Description
These replica cases are designed to hold a 6V Optima battery. Battery not included. You will have to remove the mounting tabs from the battery for it to fit into the case.
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. You won’t *have* to do anything to make one of these cases work in your Jeep. But as the end user there are steps you can take to push them to the next level.
After extensive research and discussions with G503 historians we have decided to produce two models of cases in two classes with optional highlighting of the letters. (Information on the two models in service on page 26 of this thread here: https://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=314026&start=375) 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 painted 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. There is no physical difference between the classes. You can buy an unmarked Motor Pool case and paint it yourself. You might even do a better job.
Shipping in the United States is $25, Europe and the UK $75 and the Antipodes is $90. Unfortunately our shop software is clunky for International orders. If you require overseas shipment, please contact us via email to Admin@g518parts.com to order and we will invoice you. 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 customer purchases to Stateside freight forwarding agents.
We are only able to produce about 5 cases a week. These are hand cast and hand painted by us. We do these in the evenings and on weekends, outside of our regular employment. But we promise to make and ship these cases out as fast as we can.
We have been using Specialty Resin & Chemical products since the beginning. Starting in 2024 we have entered into an affiliate partnership with them. If you are looking to do your own casting, it helps us if you order through the link above. Thank you.
