Publice Service Announcement

[Jordan Baker]

After much thought Im positng this so that other may "LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE."

If youve seen my newest photos in my carrier thread you will understand how this happend. Since my original intention had been to just go for a quick drive and nothing more I did't bother to strap the battery down. I had not yet re-installed the battery tray as it was sitting on my floor at home. Anyway I got carried away by the carrier and was happily bouncing around for 30 minutes. I shut the engine off so that I could ask my friend to open to gate. When I climbed back in I noticed something was wrong with the battery. I yelled over to him that "half of it was gone". He thought I was joking around but after telling him ot come over he did, thinking i was goin to say "got yah." He come over and say "holy crap it is half gone."

Anyway what had happend was that with all the bumping around the UNSECURED BATTERY had slid back to right under the exhaust manifold. Normally this wouldn't be a problem if I had had a proper exhaust system but I don't yet. The result can be seen below. Strangely it must have run like that for about 10 minutes or more. Acid was everywhere in the back part of the carrier along with melted plastic. Lots of water from a hose fixed that.

I hope my screw up will prevent someone else from doing the same thing.

Public Service Announcement over.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally posted by Jordan Baker
Acid was everywhere in the back part of the carrier along with melted plastic. Lots of water from a hose fixed that.

Jordan..
Get back there and rewash it down with lots of baking soda to neutralize any remaining acid...and more fresh water after..

[rob love]

I have a similar story with the mk1 carrier. Careful when stowing a mk1 Brengun in the brackets just in front of the battery. On mine, the screw which goes through the pistol grip contacted the negative battery post and current was fed through the Brengun to the metal gunbracket above. Did this at an airshow, and boy, did the brengun get warm.

[Snowtractor]

Originally posted by Alex Blair
Jordan..
Get back there and rewash it down with lots of baking soda to neutralize any remaining acid...and more fresh water after..

Yes, verily! Make a paste or slurry and rub in good and let sit, keeping it damp, to make sure it gets in to any pores or cracks. Even small amounts of acid can continue to eat steel and lift paint.
Sean

[Stewart Loy]

Jordan,

Try to take the battery in for warranty - and let us know what the guy behind the counter says ...


Stewart

[chris vickery]

Rob, you said that your bren got very warm, what about you?
Jordan, as an aside, I have a similar tale for the books. I think we all do and could almost start a thread on " What not to do"
Anyhow, shortly after getting my 12 cab half done, engine was installed and decided to take her for a spin. Now, all the nice new paint had been applied, details done etc. 2 minutes into the quick spin and there's smoke and oil all over the place. Note to self: make sure to tighten up things like the oil filter cover lid.
End result: a sticky oily mess from stem to stern on my freshly restored cmp chassis and several hours of work to clean it up.

Story number 2. Never try to dis-assemble a Ford flathead water pump bearing, as they're not meant to come apart. A few good wraps with a ball pein hammer and you've got yourself a hand grenade going off. Lucky for me safety glasses saved the day although there were pieces from one end of the shop to the other and me with a large cut on my face. Note to self: if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it or proceed cautiously and use common sense.

We've all been there before, some worse than others. I must say though, that usually as we get older and more experienced, the mistake quotient is supposed to get lesser.