Group 47 AGM battery conversion

[romancommander]

Hello all!

I finally got tired of my OEM Motorcraft Group 96R battery puking its acid guts all over my positive battery terminal. At least every 1000 miles I was cleaning off a solid cake of corrosion, neutralizing it, coating it in protectant only to have it happen again almost right away. I have never had a battery do that in any car I've owned. Now unfortunately for us, Ford uses the group 96R battery on most models they sell, and the aftermarket does NOT currently offer a 96R AGM. Now for those who aren't aware, AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat, meaning you do not have acid sloshing around. AGMs are also sealed, so you don't have corrosive gas venting all the time either. The downside is that they are a bit more expensive. So what to do? Find a battery that is close in size and make it fit.

This cool website tells you all the different sizes of batteries:

http://www.batteryweb.com/bci.cfm

Group 96R battery (stock)

96R 9.60" x 6.20" x 6.90" R/H-POS TOP - SAE AUTO

Group 47

47 9.70" x 6.90" x 7.50" R/H-POS TOP - SAE AUTO


I measured the stock battery tray at about 10.25" x 7" x 7"

Now I chose group 47 because it is close in size, the most common and everyone stocks them.

The swap requires you to buy a new battery terminal and build/buy a new battery hold down since the battery is 1/2" taller. I was in a hurry last night so I just bent some aluminum into shape for a new battery tie down, welded a back strap on it for some strength, threw a piece of rubber under it and tightened it down.

The battery terminal that plays nice with stock cables:



http://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...y-terminal/296093_533288_23849/?checkfit=true

 

[frankiefiesta]

Good stuff!

 

[M-Sport fan]

It would be cool if the appearance mod manufacturers on this site made up some nice hold down straps for this conversion, like they do for the factory battery setup!

I was planning on doing this as well (A BIG believer in AGM batteries!), but maybe waiting until the stocker started dying.
IF my Motorcraft starts puking acid like romancommander's above did, it will happen the very next day (does EnerSys/Odyssey make a group 47??).

 

[koozy]

eh... there are AGM available as direct replacements. no need to mod.

 

[romancommander]

It would be cool if the appearance mod manufacturers on this site made up some nice hold down straps for this conversion, like they do for the factory battery setup!

I was planning on doing this as well (A BIG believer in AGM batteries!), but maybe waiting until the stocker started dying.
IF my Motorcraft starts puking acid like romancommander's above did, it will happen the very next day (does EnerSys/Odyssey make a group 47??).

Yes tons of MFGS make a group 47 AGM. They range from $150-$300. Most are $150-$220. With tax OTD I'm at $175. FYI the stock size batteries run $100-$130.

eh... there are AGM available as direct replacements. no need to mod.

There is only one and its $400...before you buy the adapters for top post.

http://4xspower.com/bci_group/96r/

 

[koozy]

IIRC there's at least another one that is direct fit available. There's also one an Optima Battery one that's available as direct fit. Point is there are direct fits available.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Sadly, Optima has a VERY bad rep lately (yes, despite their sponsorship of the Ultimate Street car Challenge Series) on a lot of enthusiast sites due to an apparent 'cheapening' and downgrading of the Optima brand once Johnson Controls took over the company, and shipped the manufacturing to Mejico (all the while charging customers the same, if not MORE than the U.S. made versions).

The claims were that when they were still made here, their batteries would last upwards of 9 years, even under hard use, with no maintenance charge, whereas the ones now made south of the border will not make it past 3-4 years, no matter how well you treat/maintain them.

 

[koozy]

Sadly, Optima has a VERY bad rep lately (yes, despite their sponsorship of the Ultimate Street car Challenge Series) on a lot of enthusiast sites due to an apparent 'cheapening' and downgrading of the Optima brand once Johnson Controls took over the company, and shipped the manufacturing to Mejico (all the while charging customers the same, if not MORE than the U.S. made versions).

The claims were that when they were still made here, their batteries would last upwards of 9 years, even under hard use, with no maintenance charge, whereas the ones now made south of the border will not make it past 3-4 years, no matter how well you treat/maintain them.

your fiesta is being made/assembled in Mexico. I personally don't care where the battery made, as long as it performs.

 

[M-Sport fan]

your fiesta is being made/assembled in Mexico. I personally don't care where the battery made, as long as it performs.

I KNEW someone was going to respond with this 'newsflash' (and yes, I know fully damn well EXACTLY where my car is being screwed together, thank you for 'alerting' me ).

The difference is that Optima's move to below the border seems to have HURT their quality/longevity, whereas Ford's move there did not (for the most part).

But YES, I DO wish that they would have kept the Fiesta's (and ALL of their lineup's) manufacturing HERE, in THIS country, yup, even if it meant paying a little more for the what would STILL be a bargain FiST.

 

[romancommander]

IIRC there's at least another one that is direct fit available. There's also one an Optima Battery one that's available as direct fit. Point is there are direct fits available.

Optima does NOT in fact offer a direct fit. They offer a close fit that requires the same modification. And yes their quality went down and price went up....I don't care where they are made either.

Google "Group 96R AGM", you will only find the the XS power as a direct fit, everything else that comes up is "close-ish" just like the group 47. You'll also find mustang forum after mustang forum where they have the same issue. And a couple Focus and Fusion forums too.

 

[koozy]

Hello all!

....Now unfortunately for us, Ford uses the group 96R battery on most models they sell, and the aftermarket does NOT currently offer a 96R AGM.

when I was looking several months back I found several options that were direct fit. If there's only one AGM technically listed as 96R, that's enough to negate your comment that none existed, which prompted me to reply that that's not true.

 

[romancommander]

when I was looking several months back I found several options that were direct fit. If there's only one AGM technically listed as 96R, that's enough to negate your comment that none existed, which prompted me to reply that that's not true.

No, you replied to make it seem like its an unnecessary swap, pad your post count, and I'd wager you like to internet argue. Care to contribute something worthwhile to this thread...which were direct fit AGM's that you found? And I fail to accept a $400 obscure battery that I posted as the only battery the internet has on offer as "proof" of anything other than the need for this swap.

 

[koozy]

No, you replied to make it seem like its an unnecessary swap, pad your post count, and I'd wager you like to internet argue. Care to contribute something worthwhile to this thread...which were direct fit AGM's that you found? And I fail to accept a $400 obscure battery that I posted as the only battery the internet has on offer as "proof" of anything other than the need for this swap.

I have no interest in entertaining your suggestions. have a nice day.

 

[Quisp]

http://www.powerstridebattery.com/c...eries/bci-group-96r-odyssey-pc1200mjt-battery

 

[romancommander]

http://www.powerstridebattery.com/c...eries/bci-group-96r-odyssey-pc1200mjt-battery

Yeah just like the group 47 it will fit, but it's a different size (shorter, narrower, not as long). I like odysseys though, good batteries.

 

[M-Sport fan]

http://www.powerstridebattery.com/c...eries/bci-group-96r-odyssey-pc1200mjt-battery

Thanks for finding that!

IF I have to modify the hold down anyway, I might as well have an Odyssey, as I've had nothing but GREAT experiences with their product, AND I already have their (Schumacher made) AGM charger to work with that size/amperage battery. (It also saves ~4 lbs. off of the nose of the car over the factory lead acid spiller.)

 

[RavynX]

Thanks OP for pointing out the Group 47 AGM battery. I picked up a Duracell 47(H5)AGM from Sam's Club for ~$134.99 + tax, turned in my Motorcraft battery that was cracked in the plastic around the terminal posts.

I spent several hours searching the internet for recessed nuts/bolts, most of them only available in the UK, until I stumbled upon road-bike caliper recessed nuts. There's a longer one for the front rim-brake caliper and a shorter one for the rear rim-brake caliper. I got them off of my wife's road bike to test fit and found the longer front one to fit perfectly. I stopped by my local bike shop and they were nice enough to find two of them for me in their spare parts bin for free.

I used a dremel to carve a little wider hole in the OEM battery-tie down, added some 1/4" washers to get a tight fit around the recessed caliper nut since the head doesn't displace a lot of area, and bolted the new battery down.

So this was AFTER I already cleaned up the blue plume of corrosion.


Thankfully this part was only ~$25 from Ford


I haven't found a replacement connector for this yet, there's a fuse that was eaten up by the corrosion inside. If anyone knows where I can order this connector I will gladly re-pin it.


Here's the 0.6" difference between the Group 96R and Group 47 AGM


Here's the road bike's recessed nut I was test fitting before I went to the local bike shop in the next photo. Just tell them you're looking for two of them for front road bike rim-brake calipers.


All buttoned up with washers from Home Depot (part AAA, they're 1/4" washers). I also used the Duralast brass terminals found at Autozone that the OP suggested.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^THANK YOU FOR THIS!!

Those toxic aqua powder shots remind me WHY I HATE wet lead acid batteries like the plague!!

HOW did you know that the threading/TPI count of a road bike's brake caliper center bolt was the same as our battery tie-down stud?? (Or did you just guess?)

 

[M-Sport fan]

No, you replied to make it seem like its an unnecessary swap, pad your post count, and I'd wager you like to internet argue. Care to contribute something worthwhile to this thread...which were direct fit AGM's that you found? And I fail to accept a $400 obscure battery that I posted as the only battery the internet has on offer as "proof" of anything other than the need for this swap.

IF I had to spend $400 + for a direct fit AGM, I would rather put that much coin into a MUCH lighter lithium battery and charger setup.

That XS Power AGM weighs almost 43 lbs. (close to 11 lbs. MORE than the factory 96R metal eater)!!!!

 

[RavynX]

^^^THANK YOU FOR THIS!!

Those toxic aqua powder shots remind me WHY I HATE wet lead acid batteries like the plague!!

HOW did you know that the threading/TPI count of a road bike's brake caliper center bolt was the same as our battery tie-down stud?? (Or did you just guess?)

No worries, glad to share. I measured the threads on the battery tie-down posts with a thread-measuring device which turned out to be metric M6x1.0 and found online that the road bike rim-brake caliper recessed nut was the same size.