Batteries in Spiders

["Jon Inge" <joninge@domain.elided>]

When I bought a new Exide battery for my '86 Spider a couple of weeks ago,
the manufacturer's listing charts had a comment that "the standard battery
provided by the Alfa Romeo factory was a group 24, but these were removed as
soon as the cars arrived in the US and replaced with a group 34 unit before
delivery.  Always use a group 34 unit as a replacement."

I can see why; the 34 I put in is half an inch lower than the 24 I took out,
and has the posts towards the front of the top instead of the back (the
polarity of the terminals is reversed between the two series; if you put the
34 in with the posts at the back the way the 24 was fitted, the positive and
negative posts are the wrong way round for the cables to fit).  As a result
the posts are much easier to get to and far less likely to foul the inside
of the bodywork.  I had no trouble tightening down the battery carrier nuts
to hold this lower unit nice and firm, either.  Win-win.

Don't know if this applies to all Exides or all group 34s; the nomenclature
sure is confusing.  Oddly enough, "my" 34 is a longer battery than the 24
that came out and weighs pretty much the same, in contrast to Russ Neely's
experience of 34s being shorter and thus lighter.  The model I bought was
(and I shudder as I write this) an "Exide NASCAR Sport Utility Vehicle
Battery".  Never mind the NASCAR label, apparently someone at Exide agrees
with Scott Fisher that a Spider is the only true Sport Utility Vehicle.

Jon Inge
Edmonds, WA where the weather is so gorgeous that I can once again load
groceries into the car without opening the doors.
86 Spider
93 164L

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