The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I am going to have to buy a car battery for my Dolomite Sprint at some point (next year).



The standard option is a type 038, which has the specification:

35Ahr 12V. 265CCA. 239mm long x 133mm wide x 206mm high. 11kg weight





Battery technology is improving (indeed there is a factory near here providing high spec. solutions to industry),
so I am wondering if there is a more modern and advantageous alternative to a 038?

I would like ideally to save some weight and have a lower height, the latter is because air filter clearance is tight with a 038.
There are various "race" options available. I am wondering if anybody has experience of these?





Thanks,

Ian.

Hi Ian,
There are lots of batteries out there, some with a lot more cranking power in your type of battery.
I very rarely have to replace a battery as they are always looked after
I use a "c-tech" charger all year on my cars and mower. The oldest is 9yrs old and never lets me down.
If you can get the tops off your battery? Drop a couple of asprin in to each cell, this apparently gets rid of the calcium build up on the plates, the "c-tech" works in the same way
If you do want a battery, dont go to the big boys, try and find a firm that only supplies batteries and nothing else..... they are the experts.

Cheers, Tony.

I have fitted a Lucas 015. It fits and is 42 ah.

If you search for 'VARTA' on the forum some people have fitted the B24 and B34 but they are a bit taller so perhaps not what you need. (edit - the B34 is not as wide though).

sprint95m wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:23 am I am going to have to buy a car battery for my Dolomite Sprint at some point (next year)
Battery technology is improving (indeed there is a factory near here providing high spec. solutions to industry),
so I am wondering if there is a more modern and advantageous alternative to a 038?

I would like ideally to save some weight and have a lower height, the latter is because air filter clearance is tight with a 038.
There are various "race" options available. I am wondering if anybody has experience of these?
Thanks,

Ian.

If this is a standard road-going Sprint I'd stick to an 038 or similar.
When I was 50% of the service crew for a rally Escort then a Porsche a few years back both cars had small, but lightweight batteries fitted. O.K. they were fine at starting with a warm engine or between stages after an off-and-a-stall but to do a cold start we always used an external big starting battery.
Technology has moved on and you can now get very light Lithium batteries ; How much do you want to spend is the question ? And how much modification to battery posts etc; They do seem to charge from a standard Lead-acid alternator as they also have internal electronics. No spec; on charge / discharge cycles etc;
Here is a typical link.

https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorspo ... on-battery

13A/h of Lithium for approx; £400 is pricey even at just 2.1Kg.
HTH.
Tony.

Not as light as Lithium but there are some nice Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries which are pretty powerful and have the benefit of not spilling but are pricey.

There is loads of stuff written on ye olde internet about "race" batteries.
Most of it is negative and from a few years back..
Seems most (all?) of these batteries aren't reasonably suitable for an everyday road car,
which is rather disappointing really. I was rather hoping someone would come up with some good feedback.


Oh well, I guess it'll be a good 038......



Ian.

Try a Varley Red top, there is one on my mark 1 2000 road car, half the size of the std battery, no issues with cranking a big 6.

sprint95m wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:50 pm There is loads of stuff written on ye olde internet about "race" batteries.
Most of it is negative and from a few years back..
Seems most (all?) of these batteries aren't reasonably suitable for an everyday road car,
which is rather disappointing really. I was rather hoping someone would come up with some good feedback.


Oh well, I guess it'll be a good 038......



Ian.

Race batteries save huge amounts of weight but they don't tend to last that long so I concur, not really of any use on a road car.

If it helps, I have a Bosch S3017

Type 159 battery on mine, probably the only thing it has in common with a Honda S2000.

Mahesh wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:01 pm If it helps, I have a Bosch S3017

Thats, MODEL S3, Type 017 and its a tad wider than an 038 (making it sit closer than normal to the alternator)

Also, your car has pancake air filters, rather than the stock airbox which might otherwise interfere with the battery.

On the recommendation front, my next door neighbour has a 10 plate Mercedes A class Diesel which I spent about an hour looking for the battery on before changing the starter motor. The reason I couldn't find it was because it was TINY and fitted in a slot in the boot far too small to hold a conventional battery. The thing was about the size of a ham sandwich! Yet it powered a daily driver diesel, so they MUST be available and reasonably long lasting. Of course you'd probably be better off buying the same weight in diamonds, knowing MB prices, but that's a different subject! I've considered a similar (scrappy sourced) battery to put in the boot of the Dolomega project Sprint, since it would probably fit in beside the spare wheel and under the board.

Otherwise the Honda fit type 159 that Rafe suggested is probably a good bet and not so expensive either!

Steve

Carledo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:20 pm

Mahesh wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:01 pm If it helps, I have a Bosch S3017

Thats, MODEL S3, Type 017 and its a tad wider than an 038 (making it sit closer than normal to the alternator)

Also, your car has pancake air filters, rather than the stock airbox which might otherwise interfere with the battery.

On the recommendation front, my next door neighbour has a 10 plate Mercedes A class Diesel which I spent about an hour looking for the battery on before changing the starter motor. The reason I couldn't find it was because it was TINY and fitted in a slot in the boot far too small to hold a conventional battery. The thing was about the size of a ham sandwich! Yet it powered a daily driver diesel, so they MUST be available and reasonably long lasting.

Are you sure that wasn't just a stop/start battery in the boot and the starter battery is under the footwell?

TrustNo1 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 12:09 am

Carledo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:20 pm

Mahesh wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:01 pm If it helps, I have a Bosch S3017

Thats, MODEL S3, Type 017 and its a tad wider than an 038 (making it sit closer than normal to the alternator)

Also, your car has pancake air filters, rather than the stock airbox which might otherwise interfere with the battery.

On the recommendation front, my next door neighbour has a 10 plate Mercedes A class Diesel which I spent about an hour looking for the battery on before changing the starter motor. The reason I couldn't find it was because it was TINY and fitted in a slot in the boot far too small to hold a conventional battery. The thing was about the size of a ham sandwich! Yet it powered a daily driver diesel, so they MUST be available and reasonably long lasting.

Are you sure that wasn't just a stop/start battery in the boot and the starter battery is under the footwell?

Well i'm not POSITIVE, but I did look round the car from above and below and checked all the usual stupid hiding places modern cars use, like under the front seats etc and IIRC I had the footwell carpets out and found nothing. Plus disconnecting the one I found rendered the car dead electrically! The starter job was a total nightmare, the bolts were difficult to access, but came out eventually, however, I had to drop the rear end of the front subframe (including engine and trans) about 9" to actually get the starter out of the car! I think a Frenchman must have been involved in the design!

Steve

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the 015. Bob, one of my local members (AKA RobSun) has a narrower battery on his Dolly 1300 so if you're reading this can you tell us which battery you had fitted?