I finally got around to bringing my 1968 MGB out of cold storage this past
weekend (thus far, spring in Wisconsin has been wretched) and ran into two
problems.
First, my batteries appear to be dead. I jumped it, but after a half hour of
continuous operation, they were still too flat to turn the engine over. The
batteries are relatively new (< 4 yrs.) but spent a good portion of their life
sitting uncharged while the engine waited for a rebuild. Is there any way to
bring them back to life? If not, I would like to replace the two with a
single 12V. What types of batteries have enough power and still fit in one of
the two battery holes?
My second problem is that my clutch appears to have gone flakey. It always
disengages OK, but sometimes it refuses to reengage. The pedal will just
slowly work its way back to its top position at which point the clutch will
engage. Pumping at it seems to ultimately work, but it's no fun to try to
start on a hill when you aren't sure that the clutch will engage. Luckily,
noone was behind me :-). I'm guessing a sticking slave or master cylinder.
All the mechanical parts were replaced with an engine rebuild about 1 year
ago so I assume they are good. The symptoms it is exhibiting were present
very slightly before it went into storage in December, but are much worse now.
If my suspicions are correct, how hard is the slave cylinder to get to? How
can I determine which is at fault or should I just replace both?
Thanks in advance for any help.
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