I need a new battery for the bug to finally get it finished and am not sure which battery to buy. Due to daft reasons and a narrow battery box, I need to buy a Varley Redtop type battery. I don't know how many cold cranking amps are needed for a 1600? The Varley redtop 30 has 450 CCA whilst the redtop 40 has 500CCA - will either do? Also I have seen an Odyssey PC1100 with 500 CCA and it's a fair bit cheaper. Can anybody help me make the final decision?

Sounds like one for Chad , he's the king of electrickrry

Thanks for that - I thought there might be an expert lurking! How do I get in touch with Chad.

Quote from: Mark Darby on September 14, 2016, 02:17:58 PM
How do I get in touch with Chad.

Go to members find Chad e-mail option, or from the home page @ the bottom ( Users online green symbol) PM from there, and by the way he is online and probably reading this 

Unless you have a high compression performance engine fitted any will do 360 crank amps wil do a beetle

Thank you Snoopy. The engine is a 1600. Lightened and balanced etc, built by Andy Storer - should be around 100bhp'ish. Don't know about compression though. Do you think 360 cca will still do it?

All three you have listed will do it my 2L twin cam motor has used a standard beetle motor and battery for years.
  It now has a beetle automatic starter fitted as  reconditioned ones came up for sale as mine was slowly dying with age these have an extra 1/2 hp to compensate for the load imposed by the fluid transmission mine is also parked outside and used every day the only time it has failed to turn over fast enough was during the -20C mornings of the other winter

Most folks on here will have a bog standard beetle srater with all sorts of engine sizes and power outputs.

Snoopy you are the font of all starter motor knowledge! Thank you 

No, just been doing this sine 1974 so loads of practice and trial and error.

I have a red top in my buggy, no problems

The only thing to watch is they don't like to be fully discharged so keep it topped up

Bog std battery.

Kicks over the Porsche 928 starter on my Corvair with ease

Thank you everybody. Making decisions on bits to buy is so much easier now I've joined here. Decided to go for the Odyssey as it is a fair bit cheaper. Am I mad? This is it: https://www.tayna.co.uk/Odyssey-PC1100-Extreme-Series-Battery-P9444.html

Quote from: Mark Darby on September 16, 2016, 03:30:34 PM
Thank you everybody. Making decisions on bits to buy is so much easier now I've joined here. Decided to go for the Odyssey as it is a fair bit cheaper. Am I mad? This is it: https://www.tayna.co.uk/Odyssey-PC1100-Extreme-Series-Battery-P9444.html

Should I stop fannying around and just order it?

Seems a lot of money for a battery for not such a special starter motor, why not just a Halfords special with a 3 year guarantee. IMHO

Completely agree! Problem is that the battery box is mounted on the central tunnel under the dash and it's made to take a redtop style battery as it's a narrow space.