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Sealed Battery Upgrade

I noticed that Moss was selling a Optima Battery for $189.40. These batteries are filled with gel instead of acid, so they don't cause any corrosion in the trunk.

Here is the official explanation of the benefits.

For those customers who have pretty demanding requirements, we now have a lot to offer. This battery, constructed with Spiralcell technology, features microporous glass separator material (AGM) to retain the electrolyte. Each cell has more than eight feet of high purity lead plates (which are also taller than traditional plates) to produce more power!

They're powerful...and completely sealed, so they're totally maintenance free. In fact, because of the AGM, even if the case is broken this product will not leak. The Spiralcell design means there's virtually no vibration damage or plate shedding, which makes it an excellent product for high-vibration applications.

I found out that Sam's Club sells it for $101. It's the model number SC34U that is for group 34/78.

It is shorter than the group 24 that is correct for the car, so I had to add some washers to install. Optima makes a riser to make it fit exactly, but Sam's didn't carry it.

Here is a picture of it in the trunk.

Click on the picture to enlarge

If you can get over the modern look, this is a great upgrade.

6 Cylinder Healey Ignition Rotor Problems

As I said before, in my car, is that the spark is working its way through the casing of the rotor and grounding on the distributor drive. I cannot find a crack (even under a magnifying glass), but I can find what appears to be a tiny hole where the spark has burned through.

I do not know if it is related to the rivet in any way, thought many have reported problems with the rivet.

What I have been told is happening is that there is a problem with the strength of the compound that the arm is built with. This is exaggerated by heat, and as it weakens it can fail by either of the two ways that we are documenting.

UK Healey (http://www.ukhealey.co.uk/) has commissioned a reproduction of the larger arm original style rotor. I ordered 2 of these at a total cost including shipping to the US of $16.38. They arrived today and here are my initial observations.

I'll start this by saying that I do not have any precision instruments to measure this, so everything I say is to be considered approximate.

The ignition rotors from UK Healey are very different than the Lucas Green box rotors that have been the subject of much conversations.

The first, and most noticeable difference is that the arm is longer than the "green box" version.

The radius's from the center of rotation to the edge of the arm are approximally:
7/8" for the "green box" rotor
1-1/16" for the UK Healey rotor

For the distance between the center of the button to the brass plug lead contacts on my NOS Lucas cap is 1-1/8".

Here are pictures of the difference

Click on the above for a larger picture

I would think that the larger gap from the rotor to the contact would increase resistance, and could be causing the spark to seek an easier path, combine that with cheaper constructed insulation, and I think I have found the reason for the burned out rotors.

A worry would arise concerning distributor shaft play. Since this clearance is very small, I would think that a sloppy distributor would cause the arm to hit the distributor.

A couple of other differences are apparent. The new rotor does not have the metal spring on the inside, I do not know if this is important or not, here is a picture from the bottom

Click on the above for a larger picture