upgrade" beyond bare pine, though. I suppose you could even just paint the block of wood & slap a "Mazdaspeed" sticker on it if you wanted to dress it up.

[Chuckles]

Just because I changed the battery myself, you guys think I am handier than I really am. But OK, I'll look into the possibility of cutting the right size spacer.

[MikeHTally]

I still don't understand why folks fall for the Optima battery. Double the cost for the same or poorer performance? Just my $0.02