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Thanks for advice on TWO BATTERIES

To: healeys@autox.team.net
Subject: Thanks for advice on TWO BATTERIES
From: bj8healey@juno.com
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:19:20 -0500
I wish to thank each and everyone of you who sent me emails with a wealth
of good information such as
1) if I do it at all, hook them in parallel which is just opposite of
what I thought
2) why not try a gear reduction starter
3) buy a bigger battery
4) get everything else checked out because I shouldn't need two batteries
5) use heavier gauge cables inside the car to replace my old and probably
inefficient cables 
6) and much, much  more good information. 
 I just love you people..

I sent individual responses to the first several emails I received but a
lot more came in so I wanted to thank everyone else here expeditiously. I
am a terribly slow, hunt and peck typist.

As an aside this was a temporary fix that I chanced upon because I came
in possession of a second battery and figured to use it until I had some
work done on my love. She needs a tune up and there is a severe lack of
places around here to get one done. I have no idea whatsoever of how to
tune up my Healey but am going to learn. So I bought a book from Moss on
how to tune the carbs and will try that myself. I also plan to go to
electronic ignition from Petronix because points and the stuff in a
distributor are foreign to me. New spark cables are in order also as well
as plugs of course. I need to get the choke from getting stuck in the
full choke position. When I push the choke knob back in the wires leading
to the carbs just flex and do not push the choke back to normal. I am
going to try stiff single ply cables and pull back springs there.  

 I also have some bad spots on my flywheel or starter or both where when
the two get aligned together a certain way it takes a LOT of oomph to get
past that spot.  Many years ago I made the mistake of turning the key to
see if my battery was dead while the flywheel was spinning as I coasted
down the highway at 60 mph. Big mistake!  I believe the explanation was
that "the starter Bendix spring tried to engage the flywheel to start the
car and sheared off a few teeth because the flywheel was already spinning
as it had not come to rest after I turned off the motor"  My stupidity
also  locked the starter and the flywheel together so no amount of
battery power would break them free. That was a massive trauma as I had
to abandon the car on the highway and hitchhike home 50 miles and get a
tow bar and come back in a borrowed car to pick up my Healey. Cell phones
hadn't been invented then and I was not in AAA. I was very young and
naive then..

My pride and joy is sometimes hard to crank when the engine is very hot
which happens a lot in south Florida. There are things that can be done
to make it run cooler, but those take time (and knowledge) to do.

There are many things I need to get done to my baby before it will start
and run easily, all of them necessary but time consuming. So a temporary
quick fix with my spare battery seemed like a good idea at the time. And
I certainly agree with all of you who said that two batteries is NOT a
good long term or permanent fix. The "devil is in the detail" but there
is where I must go for a permanent fix.

Once again thank you one and all.

Rob 
bj8healey@juno.com

Rob Fromm    Naples, Florida   
"A Man is as Good as his Word. My Word is my Bond." (My motto)

"No wealth or position can long endure unless built upon truth and
justice; 
therefore, I will engage in no transaction that does not benefit all whom
it affects." from Think and Grow Rich  by Napoleon Hill. (My philosophy) 




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