Willard Battery Cover

[John Neuenburg]

Forums like this are much friendlier than FB for searching. And the dozens of categories of MV and related things can be accessed quickly here. FB is clunky by comparison. One thing that would give the G a boost would be an easier way to attach pictures. Raise the file size limit. I'll bet 75% of the people on here don't know how to reduce the file size of their pics so they can be attached. Putting pics on a photo sharing website like Surfacezero.com allows any file size and then a link to the pic can be pasted into a post, but that is about a 15-step computer exercise.

[CLeBlanc]

Is there any possibility of a 12v version?

[Rustman]

Battery Case Update 1.

Adam has provided further and DETAILED feedback that others might find helpful. First, although we provide a styrofoam block in each case. It is not the final answer to a perfectly level fit. The bottoms of the cases have some variation. I know people in the past have used cardboard, even from the packaging of the case when it was shipped. And I myself have used cardboard and styrofoam in the demonstrator I took to the MVPA rally. But Adam is very precise in how he does things. You might want to be as well? Here's his words:

I used a deck of playing cards to get the right gap beneath the battery adding and removing one at a time.

When i achieved the depth. I used a calliper then planed down a piece of wood till it was correct and placed it under the battery sealing the wood first as it would swell with water ingress.

Next to get the case as square as possible Adam proceeded to carefully sand the Optima battery in addition to the sanding on the case that we do. He then glued down the lid to add to the rigidity to keep the case square. Again in his words:

As there was not enough material on the case sides. I shaved away the battery adding tipex so i could see where the battery was touching the case when retro fitting so i new where to shave.

This took me about 3 hours but not rushing.

After i got it all together and sealed the lid. The case was still slightly out so i clamped both opposite corners till the lid had dried that held everything in place. (Weight on lid whilst drying)

In my personal opinion, most of you won't have to go to that trouble and you'll find the fit sufficient enough. But here's how he did it, if you want to take it further. There's seven battery cases on the shelf right now that will be going out to finish fulfilling the legacy orders. So within a week everyone who has been waiting should have received their cases.

Matthew

[Rustman]

Battery update 2

In the ever forward quest for accuracy I am coming across increasing evidence that the factory new batteries were rather shiny. While original examples are usually dull and sometimes even grayed out our NOS 1951 battery is quite glossy. In addition a review of the photographs show that even in B&W a slight sheen to the cases. The final piece of evidence is that the 1942 Willard catalog even sells black lacquer touch-up paint for their dealers.

Here's our two original batteries with either the cases as we do them now or one I quickly sprayed with some Rustoleum semi-gloss just to get an idea of the appearance. What do people think? Do we need to do a Factory battery as well as a Motor Pool battery?

Matthew

[Rustman]

Is there any possibility of a 12v version?

I won't say no. But, here me out. What you are looking at is the culmination of about 4 years of effort by multiple individuals at a case just to hold an Optima 6V battery. I don't even know where to begin to try and make a 12V version. What battery do people use? Is it somehow smaller than an BCI group 2 in all dimensions? If it is smaller, will it produce enough amps? Can that same battery be found in Europe? England? The Antipodes? What does one do with the terminals that are in the wrong place? The Negative terminal would be coming up through the edge of the cell bridge between the negative and center cell covers. So many questions and I have ZERO answers. At least with the Optima 6V those questions were answered and it was "just" a matter of making the case. A 12V version is a complete ground up design. It will be YEARS before I even begin to try that, if I do at all.

Matt

[Rustman]

The post/email you’ve been waiting for. Please READ TO THE END.

After nearly two years, thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours in research & development, tears, blood, and sleepless nights we are ready to make and ship battery cases. 

We ONLY have Willard SW-2-116 & SW-2-119 cases that fit ONLY a 6-volt Optima battery.

Will there be a 12V version? Will there be Auto-lite or Ford versions? Maybe. Someday? Right now I’m tired. This has been a marathon struggle. Let me enjoy delivering these and let those who want a six volt Willard enjoy these.  Please don’t use this post to ask about other possible (or impossible) configurations.

These cases and lids are cast from Urethane resin. It is inert and will not melt, although around 200 degrees Fahrenheit or 95 degrees Celsius it does become pliable.  They are made by hand and some variation exists. They were cast from an ORIGINAL case. That means these are within 1/32” (0.79mm) of the ORIGINAL for size. This also means that the Optima battery just barely fits inside the case. I personally fit every case to ensure it will work. Although some cases are pushed slightly oblong. This is typically covered by the lid but can be corrected by warming the case with a heat gun and clamping straight until it cools. With each case is a block of Styrofoam to raise the Optima battery to about the right height. As these are hand cast there are some variations in the case bottom thickness. You may have to shave down the Styrofoam or build it up with some strips of cardboard. 
The lid is held down by the battery hold down and therefore there is not a need for doing any gluing, sealing or other work when installing into a G503 application. The battery hold down frame completely hides the seam. If you are using the case in a different application and need to make changes the urethane resin is easily machinable with wood or metal working tools and can be glued with epoxy or CA glue. The cell connectors are also cast in Urethane, with metal powder to give the appearance of lead, even if scratched. We try for bubble free castings and smooth paint, but occasionally defects do occur, we apologize but are confident that from more than a foot away nobody will notice any. 

After extensive research and discussions with G503 historians we have decided to produce two models of cases in three classes with optional highlighting of the letters. (Information on the two models in service on page 26 of this thread) They are as follows:

SW-2-116 & SW-2-119

Motor Pool Class $150 These cases have a dull finish with a slight sheen on the “tar” lines and are representative of a battery in service. 

Factory Class $160 These cases have a coat of lacquer or enamel paint and are representative of factory new batteries that had lacquer paint applied to the cases.  

Any class of case can have the lettering highlighted for $10 per case. The medallion, “Willard” & “Standard Duty” on the front of the case is highlighted as well as the lettering on the fill caps. The lettering and medallions on the back and side are NOT painted. This follows the prototype practice. The “Safety-Fill”, “Willard” and Patent information on the top is NOT painted, as per prototype. Please notify us if you do not want the fill caps highlighted (replacement fill caps in the army stock system did not have highlighted lettering and were not lacquered) while factory original ones were painted. 

Shipping in the United States is $25, Europe and the UK $75 and the Antipodes is $90. Each case ships in its own box. The packaging is completely recyclable, biodegradable and combustible. Unfortunately, we are unable to combine shipping. We do not falsify customs information, but will happily ship overseas customer purchases to Stateside freight forwarding agents. 

We are only able to produce 5-10 cases a week. These are hand cast by Nicole and myself in our basement. They are hand painted by her in the dining room. We are not a factory; we aren’t even a full time parts company. Rather all three of us at Mifflinburg have other, full-time employment. We do these in the evenings and on weekends. We will make and ship these cases out as fast as we can to orders through our website. All products will be listed as “backordered” and we will fulfill purchases in the order they come in. We are only selling these through our website. We are not taking orders via comments, or messages. 

It has been a long journey to reach this point. None of us have a background in manufacturing. The challenges in vehicle restoration take on another dimension when a process used to create a component now has to be repeatable and consistent. If I was to make a battery case for myself I could have taken and cast the original, spent a weekend or two and had a stunning example. For myself. But in manufacturing one cannot take a weekend or two and hundreds of dollars in materials to create each component every time. 
I thank each and every one of you for your patience. These cases aren’t perfect, but they are the best we can do at this time. You won’t *have* to do anything with them for them to be useable in your Jeep. But undoubtedly you will *want* to make improvements. I look forward to seeing what you do. 

Here is the link to order: https://g518parts.com/?product=willard-battery-case
If you’ve read this far congratulations on your patience. If you still have a question, please ask.  Will we be developing more products? Yes. But not for a little bit. I’m tired and want to focus on what we have here for a while. I also would like to work on my own vehicle restorations and build a house. Thank you. 

Matthew Picciotto

[John Neuenburg]

Matt, great job so far! Now I would like you to make reproduction Indian 6v motorcycle batteries from the 1940s. The texture on my original one is tiny arrow heads.



Kidding! About the request, not the arrow heads. I am looking forward to seeing the Willard you will be sending in a couple months.

[OkieMB43]

Matt,
I for one just want to say thank you for what you have done for the hobby. I, as others, waited for almost 1 1/2 years and it was worth the wait. Get some well deserved rest.

[Rustman]

While poking around the internet I came across this solution from Italy. I'd be curious to see "under the hood" looks like the case is taller with cables connecting the terminals in the top to the Optima terminals and even a disconnecting means. Looks rather clever.

https://www.delgrano-jeep.it/en/2022/09 ... rd-gpwgpa/

Matt

[ww2DAD]

Rustman,
Those are some great bat covers. I will be looking to buying one hopefully here in the future. It will be for the OPTIMA 6V bat. AND I understand the effort in doing this! Again, great job.

[John Neuenburg]

While poking around the internet I came across this solution from Italy. I'd be curious to see "under the hood" looks like the case is taller with cables connecting the terminals in the top to the Optima terminals and even a disconnecting means. Looks rather clever.

https://www.delgrano-jeep.it/en/2022/09 ... rd-gpwgpa/

Matt

I can't figure out what the man said about those hidden things in the top. But in any case, for someone to invest in a replica shell with Optima, they are by definition a purist and for a purist, a taller battery than stock will probably be a "non-starter." Pun intended.

Earlier in this thread was there an idea suggested about using remote battery posts built into a thick top, with long cables attached to the bottom of them leading to the terminals on the Optima? Or maybe I had a dream about it. The shell would have no bottom, so the battery is placed on the tray, hold the cover just over it and attach the cables, and slip the cover over the battery. The cables could probably be tucked into the available spaces inside. The shell would have to be maybe 2 inches taller, unless there is a 6v battery shorter than the Optima with enough amps to do the job. A short battery with side terminals solves much of the height problem but I don't know if one exists.

Remote terminals like this:

[Rustman]

John,

I had tried the battery from the underside method at one point. I cut out one of the cases in the outline of the Optima and even trimmed off the red "lip" on the top of the Optima battery. But as our case was molded off an original there wasn't enough room to pull it off. The bottom corners are rounded in and are smaller than the top so even with trimming the battery excessively it just wasn't enough to do it.

That said there is still 1" of vertical clearance between the battery case floor and the Optima that we build up with a block of Styrofoam and advise people to use cardboard for final shimming. I'm waiting for an enterprising individual to parallel several smaller AGM or dry cell batteries to make a 12V solution with the terminals diagonal using terminals like you shared. Something like this, it's only 155 CCA but somebody might be able to fit 3 of them into the case:

I'm not that interested in doing it myself to invest that time and money. But if anyone else wants to I would happily supply the interior dimensions of the case. We can even ship you a "second" that isn't up to our standards for regular use, at a deep discount. But you could take a saw to the bottom and experiment with to figure out what is possible. I guess in the end what I'm saying is, we have created a case that is copied off an original. We have all the outside figured out. If someone is an electrical engineer or mechanically inclined enough I not only don't mind them tinkering but encourage it. Just that I'm not going to do it.

Matt

[John Neuenburg]

Matt, I like way you do it and personally have no problem with working with the Optima posts fitting through holes in the lid. It is important to have a case and top that looks just like an original with the same dimensions.

[Savannasbob1]

Just got back from an extended trip and found my batteries have arrived. Thank you for doing a great job on thus project!!!!! They look real, and can't wait to install them in my projects. Take the time to work on your stuff you deserve it. A job well done.

[Rustman]

Just got back from an extended trip and found my batteries have arrived. Thank you for doing a great job on thus project!!!!! They look real, and can't wait to install them in my projects. Take the time to work on your stuff you deserve it. A job well done.

Thank you! Although we track the shipping via the post office, it's always nice to get that real confirmation from the buyer. I look forward to seeing them installed.

I've already been hit up for a "seconds" case for an enterprising individual to attempt a 12V build. I'm excited to see what transpires. While I don't plan to do one, myself, I love seeing those kinds of things. Like the person who modified their trailer socket to use as a lamp source for extra brake lights.

Matt