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Looking for Mechanic in San Francisco/ San Jose Area -Current Battery Issue


billboos

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Trying to find a shop that works on older cars especially early Ford v8s and Lincoln v12s. I live in Menlo Park, Ca about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. I have a 1947 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet. No current issues except for slow starter --- looking for advice on Battery (6V). Current battery is off brand called Superior and one year old. Cannot find info like CCA rating. Considering Optima 6v with 800 CCAs. Also have heard of installing two 6V Optimas. I believe these cars started fast when new so one 6V battery should work fine. I think all cables are heavy duty and a battery cutoff switch is blade type and heavy looking. Any advice on battery or mechanic referral will be appreciated. Just joined LZOC a few months ago and have enjoyed browsing the forum reading the magazine. Also joined  LCOC and find it is a bit too broad as most members have newer Lincolns.   

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John, thanks, I think I will go with the Optima single battery first after I find a mechanic in the San Francisco Bay Area who can assess the cables and rig up a hold down without destroying the original hold down frame. I will add a second Optima only if I need to. With 800 CCAs, heavy cables and clean connections it should perform.  If not, I need to be checking starter. The car starts every time but kind of groans slowly when I hit the starter usually with a group of admirers standing around it.  I don't care so much about putting in a fake case with Optima inside although I assume that would solve the hold down issue. The car is 100% authentic.except for future battery replacement. I will take the car to shows but not for judging. It is probably a Condition 2+ car and I am not going to try and make it a #1. I passed on a 100 point Pace Car Yellow 1948 a few years ago because I would have been afraid to drive it.

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I have an Optima battery in both of my cars and recommend them to anyone. The best price that I have found for the 6 volt battery is Amazon. My Lincoln is too new for the LZOC, but both of my cars are accepted by the Early Ford V-8 Club. The EFV-8 Regional Group that is close to you is the Mission Trail RG. They are a good bunch of guys and I seem to remember that a couple of them are mechanics. You can find the contact information here:

 

http://www.earlyfordv8.org/early-ford-directory.cfm

 

My 40 Mercury has the Optima in the reproduction Ford case, but I had to make the hold down for my 53 out of angle iron. The 47 should be able to use one of the universal hold downs similar to this one, with a simple modification of making it adjustable..

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gmk-3140-301-481/overview/

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With my '41 Zephyr Custom Coupe, I have an Optima battery.  I keep it on a trickle charge when the car isn't driven.  I also installed an  alternator which loeryoks like the original generator it will charge the battery at idle.  With a fully charged battery I test the starter which turns over the engine nicely.  I put my digital voltmeter on the  battery, and my digital amp clamp on meter on the starter cable after the solenoid.  I use the button on the bottom of the solenoid to run the starter without actually starting the engine.....just want to observe the voltage and current draw.  I use 00 ga. cables for minimal voltage loss.  Under test the battery will drop from about 6.4 VDC to about 5.6 VDC and the amp meter shows about 208 amps draw with just cranking the starter.  That seems normal, hard to find actual spec information in most literature.  If you can get yours to do this, you should be fine.  

 

There are always issues with the starter being in good shape, cables and connections proper, battery fully charged.  You can also test the voltage at the starter under test and it should be the same as on the battery terminals.  If not it might be the solenoid is bad or cable too small or poor connections.  These quick diagnosis checks should reveal the problems.  Also the starter might have to be re-positioned on it's mounting as it can drag if not centered against the flywheel properly.   Hope this helps!!

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