In case anybody is wondering, no, a Group 24F battery will not fit an '85 LTD with the 3.8. I took a gamble since I couldn't find anybody locally that had a Group 56 (well for a price I was willing to pay anyway). All the websites I found said the 24F would fit police/taxi variants so I gave it a shot.
The battery does physically fit in the battery tray, but the cooling fan on the alternator sits right on the case of the battery. The sticking point is the width. The 24F is 3/4" wider than the 56. Oh well. Looks like I'm off to find a BXT56A.
It does look like Advance sells and stocks a DieHard 56-1, but I can find the Motorcraft battery cheaper. Here are a couple of options if you are looking and need something right away:
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
https://www.autozone.com/batteries-s...cca/959734_0_0
This is what was in the car. That thing was 9 years old. Pretty impressive.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...56/ssbo/56prmj
I'll probably just see if O'Reilly's can order this for me:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...56/mot0/bxt56a
Of course there is also this from a Ford dealer:
https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/el...p-bxt56a?pdp=y
It also looks like a 54 and 55 should fit, but they are quite a bit shorter in length and I don't know what kind of CA/CCA you can get with those.
Hopefully this is helpful to somebody in the future.
Connect With Us