On Tue, 02 May 2017 20:27:44 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 2 May 2017 17:01:05 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 5:35:05 PM UTC-4, Clare wrote:
On Tue, 2 May 2017 12:07:51 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 2:54:16 PM UTC-4, Jon Elson wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:


The engineers tried out my new tester on a fuel injection computer and
blew it up when the protection Zener overheated and failed after a few
load dump cycles. I think that's why they went to side terminal
batteries.
The Chevy Vega had side terminals in 1976. There was DARN little
electronics in that car. There was a module to shut off the air cond when
the alternator was not producing, a timer on the rear window defroster,
probably a VERY simple electronic ignition (I don't remember points on that
one) and the radio. I don't think it even had intermittent wipers. That
was it, and it was all analog stuff.

Jon

Well, having the battery in the trunk seemed to solve a lot of problems in my 1958 Alfa Romeo. g It was nice and clean back there, and cool. However, the cable that ran forward used a lot of copper.

As for electronics, I did have to replace a couple of vacuum tubes in the Blaupunkt radio...

There is a lot of virtue in simplicity.
The battery in the trunk of my '61 Mini almost resulted in the
destruction of the car - and the crappy "cap" type battery connector
was a royal pain.

A product of Britain's Prince of Darkness, eh?

[Bumper sticker seen on Mini in the early '60s: "Why to the Brits drink warm beer? Because they have Lucas refrigerators."]

They drink their beer at room temperature, and anyone who's lived in
Britain knows THAT isn't particularly "warm".

Lucas makes heaters too, huh?

For thise who have never seen an early Mini up close, the battery was
in the trunk opposite the fuel tank and was originally covered with a
heany cardboard cover. The battery connection was a tapered cap that
fit down over the battery post and was held down with basically a #8
sheet metal screw threaded into the top of the battery post. The
connection tended to get "flakey" to the point that when one pressed
on the rubber covered button on the gigh current switch between the
seats, sometimes it would spark and the engine would not crank.
Simplyb having someone swat the rear quarter panel, kick the rear
tire, or slam the door with the button pressed usually caused the
connection to re-establish itself, and the critter would crank and
start.

By the time I aquired this particular car it was10 years old and had
196000 miles of rural mail delivery under it's belt - and that battery
cover was long gone. It had also developed a prodigious appetete for
engine oil, so there was generally a few quarts of Nugold SAE50 riding
along in the trunk.One day with eigh of us young folks crammed in
heading to the local stock car races 2 of those cans managed to short
out across the battery, burning a hole in the cans and lighting the
ensuing small stream of oil on fire. When we noticed the smoke curling
up from around the back seat, I shut off the car and we were all out
before it came to a full stop, and one of my friends had the trunk
open and tossed the burning oil can onto the ground beside the car.
when the fire was out and the smoke dissipated, we all jumped back in
and went on our way.

BMC owners always have fun tales to tell. I'll bet Don has some from his MGA experience.

Mine, with my MG Midget Mk III (1275 cc), came one night in December when I was driving from Michigan to NJ in freezing rain, and the left-side parking light cover filled with salt water because the gasket leaked; the wiring shorted out with no fuses at all in the system, burning the insulation off of the wiring harness under the dash and filling the cockpit with smoke; and then I had to drive 20 miles down the Ohio Turnkike with a flashlight instead of headlights. d8-)