Battery cables don't fit the battery posts

[AJ Roadster NJ]

I'm using the cables that (I think at least) came with the kit, although I cut down the positive cable a lot.

My battery is located above the driver footbox using a Breeze kit. It is an Optima red-top with posts on top. The cable ends are WAY too big for the the posts.

What's up with that? I've been researching post sizes online and everyone assumes SAE sizing, so I would've expected the cables to match the posts. Optima doesn't even say anything about post sizing on their site, which I would think means they are SAE, although there are 3 SAE sizes. (I definitely do not have the JIS size posts.)

Even though the cable ends from FFR are the squish-together-as-they-tighten sort, there is no way to put them anywhere close to tight on the posts.

So how have I been go-karting these last couple summers, you ask, while I finish up the car? Well, the night of the first start, I went to hook up the battery as one of the final steps and encountered the issue. There were 20 people eating pizza and drinking beer in my garage waiting to hear her roar. So we stuck a couple screws in the gap and on we went. I have to get this sorted out. And yes that's been working fine for terrorizing the neighbors! :)

[riptide motorsport]

switch the ends to side posts to get a good connection to your optima.

[Richard Oben]

Positive and negative are different sizes, you may be putting a cable desinged for pos on the neg. HTH, Richard.

[AJ Roadster NJ]

I have the black cable on the negative and grounded to the chassis. The red runs to the starter. The weird thing is that BOTH of them are too big for their posts. The black cable might fit the positive terminal (didn't actually try that) but then the red cable would be way way oversize for the negative terminal.

[Mustang Man]

What model is your Redtop? You might have an issue with the PN using smaller posts. I've seen battery post shims you can buy to increase the size of the post for a better cable fit. I had to do this for my son's Escort before with a new battery and stock cables...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41D0LARjHQL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

HTH...
Mark

[genebaker]

Why does the positive battery cable clamp from FFR (long red 4 gauge wire) seem too small to fit the (larger) positive battery post. Could it be the wrong clamp, or should I just bend it further open? Diameter of the wider side is .665 in. It's actually a bit smaller than the clamp for the ground cable sent with the Breeze engine bay kit.

[AC Bill]

You must have bought a battery with the JIS size (Japanese Industry Standard), instead of SAE. Many of the early Japanese built cars had the smaller posts.