anyone make stainless battery bolts?

Try a marine place.

Try an industrial fastener place; they can get you long bolts and all-thread. What you need will depend on the configuration, but I know that you are in the DC area, and I know for sure that Fastenal in Beltsville has 10-24 all-thread in stainless for about a buck a foot.

--scott

Funny you should suggest that; Chesapeake Marine Fasteners used to be my go-to place for hardware, but I went by there last Saturday and they've apparently been replaced by a roof and siding place. Now I'm limited to whatever West Marine may have, and their selection isn't a quarter as good.

nate

yes, but battery bolts and nuts are special in shape... the bolts have a large square head and the nuts are thicker than normal and have a round protrusion on one side of the hex. If you use "regular" hardware then you need two wrenches to remove the terminals and the lead clamps get all chewed up when you tighten them.

nate

Stainless steel is not always the panacea.. I suggest you think this out a bit more.

Maybe you need to look in audio supply.

-jim

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My experience has been that many times the soft lead by the square head gets eaten away and you have to use two wrenches anyway. Plus the second wrench helps prevent putting stress on the battery post.

Stainless washers cost 0.15 - 0.25. You can get cheaper ones by drilling holes in a few nickels... :-)

A couple of places with many types of battery terminals, cable, and other stuff related to custom vehicle wiring:

You should be able to get the nuts. The bolts could be an adventure, but I was thinking about just taking all-thread and making a big U bolt.

--scott

Wait, wait! Are we talking about the bolts on the clamps here, or about the hold-down hardware?

--scott

If it happens that often, check your charging circuit. This is a symptom of too high a charging voltage. Check the charge voltage with a good expanded scale voltmeter. A high charge voltage can shorten the battery life. With modern batteries and a proper charge program from the regulator the terminals should stay clean for a long time.

The alternator is a fresh rebuilt Delco 10SI; charging voltage is a little over 14V. No problem there. In fact if there is a problem it is likely because the car sits for weeks at a time as my free time to mess with it is limited. I've gone through three batteries since I got the car, which I don't understand, as batteries usually last forever in my care (in fact, both of my other vehicles still have the batteries that were in them when I bought them.)

nate

I got some fancy terminals at "Battery's Plus" sure they are availible elsewhere tho. These are copper with a plating, prolly zinc. The attachement of the wiring is different too. The wires get stripped and cleaned, they are inserted into terminal and a compression nut is tightened. This is very clean and solid. Also have found that the little felt washers under the terminals help prevent this problem.

Old adage about electric and other fasteners. " Make all electric connections mechanically strong. Make all mechanical connections electriclly sound." I always try to keep this in mind.

disston

The bolts on the clamps. I bought new heavy gauge battery cables when I first resurrected the car, but the terminal clamp bolts are already eaten up with rust.

nate

In what way? The bolts are corroding, how could I stop them from corroding save for using a corrosion resistant material? I'm already coating them with glop, and that's not working.

nate

Nate, If it was me I'd probably swap the cables for factory made side terminal units and then make sure you have a good battery. If your seeing that much corrosion on the bolts and clamps I would bet your battery is outgassing through the terminals.

If you want top mount clamps those are also available in molded factory styles. Bolt wise stainless doesn't handle acid very well. I have seen some nice gold plated clamps sold at high end stereo shops. Those include gold plated bolts.

Side terminal? Why?

I'm sure it is, but I am not aware of any way to stop this from happening.

I was hoping to keep a vaguely factory-like appearance under the hood...

nate

Agreed... I would really worry about outgassing issues if you are seeing excessive clamp corrosion.

Most of the gold plated clamps are just gold flashed with a very thin layer to make them look good. Those are not actually any more corrosion resistant than conventional clamps. Some of them may actually have a nice thick plating to them but you're going to have to look around to find anything decent in that market.

--scott