On Tue, 02 May 2017 15:35:20 -0700, wrote:

On Tue, 02 May 2017 17:35:03 -0400, 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.

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.
I had a VW bug, several actually, but one of the first had the back
seat short against the battery terminals. I had no idea that this
could be a problem until someone was sitting in the back seat and
complained of a burning smell and then said the seat was getting hot.
I pulled over and pulled the seat out. There was some sort of cover
missing and the seat coils were making contact with the battery posts
as the car bounced. Didn't affect the running of the car though. I
think it was a magazine or some newspaper I put over the battery as a
temporary fix. Then we piled back in, cracked another beer, and sped
down the dirt road. That was an interesting day.
Eric

Did just that with my first "serious" girlfriend. She was 5'10", I was
6'2" and we weighed combined..right at 350 lbs. She was straddling me
and as we did the "wild bunny thing"...our weight caused the seat
springs to contact the hot terminal under the passenger rear seat. She
is off in another world and Ive joined her..and suddenly my ass is
getting hotter and hotter...trying to snap her back into this one, and
recognize we are perched over a burning backseat...fun to laugh at
now..but then...no so much fun. Ripped out the backseat and threw it
into a snow bank where it blazed quite nicely. Had to go to a
wrecking yard to get another rear seat. Color didnt match....shrug




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus