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Watering the Suzuki Swift (Geo Metro/Pontiac Firefly)...
After 6 or 8 months of attempting to remember to check all the cells of the floodies, and fill to correct levels, I forgot one month and pretty much ran the pack 'dry'.... which I noticed from a sudden loss of power on my way home one day. Checking the front cells in my car was not bad, but filling the rear 6 batteries was a bit of a chore involving removal of the rear seat, and took a good solid hour or hour and a half. I decided that the cost of a single-point watering system could be justified in time savings, so went ahead and ordered a Flow-rite system with fill points for the front and rear. The front system installed in a snap, although I had to cut off many of the 'ears' on the caps to clear my battery tie downs and terminal clamps. The 4-cell manifolds were JUST tall enough to clear my hold-down bars, but they were TOO TALL for the rear rack cover!
So, I contacted Flow-rite and they agreed to allow me to trade in the 6 manifolds from the rear set for individual swivel mounts that snap into each cell cap. This allows a vertical height the same as the top of the terminal lugs, which JUST clear my battery box lid. Installation was easy, just a matter of cutting the tubing and deciding where I wanted the fill point to stick thru. I decided to poke it thru to the rear cargo area, and battened down the hatch for 'the last time'. One word of caution during install is to be careful with the original caps, and they have acid on them! I decided to save them since I will probably re-install when I recycle them. Second installation tip is that the rubber washers on the cell caps are a little loose, and can become misaligned, which makes tighening hard and leaks possible. After the first couple I started smearing them with a little vasaline to hold them in place before install which made things go smoother... Watering is now a 'BREEZE' and literally takes about a minute. I checked after filling, and the level in every cell is the same, and no leaks... whew. This is a great investment for people with floodies! total install front and back : 2 hrs |
