Dear Tod,
Been there, done that- and Now, I'll tell you how.
On Fri, 15 Aug 1997,
Todd Mullins wrote:
=%OThe entanglement of my MGB into the rest of my muddled life continues:
=%O
=%O- My twin 6V batteries finally succumbed, so after a few weeks of
=%Oparking on hills (Hills? So close to the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf
=%OCoast?) I sacrificed a Saturday to the Spirit of Battery Shopping.
=%ODespite at one point finding myself parallel parked on a busy
=%Othoroughfare in driving rain with two lifeless batteries, I managed to
=%Owind up at a DAPS, where twenty minutes with a brainless mutant
You were lucky you got one of those mutants without a brain. They are far
worse when they have their mutant opinions!
=%Oeventually resulted in what I consider to be quite a find: A 72 month
=%OFord Motorcraft (purists piss off) Group 26 12V battery for $45.
Indeed. I bought the group 26 Interstate battery here in CA for about the
same price. Works great!
I'm
=%Oactually quite proud of that one. Tip of the Week: When buying a
=%Obattery for your MGB, don't forget to bring along your bottle jack with
=%Owhich to remove your dying 6V Pep Boys specials, which of course don't
=%Ohave any sort of handles for lifting them out of the battery bins (the
=%Onew battery has a very nice integral lifting handle).
There is this battery handle that I bought at Super Trak or Peep Boys that
clips onto the terminals and allows you to lift batteries right out. Only
cost ~3 bux. Very handy. I don't have a bottle jack though- wish I did.
Observation of
=%Othe Week: Folks who visit auto parts stores on Saturdays generally know
=%Olots of nifty things about cars. One fellow parked next to the 'B while
=%OI was sworking on lifting the old batteries out. "Got a pair of
=%Opliers?" he asked. Of course I did; he had a second pair, and suggested
=%Ousing them to grip the battery terminals. Done this way, the batteries
=%Olifted out quite easily. The new battery is an absolutely perfect fit
=%Oin the battery bin, having a perfectly smooth outer case.
=%O
=%O- Addendum: When installing your new battery, give careful
=%Oconsideration to installing an auxiliary ground strap from battery to
=%Oengine. I used a 78 inch cable with a side-post terminal on one end and
=%Oa piece of metal with a hole in it on the other end. The side-post end
=%Ofits nicely on the bolt holding the battery ground strap to the battery
=%Obin; 78 inches of cable is just long enough to allow the other end to
=%Oreach the clutch slave cylinder mounting bolts. Even though my other
=%Ogrounding strap is intact, the additional ground gives me lots of
=%Omuch-needed peace of mind.
Good Idea! Sounds inexpensive and therefor I'll have to give it a try!
=%O
=%O- I've often bragged on this forum and others about my S.U fuel pump,
For fear mine will somehow know I'm talking about it- I reserve comment.
=%O
=%O
=%O- My bores are seriously worn. I'm losing lots of oil from the
=%Ocrankcase pressurization from all of the blow-by, and it's starting to
=%Oseep down onto the hot exhaust manifold, which makes that distinctive
=%Oodor that I get to enjoy every time I park. It's even starting to come
=%Oout of the exhaust, such that I feel like James Bond using the smoke
=%Oscreen on his famous Aston Martin ("Interesting car of yours, Mr.
=%OBond!"). I can afford to take a cavalier approach, with the spare 18V
=%Oslated for a rebuild Real Soon Now (balancing, porting, 9.0:1 pistons
=%Oand a Piper 270 cam, since you asked), and the original motor still
=%Omaking decent power. My life is so gosh-darned wonderful, except for
=%Oall of the money that I haven't got...
How many miles on your engine?
"Never ascribe to Malice that which can be explained by Ignorance"
John J. Peloquin
Molecular Biology &
Biochemistry
3205 BioSciences II
UC IRVINE
Irvine, CA 92697-3900
jpeloqui@uci.edu
1970 MGB-GT
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