• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Battery for TR3A

Share this page

R

Rich_M

Freshman Member
Offline
Hi. I just joined the forum and this is my first post.

It's time to put a new battery in my TR3A and I'd like to put one in that fits ok. I'm just looking for an inexpensive conventional battery--no tar top, no gel cells. However, I'd like it to be a size that can be secured with the original clamp and is roughly the same size as the original battery and I want the terminals to be near the firewall, not near the hold down clamp..

The application book at the local Walmart calls for a group 24 battery that has the terminals reversed (the terminals are on top, but positive and negative are reversed from where they should be).

Any recommendations?

Also, can I search past threads on this forum? I bet this topic's been covered before.

Thanks.
 
Have you changed over to negative ground?? This might be a good time to do it. It's a very easy conversion that will cost no money.

And welcome to the forum. Great bunch of guys with infinite wisdom and knowledge about Triumphs. :yesnod:
 
Yeah, I if I had switched to negative ground, the terminal posts on the Walmart battery would be fine.
I'm still set up with positive ground. Call me a curmudgeon, but I've had the car 38 years and I never felt I needed to switch to negative ground. If it ain't broke...
 
Hello:
I put a group 65 in my TR3.
I bought a 700 CCA, because I'm running the original generator, and wanted a stout power source.
It fits nicely, post in the rear, correct sides.
Emmett
 
Rich_M said:
Call me a curmudgeon...
Click to expand...

Welcome from another one - you're gonna fit right in here!

:cheers:
Mickey
 
Rich_M said:
If it ain't broke...
Click to expand...

How do you define "broke"?

Welcome to the forum -it's the best.
You've had a TR3 for 38 years. Very nice. Sometimes I feel like I've worked on my TRs for 38 years, but I haven't owned them (cumulatively) for that long. If you've owned a TR for that long, I'm sure you have fixed it before it actually broke.
 
There are -- or were -- Group 24 and Group 24F. Effectively, they're the same, except that the terminals are reversed. Perhaps Walmart has the other Group 24 in stock as well?

Meanwhile, I think Group 27 was the original size. About the same height and depth but wider. They're likely not as easy to find, and I doubt it's necessary unless you really want to look somewhat more "original" there.

Oh, and I'm also of the "Positive Earth Rocks" philosophy, since I've yet to add a modern radio/CD player/GPS/DVD player to the Herald. :wink:
 
Thanks for all of your replies. I'll try to hunt down a group 27 or 65 and I now know that there exists a "reversed" group 24 (which I'm guessing that I'll wind up using).

Glad to know there are other staunch positive earthers out there. I've done at least 2 asinine (can I use that word on this forum??) things while attempting to stay that way. The first was "installing" a junkyard neg ground am radio by tying it with twine to the carpeted transmission tunnel and praying that it never moved and arc-welded itself to the nearest metal object. The other was when I installed a neg ground electric fuel pump by plastic-riveting it to a piece of plywood which I bolted to the frame.

I did both of those things about 30 years ago. Since then I realized that I don't want a radio in the car and that it's really easy to fix the fuel pump.

--Rich
 
I stuck a Costco battery in my 3A, 3 years ago, and l left it positive ground; works fine. Reversing the battery allowed me to put a Lucas sticker on it. I used the TRF battery holder, don't know how the original would work w/ the Costco battery, which was made by Johnson Contols, BTW....
 
"I'm just looking for an inexpensive conventional battery--no tar top, no gel cells."

For what it's worth, while Optima are a bigger up-front investment, I've gotten extraordinary lifespans out of them. My first Red Top lasted almost nine years - much of that in Arizona, where ambient heat usually fries our batteries in around three years. Too, the lighter weight and smaller footprint are welcome when lifting it in and out of the center-of-the-bulkhead battery box on my TR3A. The cranking power is huge. There were no issues with the stock battery brackets. I thought the spiral cell "six pack" appearance was a little discordant with a vintage car, sitting in a prominent place in the bay, so I bought the Moss "tar-top shell" for shows. Couldn't be happier.
 
My battery came from WallyMart and the car is positive ground.

BatteryTR3.JPG


Peeled the labels off, adding some faux-Lucas labels and replaced the 3-hole cell caps with some individual vintage caps. Not perfect but passably appropriate looking.
 
this one costed 60$
I havent had any problems with it...
It's a gell type:
(opps sorry I just read it again your looking for a positive ground.)
DSC05930.jpg
 
Actually, that one is handed correctly for a positive ground TR3A/4 where the posts are towards the firewall.

Where did you get that set-up for $60?
 
It was the last one on a guys shelf at Napa in North Haven, Ct

He saw my car and asked me if I wanted a faux lucus battery.

he told me it had been there for two years, but so far it seems fine.
 
Back
Top