Fitting a group 51 or 51R battery into a '63 Avanti

[aardvark]

Well as said, i do want to Mod the Brakes, due to Mountain roads,.... I will be keeping all the older brake parts for the next owners choices.  When I bought the car, I considered a Tremec 5 Speed, but then I have the Build Sheet saying Automatic. ... That was a (car) show stopper.

 

[Hogtrough]

I'm probably going to end up with a 3EE, since I can get one at Oreilly for $145. It's what came in the car, and will be a great conversation piece when you pop the hood a show! Only problem will be finding one with a current date code, so far I'm finding two year old ones at Tractor Supply, etc

[mfg]

17 hours ago, Hogtrough said:

I'm probably going to end up with a 3EE, since I can get one at Oreilly for $145. It's what came in the car, and will be a great conversation piece when you pop the hood a show! Only problem will be finding one with a current date code, so far I'm finding two year old ones at Tractor Supply, etc

I tend to repeat myself… sorry… but what the heck were Studebaker engineers thinking when they decided to use a 3EE battery in an ‘advanced’ car…. as their new Avanti, at the time, truly was??

( Well, at least they didn’t return to a 6 volt electrical system!)

[Gunslinger]

5 hours ago, mfg said:

I tend to repeat myself… sorry… but what the heck were Studebaker engineers thinking when they decided to use a 3EE battery in an ‘advanced’ car…. as their new Avanti, at the time, truly was??

( Well, at least they didn’t return to a 6 volt electrical system!)

 

Considering the time frame and rush to get the Avanti into production...it's likely no more than simply a quick way of solving a problem...find space for a battery.  The engine is tight enough and using the 3EE battery simply was the cheaper and easy way out.  Once they transitioned to the Group 24 battery for the '64 model year after incorporating it into the redesign of the front it made for much more versatility in battery selection by the factory and by consumers.  That being said...the engine bay changes for the Group 24 battery do make a tight area even more so.  If only someone at Studebaker had thought of locating the battery in the trunk it could possibly have made for a more logical radiator/belt drive design for the car...maybe even incorporating a/c with the supercharger from the factory.  

But...as out of the box forward thinking as the Avanti design was...the Studebaker mindset was stuck in what they most knew and could afford...traditional thinking.  

[mfg]

10 minutes ago, Gunslinger said:

 

Considering the time frame and rush to get the Avanti into production...it's likely no more than simply a quick way of solving a problem...find space for a battery.  The engine is tight enough and using the 3EE battery simply was the cheaper and easy way out.  Once they transitioned to the Group 24 battery for the '64 model year after incorporating it into the redesign of the front it made for much more versatility in battery selection by the factory and by consumers.  That being said...the engine bay changes for the Group 24 battery do make a tight area even more so.  If only someone at Studebaker had thought of locating the battery in the trunk it could possibly have made for a more logical radiator/belt drive design for the car...maybe even incorporating a/c with the supercharger from the factory.  

But...as out of the box forward thinking as the Avanti design was...the Studebaker mindset was stuck in what they most knew and could afford...traditional thinking.  

Well said!

[Geoff]

I feel a battery relocation could be reversed. The degree of in there you install it is up to you. It can be so in depth you remove interior pieces and lift the gas tank to follow the factory wiring harness, then reinstall all pulled parts. Or punch a couple holes in the trunk floor with a mental note the car needs future fiberglass work.

Better brakes on mountain roads are important to vent that built up heat. Stopping shorter needs a reduction of weight and/or increased front tire width and/or increasing the tires' grip. Buy some Toyo Proxes RA1 tires or others in the UTQG 50-100 class. You won't be disappointed with their grip, you will be disappointed they do not last oodles of miles; they'd be really fun for one summer. Alternatively, some UTQG 200 tires are fun and last longer than their UTQG 100 cousins.

The idea of hollowing out the factory 3EE and inserting modern guts sounds intriguing. Especially if in the act of hollowing the 3EE, you can design the action of opening to be repeatable. Then you'd have a forever case and the internals could be replaced as needed.

Edited February 8 by Geoff
3rd paragraph added

[mfg]

To me, there are three main reasons for making this battery modification…..

1) Taking weight off the front end of an Avanti, and placing it in the trunk…..improving weight distribution

2) Removing the stress of supporting a very heavy battery from a rather fragile and breakable fiberglass inner fender skirt

3) Leaving an obsolete and cumbersome  3EE battery with the John Deere folks, and moving to a much more common (and in my opinion more reliable) Group 24 style

[Gunslinger]

Locating the battery allows you the option of a Group 24 battery or the larger Group 27 giving increased cranking amps and reserve power.  This would be at the cost of losing a bit more trunk space.