>Listers,
>
>What a difference a day makes. I had a new canvas top installed on my
>Spitfire yesterday. In combination with the new paint job she looks
>absolutely fantastic. I drove quite a bit too and she is running quite well.
>Today's task was easy --- run down to the corner shop and have them rotate
>the tires, check alignment, change oil and trans fluid. An easy day.
>
>Turn the key and smoke pours out everywhere. I threw the disconnect as soon
>as I could get to it, but I've got melted wires running around in lots of
>areas now. Too depressed about it to even look any closer at what I'm going
>to have to do.
>
>One step forward and about five steps backwards it seems :(
>
>
>Dave Moag
>62 TR3B
>77 Spitfire (just when I thought it was about done)
Hi Dave --
I too have a 77 Spit, and I too had this happen to me. Well,
actually, I was driving down the road on a late summer evening when
the lights went out and smoke began pouring from under the hood.
The hood reinforcement frame comes down pretty far over the battery
area, and I happened to have the battery turned such that it was
right over the positive terminal. I also did not have a battery
hold-down on the big DieHard I mistakenly bought, though there was so
little clearance between the two that I don't think it would have
made a difference.
Took me a little while to figure out exactly why my ground strap had
melted. Finally I noticed what basically looked like welding marks
on the otherwise pristine hood frame. As Homer would say, Doh!
My advice to you -- turn the battery around so that the positive
terminal is no longer underneath the hood frame, and wrap some
insulating tape around the frame anyway.
The next battery I buy for this car will be a side-terminal I think.
Originality be damned -- I don't need fire in the car!
Dan
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dan Buettner - Des Moines, Iowa - mailto:nickndan@earthlink.net
1977 Spitfire, FM64159U. Runs & drives but blows smoke. Lots of it.
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickndan/gmachine/greenmachine.html
1957 TR3, TS15098L. Undergoing a frame-off restoration, begun 9/99.
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickndan/TR3/TR3.html
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