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Posted By Discussion Topic: Battery Venting -- page: 1 2     MG 02-21-2011 @ 5:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1263 Joined: Nov 2009 On page 29 in my '37 Ford Reference Book/Owners Manual, the battery is depicted with a vent tube which runs accross the top of the battery and attached to the battery filler caps. I would like to duplicate this with a rubber hose and three Ford script battery caps I have. I need to know how to attach the caps to the hose so that they will still turn/screw on & off the battery. Have any of you had any success in building/duplicting this setup? supereal 02-22-2011 @ 11:38 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 We used to see tube vented caps on tractor batteries long ago. The had the unfortunate habit of allowing acid to escape with the fumes, causing damage to battery trays and any other metal nearby. ford38v8 02-22-2011 @ 9:48 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2795 Joined: Oct 2009 Bob, the setup that MG describes is a single year (1937) orphan, and must be that way on the Concourse to avoid a point deduction. MG, I have seen some nice looking installations and some pretty rough ones, but for the life of me, I can't remember the exact detail of the good ones, other than black rubber tubing with one L and two T connectors, the final tube going down the side closest the fender. The connectors are hidden by the tubes pushed close up, any part visible being blackened. The caps themselves being script raises a big question mark in my dumb head, as the scripts would obviously be obscured by the connectors at the centers. I'm ashamed to say I've judged '37's at almost two dozen meets and can't give you a better answer than that. Alan MG 02-24-2011 @ 5:28 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1263 Joined: Nov 2009 Alan, I'm in the process of duplicating one of these vent tubes. Do you happen to know if the vent tube should be plugged/capped at it's battery end or left open? nelsb01 02-25-2011 @ 6:18 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1011 Joined: Oct 2009 Given the modern technolgy of 6 volt batterys now, I know that several owners of 1937's had 'fake' vent tubes on their batteries. The tube as I remember, was D shaped, with the flat part of the D being the piece that connects to the battery cap vent. A little 'black goop' and you can 'attach' the D tube to the battery caps. How they got the D tube to bend down into the fender is unknown. Hope this helps --- it is a simple 'fix' to not lose points, and look correct. 37RAGTOPMAN 02-25-2011 @ 8:35 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1971 Joined: Oct 2009 I always thought the battery caps had special battery caps with little tube with pointed tips on the end and the rubber hose has slits in it that you slid over the pointed ends of the special battery caps,and the rubber tubing was routed down so the fumes would escape out down below, some of the foreign cars still do this, AUTO ZONE SELLS some batteries that also have the drain tubes,that are routed down and out, my 3 cents ,37RAGTOPMAN and KEEP on FORDIN,,,,, supereal 02-25-2011 @ 8:59 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Alan: I learn something new every day. I have always admired the style of the '37s, but never owned one. It seems that there was a lot of experimentation that year, with a new water pump location, cable brakes, and other "tweaks". Part was playing catch up with competitors, particularly Plymouth, and it was likely the resurgent depression caused some soul seaching to perk up sales. Some ideas worked, others were abandoned by the time '39 rolled around. It rather reminds me of the current scene. ford38v8 02-25-2011 @ 12:12 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2795 Joined: Oct 2009 MG, I wouldn't modify the vent system for a modern battery at all. As Bruce said, the vent hose can be fake for appearance only. Regarding the D shape hose, that also rings a faint bell among the cobwebs, but I for one would not doc points if it were a round hose, provided the installation was neat. Bob, The cable brakes were new to Ford in '37, but were original to the Lincoln Zephyr in '36. It's a shame that they were still imperfect by '37 and required aftermarket floaters to correct the flaw. Alan Lincoln 02-25-2011 @ 12:32 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 56 Joined: Oct 2009 The 1937 FORD Book shows this same picture and gives a brief description of how it is setup. As already described, the rubber tube that collects and vents off the battery fumes is "D" shaped and hollow on the inside, and has three small holes on the flat side which corresponds to the location of the three battery caps. It is about 31 1/2" long and in one piece. Each battery cap has a small vent nipple protruding from its top that slides into the hole of the tube. The tube, part number 78-10719, is soft enough to accept the nipples and still allow it to hang down along side of the battery where it exited through the right side inner fender panel. Each battery cap had "FORD" script and "USA" in small letters that was offset to the nipple. No doubt this tube did not last too long when the car was serviced later on and the battery water level was checked. The tube was probably discarded. Lincoln MG 02-25-2011 @ 1:04 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1263 Joined: Nov 2009 Alan, The vent tube pictured in the owners manual certainly is not "D" shaped but rather, it is round. I'm using 3/4" O.D. - 3/8" I.D. rubber hose. This hose fits perfectly in the exit hole provided for it in the inner right fender. As for the battery caps, I purchased three 'Raindrip' inline irrigation dripper/nipples at my local hardware store. I drilled the vent holes in the caps to accommodate these dripper/nipples and super glued them to the tops of the caps - looks like the caps were manufactured that way. I drilled 3 small holes at the correct distancing between caps in the rubber hose and slipped/pushed the hose on to the nipples. It's a nice tight fit and the caps still turn. Installed on the battery, I must say, this setup looks exactly to what is pictured in the owners manual. Also, I think it is functional in venting the battery. But again, I can't determine from the picture in the manual if the hose is plugged at the battery end. It would seem to me that left unplugged, air would be forced through the hose by the engine fan and forward movement of the car thus forcing any liquid in the hose out the other end. I do have a rubber plug for the hose and the setup looks much better with this plug installed. To plug or not to plug - that is the question. This message was edited by MG on 2-25-11 @ 5:01 PM

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