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924aussie

Ouch battery shorting on Bonnet / Hood.

I have had a problem with batteries over the last couple of years that seemed to go flat sometimes when it hadnt been used for a while

Removed the bonnet the other day completely and put it aside for repainting and noticed this

Didnt take much notice until today when I went to clean the battery terminals and saw this

I think to self I wonder what that is and put two and two together ... arrr

It hasnt happened all the time by probaly only happened when I had the 924 parked and something like a tool box sitting on the bonnet for days on end. Guess who is buying a rubber cap for the positive terminal tommorrow. The gap must be so small it isnt funny.

Alan
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green 924 .. 1980 rego 924PSH
1998 Mopar Neon ... sick
2003 Challenger / Montery 4WD
1995 Hyundai Scoupe ... sold
1998 Nissan Silvia ... sons back from OS he has taken it
BIG BLOODY MOTORHOME 300zx Sold
1980 Fire truck Sold

ronafios · Joined: 14 Jun 2011 Posts: 26 Location: Canberra, Australia

Mine has done the same thing (not quite as severe). The old battery I had in the car had a red plastic plate that went over the whole positive terminal area. When I put the new battery in, it didn't come with the plate, and the old plate didn't fit properly and promptly fell out without me noticing.

A real design feature.
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Follow the restoration of my Porsche 924 http://restore924.blogspot.com

924aussie · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:05 pm Post subject:

Its not something you even look at because once the bonnet is raised it is up and out of the way

Alan
_________________
green 924 .. 1980 rego 924PSH
1998 Mopar Neon ... sick
2003 Challenger / Montery 4WD
1995 Hyundai Scoupe ... sold
1998 Nissan Silvia ... sons back from OS he has taken it
BIG BLOODY MOTORHOME 300zx Sold
1980 Fire truck Sold

emoore924 · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 2815

Ewwww that's ugly. Lucky you didn't have a fire.

What battery size do you have? This might be a result of having a wrong battery that's too tall. Shouldn't be that close to the underside of the bonnet.

I can look when I get home but I'm remembering the battery should be #41 for the n/a and #42 for a turbo? Can anyone confirm whether that's right?

P.S. Now if you just move the tape a little bit to the right...

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

Or just use a smaller motorcycle battery and drop some weight.
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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15548 Location: Spring Lake MI

Yeah, I've gotten more than one rescued toofah with a completely wrong-sized battery. The other issues is that if the battery hold down doesn't work, is missing, installed improperly, etc., the battery can bounce around in there and do the same thing. Make sure your hold down functions correctly, and best to have some sort of plastic or rubber cover over the positive terminal.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

RC · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 2636 Location: Australia

And piss off that dodgy battery terminal connector. Get one that has the main cable exiting out the middle and with auxiliary connections at the SIDE.
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World`s quickest 924 2L slushbox

daniel · Joined: 18 Jun 2009 Posts: 670 Location: Sydney, Australia

I had this problem with a parts car I purchased, two things had gone wrong:
1x all the glue holding the skin onto the bonnet frame had come away and this had caused:
2x The frame to crack about 300mm away from the windscreen, where the long piece goes right across.

This caused the bonnet to drop and arc the battery, mine looked exactly like yours.

I welded up the crack, squirted some urathane around the skin and have been using it ever since.
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Over the top of skyline, total brake failure.... hit the wall at over 200 kp/h at the dipper, so anyone who has to brake for the esses is a pussy.
1977.5 Race Car, CAMS Group S Spec
1989 944 Cabriolet

Ozzie · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:11 am Post subject:

A normal height battery will hit the hood.
I'm using an Exide din 55, no problems.
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Porsche 924 1984 (UK import) NA
Its AUTO and its BLACK
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ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15548 Location: Spring Lake MI

Ozzie, not sure what you mean by normal height battery, but a correctly sized battery for the 924 that is properly clamped down with a functioning OEM hold down clamp should NEVER be able to hit the hood. Ever. I don't know that the size specs are called, but the batteries that I have in my cars have the posts sort of recessed into little squarish pockets on each corner of the battery case, so even if the battery moves around it would be exceptionally difficult for it to hit the hood, even that longitudinal support rib that runs across the length of the firewall.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

daniel · Joined: 18 Jun 2009 Posts: 670 Location: Sydney, Australia

Ozzie and dan, you are correct. Normally the battery has no chance of hitting the bonnet, normally. My case involved a cracked frame and the skin comming away from the frame hence causing the frane to drop. This caused the exact damage shown in the pic above.

Daniel
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Over the top of skyline, total brake failure.... hit the wall at over 200 kp/h at the dipper, so anyone who has to brake for the esses is a pussy.
1977.5 Race Car, CAMS Group S Spec
1989 944 Cabriolet

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11724 Location: PacNW

Ozzie · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:21 pm Post subject:

924aussie · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:02 pm Post subject:

SDIN53L is on the sticker on my battery. When the bonnet goes back I will put blu tac on the battery to see what clearance I actualy have .

Alan

_________________
green 924 .. 1980 rego 924PSH
1998 Mopar Neon ... sick
2003 Challenger / Montery 4WD
1995 Hyundai Scoupe ... sold
1998 Nissan Silvia ... sons back from OS he has taken it
BIG BLOODY MOTORHOME 300zx Sold
1980 Fire truck Sold

jeanette · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:31 pm Post subject:

Both my cars "can" have a sudden battery draw down due to the foil faced hood liner that I (stupidly) installed.
In my defense, I did not want to go back to the OEM messywhenfallingaart hood liner, AND I wanted to protect the paint and on the Turbo S, the freekin hood decal from the engine heat after a serious drive day.
Will go with the low profile battery next time for sure, as it has been a crazy few years having to remember to "check the hood liner for sag" thingie.

jeanette

78 924 AKA Janis
80 931S AKA Herr Arnold
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"person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt person who is doing it"