Improvisation!

[Ondergard]

I've just had to buy a new battery for Betsy Blue.

The last one was absolutely enormous, gigantically heavy, and filled the battery tray to such an extent that it was almost too big for the retaining strap's bolts.

The new one is much smaller... so much smaller that the nuts on the retaining strap's bolts reached the end of the thread before the battery was tightly secured.

Now, the obvious answer would be to chop the end of the bolts and turn another bend into the end of the foreshortened bolts: but I don't have a vice or a pair of bolt cutters.

Another answer might be to tap some additional thread onto the existing bolts: but I don't have that equipment either!

My answer was to pack out the back of the battery tray, thus bringing the battery forward into the strap. The trouble with that is it needs to be something robust, fireproof, and adjustable... so I cast my eyes around my garage, and what do I find? A box of remnant ceramic wall tiles, left over from the tiling when the house was built five years ago - the rectangular kind, rather than the square ones.

Not only are they ceramic (and fireproof), solid, and adjustable (it took four tiles to act as "spacers"!) - they are exactly the same height and width as the battery tray - it's like they were made for it!

New battery now tight and secure - and even with four ceramic tiles behind it, still a lot lighter than the old battery!

[bmcecosse]

Well done getting a smaller battery - the idea of buying/fitting the largest possible battery is just not sensible....... My 2 litre TR7 starts fine with a tiny 038 size battery - so that's more than enough for an A series. I suggest thick rubber may make a better spacer and be less liable to 'rattle'.......

[chrisryder]

couldn't have just put a spacer under the nut? a bit of metal pipe? a lot of washers?

just a thought

[Ondergard]

Yeah, but the point is, there wasn't any thick rubber in my garage at the time!

Anyway, I'd be amazed if it rattled - everything is as tight as a duck's behind, and doesn't move at all!

[Ondergard]

couldn't have just put a spacer under the nut? a bit of metal pipe? a lot of washers?

just a thought

A good thought... but I don't have any of those things - that's why I used "found objects"!

I'm no mechanic, not of any kind. I've never welded, didn't do metalwork at school, was rubbish at woodwork.

Sadly, I couldn't use a whole wodge of quill pens, or charcoal pencils, or squashed old tubes of gouache - which is what I would find in the real work area of my house, which is my artroom!

[Matt531]

Remember to grout between the tiles for a perfect finish Ondergard. You wouldn't want anyone thinking you had bodged the job at all.

[Ondergard]

Don't be silly. Grouting would attract oil and other dirt and look unsightly. SIlicone is the answer!

Seriously.. of course it's a bodge job - but I have to get the car to the garage somehow, and it won't get there without a battery - I'd rather it were secured firmly, if temporarily, ready to be fixed later by a competent, and equipped, mechanic, rather than have it rattling around loose on the battery tray.

So how about leaving the snide comments alone?

[Matt531]

I think it's genius and opens up an endless array of engine bay decorating opportunities.

Plus, aren't ceramics the buzz new materials for fancy bearings and other aerospace applications?

[millerman]