Vented Battery

[HealeyRick]

While swapping the battery out of the trunk of my Chrysler 300C SRT8 to use temporarily in the Healey (long story), it struck me the Chrysler battery is vented to the outside of the car. With many folks doing safety upgrades to their Healeys over the years, I've never heard anyone mention venting their battery outside the trunk. Anyone doing it?

 

[Keoke]

RICK :

I see no reasn to vent when sealed batteries are readily available

 

[RAC68]

Hi Rick,

Keoke has the point, non-water based batteries like the Optima are both sealed and can even be mounted upside down with no issues. What seems odd is that the Healey originally had a water-based battery secured inside a closed boot with no extra consideration for escaping liquid from overfill or overcharge. Although many of us did install a battery tray, it was not a standard part as was the soft vinyl cover that was placed on top of the battery.

I must assume they saw little need for venting as the battery was quite separated from the car's major heat source (engine) and the enimic generators back then posed less of a potential for overcharging.

Just thoughts,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

 

[Rob Glasgow]

On my BT7, the trunk area is not really sealed. There are openings on both sides of the rear bulkhead that would acts as a vent from the trunk to the rear seat area. I was never sure why they left the gap there but maybe it was to vent the trunk.

 

[RAC68]

Rob,

Yes, I forgot about those openings and never saw a functional purpose for them ... other then some assemblo or construction reason. I have them on my BJ8 so they are probably present in all big Healeys. Assuming that the amount of battery vapor is small, these openings could be sufficient to allow the evaporation and clearing of any battery moisture.

Good point,
Ray(64BJ8P1)

 

[British_Recovery]

The Bakelite battery trays are pictured in the factory parts books as standard, but since they were fragile, few survived in good shape. Most often replaced at the time with a board !
Bob

 

[RAC68]

Hi Bob,

They were not standard on BJ8 but may have been on earler models. I know this as one who purchased his BJ8 new and purchased the tray some years later.

Hi Bob,

They were not standard on BJ8 but may have been on earler models. I know this as one who purchased his BJ8 new and purchased the tray some years later.

One interesting thing about the battery mount is its length and width. When initially replacing my original battery with a new wet cell, the battery was shorter and I needed to install a piece of wood between the angle brackets to support the battery. Over the years, batteries continued to reduce in size and I created a battery box with cover to satisfy the purpose and present a more consistent image with the original look.

Ray(64BJ8P1)​