[Cloud9...68]

I'm planning to relocate my battery to the right rear, and switch to a lightweight battery. Does anybody have any experience with the Braille vs. the Odyssey? I've done some research, and people seem pretty pleased with both. The Odyssey weighs a few pounds more, but a guy on one of the Corvette forums has been running a Braille in his Z06 for over a year with no problems, so it would appear that either will work. My car will primarily be a track car, though still drivable on the street. I live in a very warm climate, and will be going to heavier than stock gauge cables, so I'm not terribly worried about starting performance. Thanks.

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[pmason]

I have the Odyssey PC680 in both the 968 and 911, if you goal is to reduce weight for the track ok, wouldn't use it for a street car. I'm actually probably going to go back to the standard battery for the 911 as I pretty much don't track it anymore. Put a cut-off/disconnect in place, I pretty much always disconnect them at the end of the day.

Oh, they might of changed but they take a special trickle charger, and shouldn't use something like the battery tender.

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[Cloud9...68]

Thanks for the reply. I see you live in the Chicago area. Do you have more trouble with it in the winter? Here in Austin, "winter" is spoken of only in the hypothetical, as it really doesn't exist. OK, I'm exaggerating a little, as it does get a little cold for parts of a month or two, but for the most part, there are only two temperatures here - warm and hot. And if it is troublesome in those few cold weeks, I could alway buy a second battery, mount it in the spare tire hole, and connect it in parallel.



Also, I'm hoping the lower gauge cables (I'm planning to go with 0 gauge fine strand cable for the one going from the battery to the starter) will help as well. My goal with this is two-fold - to lose a little weight (but the lighter battery will be offset to some degree by the heavier cables), and to re-distribute some of it from the front to the back. It's so much easier to removed weight from the back (get rid of spare tire, jack, pump, and tools, lightweight exhaust, remove rear seat, remove torsion bars, lexan hatch window, etc.) than it is from the front, that I want to do anything possible to balance things out.

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[flash]

0 gauge will help, especially if it's 4200 strands like mine



use gold connectors too - the lead ones have too much loss

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[Cloud9...68]

Thanks, Flash.



Pmason - Any particular reason you went with the Odyssey over the Braille?

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[ds968]

I'm probably going to replace my Interstate with a Braille - almost the same CCA, and far more than I'll ever need here where winter is also hypothetical. The Braille is 9 lbs vs the 29 lbs of the Interstate and while I realize a mere 20 lbs won't make much of a difference in the car's performance, I also find no reason to keep the Interstate once it "dies".. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/unsure.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

the difference might be more than that - i'm thinking the interstate is closer to 32lbs



i used to be worried about storage capacity when i had the power pulleys, since the alternator was in deficit mode under 1200rpm, but now i might consider a lighter battery myself - figures - i just got the yellow top in there

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[Cloud9...68]

DS- Same question for you as for Pmason - Why are you thinking Braille vs. Odyssey? I haven't seen any kind of head-to-head comparison between the two, and their specs are comparable:



Braille: 360 Cold cranking amps, 15 amp/hr reserve capacity, 486 cranking amps (presumably room temperature), 904 pulse cranking amps (whatever that is), 11.5 lb.



Odyssey: 220 CCA, 16 amp/hr reserve capacity, 680 cranking amps, no spec for PCA, 15.4 lb (sounds a little high - I thought it was about 13 lb).



I'm leaning toward the Braille, just because I saw more discussion about it on various forums, all of it positive.



Edit: I spoke too soon. Here's a comparison of the Braille and the Odyssey. Looks like the Braille wins hands down, plus it is several pounds lighter, and even a bit smaller overall:



http://shop.edoperformance.com/braille-n...-9136.html

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[flash]

being supercharged, i can't go that light on CCA, but i am thinking i can get down to about 450 or so - i would be very wary about going too light on CCA, especially on a used starter or light flywheel - it takes less energy to begin the spinning on a light flywheel, but more energy to keep it moving, meaning more drag on the battery - that dreaded "click click click" sound is no fun

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[pmason]

Cloud9..68, The cars don't come out in the winter, one is a race car and the other one is almost a race car, mostly DE. For the few times I have to start them in the winter (take them to the shop for some reason) it usually needs a jump box to turn over the heavy/thick oil. The reason for the Odyssey over the Braille, it was a number of people I knew had, second the race car came with it, also I haven't heard of the Braille.

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[Cloud9...68]

I saw a lengthy discussion of the Braille on a Corvette forum, where a guy installed one on his Z06, and never had any problems starting it. I figure if it will work with a monster V8, it should be OK for our engines, even considering the monster crank and relatively high compression. But time will tell - I couldn't agree more about the click-click-click sound - one of the most dreaded sounds in the automotive universe this side of [size="4"]KA-BOOM![/size]

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[flash]

actually, a V8 is easier to start than an inline 4 - the reciprocating mass and more even pulsing is much better at maintaining starting rotation

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[ds968]

I never checked into the Odyssey, only the Optima and the Braille .. The Braille B-129 which is probably an ok size for our 968 ( but it may require adjustments to hold it in place since it's a bit smaller than the standard battery ) is only 9 lbs, and the Interstate group 91 ( aka 48 ) I have is listed at 29 lbs on the specs, but it really feels like you're lifting 50 lbs <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/dry.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> , so I wondwer if the 29 lbs spec is its DRY weight..



In any event, all of these batteries are only about $ 150, so I have no problem changing them just for the heck of it when it's time to replace the current battery..

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1307295776' post='110695']

actually, a V8 is easier to start than an inline 4 - the reciprocating mass and more even pulsing is much better at maintaining starting rotation

[/quote]

I was wondering about some of that, but I assumed the additional friction from four additional pistons' rings pressing against the cylinder walls would be more of a factor than the evenness of the pulses. Then there's the fact that with four additional cylinders, there's more of a chance of running into more compression events (intake and exhaust valves closed as the piston is ascending to TDC) during the period the starter is cranking, but before the engine fires. Have you ever tried cranking a V8 by hand, compared to our inline fours? I never have, so I was wondering what the difference would be.

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[Cloud9...68]

"The Braille B-129 which is probably an ok size for our 968"





Dan,





The B-129 might be pushing it, as it is down-rated vs. the B14115, with 323 CCA vs. 360. I checked the owners manual, but couldn't find the CCA rating for the 968's standard battery. Does anybody know what it is?





But if you want to go ahead and try the B-129 and a test case, let us know how it works out . Hope your AAA account is up to date...

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[Cloud9...68]

pmason,



A little off topic, but I'm drooling over one of your comments in your 11:28 AM post - You have two track Porsches, one to race, and one for DEs? That would be my dream situation - one car that abides by the rules of the particular racing class, and another that would just be an all-out, no-holds-barred track weapon. Although instead of a 911, I think I'd go with a Toyota MR2 turbo, stripped to about 2200 lb, with an easy 350 - 400 rwhp, and all the suspension goodies. But I'd need to move to a much bigger house, with about a 7-car garage, plus room for a trailer, and a vehicle to haul the trailer. Oh well, maybe in the next life...

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[ds968]

I only looked at the B 129 because of a post somewhere which I recalled listing that model as the only one which would fit

a 968.. did not really dig deeper into alternatives. If the B-14115 is a lot more powerful and at 11.5 lbs still a lot less than my current battery.. sure, why not ?!

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[pmason]

Cloud9..68,

Well, I should of started by just buying the race car 4 years ago, would of saved me a ton of money. I have had the 911 sense 1988, about 4~5 years ago I got into DE, upgrading everything over 3 years, striped the weight down to 2450lbs. Decided I wanted to get into racing last year and didn't really want to race the 911 so I bought an already nicely prepared 968. The 911 doesn't get much exercise any more, mostly a weekend drive. Wished I had a 7 car garage, but I get 4 cars in a 3 car garage with a 4 post lift. But I do keep an eye out for a 10 car garage with a 1 bedroom attached :-)

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[Cloud9...68]

Well, I'm following a similar path, doing what everybody advises is the worst thing you can do - I'm turning my street car, which already had some decent upgrades to the suspension, differential, and brakes, into a track car. But I have to say, since the only way I can afford to do it is by doing all my own work, I'm learning a ton about what makes this car tick, and I think I will be in a very good position to fine-tune the handling once I get it all back together. Plus, and I haven't done a whole lot of looking, but from what I've seen, fully-prepared race cars don't exactly seem to be cheap. But when I add it all up, I'm sure it would have been cheaper to sell my 968, and buy a race car. Oh, well, so I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer...



What class do you race in? Could you give a brief description (since it's really off topic) of what your car had done to it when you bought it? Thanks.

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[pmason]

Cloud9..68,

Run with the PCA in the E class - the car has to weigh a ton in that class 3236lbs, good think its the driver and car being weighted :-), even then I have a 60lbs lead bar on the passengers floor. M030 brakes and sways, Leda shocks/struts with 1000lbs springs, all Racers Edge solid bushings all around, Racers Edge comber plates, Racers Edge front hubs, Charlie arms, run 8.5x18 front, 10x18 rear. RS Barn headers and exhaust, RS Barn flywheel and clutch, solid block shifter, limited slip, AC delete bracket, airbox mod. full cage, light weight carpet. That's most of it going off the top of my head.

I did look at a number of cars before finding this one, my search was for a 968 or 944s2, the 968 just has a few advantages over the 944s2s, look at few DE cars that I know I would still have to put ~$7k into, a couple of street cars that I would have to put even more into. When buying a prepared car you can get it for maybe .30 cents on the dollar. But understand where you are at, I try and do as much work as I can, a few things I still leave to the shop.

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