Folks Of Interest When the experts chime in.

The story with that was that a dirty battery can drain down through attracting moisture and having it discharge into the concrete. Something to do with the reaction to the lime in the mix.

I just took a battery off my garage floor yesterday, it had been sitting for 4 months and it started a car first shot.

Bob

 

Most batteries manufactured over the last 30 years, and all of them over the last 10 years now have a non porous case. Fact.

Prior to that the cases were porous and could/ would create an electrical path thru the case, into the moist concrete and discharge. Fact.

I would guess that if a fellow had one of the last porous case odd-ball batteries sitting on the concrete he could have experienced this phenomena event as recently as 5-6 years ago.

It will not happen to a sound battery that was manufactured within the last 9 years.

 

This is thread is a waste of time and hasn't the slightest thing to do with traditional hotroding ...IMO

 

Is that a traditional tank top?

 

When the expert chimes in, you get stuff like this.

 

one of my favorite quotes from an aircraft mechanic in refference to an engineer "an expert is someone who knows everything about something they've never done before"

 

I normally don't reply to people who use "IMO" in their posts but when I do I usually ask for large fries...

 

Had a customer come into my shop today, Man was he ever in his glory at my pad. The first thing he noticed when he walked in was the Model A chassis I had in the corner for the speedster I'm workin on. Then he saw the 235 I had sittin on an engine stand in my parts room. Then he saw the '30 Chrysler moredoor body I had in another room. I tell you brother, this guy was LIVIN! By the time he left he conjured up a plan to put the Chrysler body on the A frame, with a ford 9", and that 235 chevy. Then he "you wouldn't believe me, but I don't care. If you put dual carbs on that six, and some stout 4:10 gears in that 9" you'll have a wheel stander!" "I'll tell ya what, you drop that body on that frame then walk out the door. If you don't like it when you come back in the shop, give me a call. I'll come load it up and haul it away!"

That guy was a riot, its the little things in life that make it worth living.

 

"Well, I haven't actually done it. But I've seen it done a million times!"

 

I was just going to make a comment about this when I saw yours. From my non-scientific just observational experiences, that is exactly the case. I worked at a parts store for 4 years about 10 years back now, and we had an issue with all the marine batteries we sold coming back dead. They would be completely discharged right off the showroom floor. All of our batteries sat on metal shelving that sat directly on a cement floor. After a month or two of this going on, I noticed that all of the marine batteries had a case made of a noticeably different material. It was a far less "slick" plastic. As you said, far more porous. We started testing all the marine batteries as they came through the door, and they all had full charges. Still they were being returned. I started testing them on the shelf, and noticed they had various charges, then checked when they had come in. The longer they had sat on our shelf, the "deader" they were. We ended up putting boards under the marine batteries. POOF, problem solved. So, yes, I will also attest to the fact that, at one point in time, you could not set batteries directly on a cement floor or any other conductive surface without them discharging.

 

Yes, you can. Especially if they make drinking no fun.

 

Yeah.... 'Bout that. It doesn't matter who you think you are, there are parts of that earlier statement that just don't make sense. But me, I like to egg on the 'expert' until the story gets bigger and better. Eventually, the story will get so big and ridiculous, it literally falls apart. That's the fun part for this guy.

 

Put a known good battery on a bare unpainted cement floor, basement or garage, what's the difference. Leave it there for a month then get back to me.

 

I did the experiment 30 or 40 years ago. Never chanced it again. Why take the risk when it only takes a second to shove a board under a battery and possibly save a $100 battery?

I know guys who don't believe this and leave batteries on the floor all the time. If it's only for a few days, no harm done. But at the end of the year, they seem to have bought a lot more batteries than I have. In fact today I bought a new battery for my yard tractor, it was the first new battery I have bought in 5 years.

 

I had a guy who insisted his 56 Ford Ranchwagon had a 272 flathead in it....

 

Going back 30 plus years here. In High School Auto Shop there was a guy that said "There's no need to buy stiffer valve springs for a SBC. Just place your keepers on the lower grove of the valve"

 

I had a thing going years back with '65-66 full size Chevy parts a while back. I was making good $$ parting out cars I'd buy up. I had ragtop parts, whole noses, interiors, bumpers, etc for sale all the time.

I get a call from some guy needing a left 3/4 nose for a '66 Impala, I said I had one gave him a price and he was coming over to look at it. He pulls up in a smashed '67 Impala. I show him the '66 nose and he tells me its the wrong one. I tell him his car is a '67, after a few hot words go back and forth, I said that I obviously have nothing here that can help him, so he splits. That was a good one.

Bob

 

another one from the first expert:
"Your sbc wont fire? you have the plug wires all mixed up,lets look at my 87 nissan manual,all engines have the same firing order" my jaw dropped...

 

Had a guy in my auto tech class give me shit for taking to long putting my engine back together, and getting it started. With 5 days left in the class he tossed his back together with out tightening anything and not getting it to run. This is the guy that did great on test but could barely operate in the shop. Last I heard he got fired from the shop where he was working. He misdiagnosed and ordered a ton of wrong parts.

 

Bodi, that shit is unreal!

Only story i can share is this.
I enjoy suspension and chassis work, so when it comes to body work i only do it cause i cant afford to have it done.
This said, last august i had this guy come help me w/ prep work, cause he works on fiberglass planes and does bondo everyday.
Turns out hes a hack! he put so much hardener in the filler than in december it started to crack already! now its cracked everywhere..thank fuck i only primed the car....
Funny thing is that when i asked him if extra hardener would have caused this he replied that all it does is making the filler cure faster.....lesson learned.

 

It can and does happen.

 

My drunk of a neighbor saw I was working on my hot rod and asked if I

could go over and get his POS DD Chebby truck running.

I told him, I wasn't that smart.




1 1/2 years later, and there it still sits.

 

A bunch of gearheads sitting around bullshitting about idiots they've run into isn't traditional?



This IPhone app is the schiznizzle!

 

The old rubber battery cases would let the battery drain if it sat on a concrete floor and cause some problems with charging them. I still set my plastic case batteries on a board to keep them off the floor though.

Per BOBSSS396:
The story with that was that a dirty battery can drain down through attracting moisture and having it discharge into the concrete. Something to do with the reaction to the lime in the mix.

Just for shits and giggles some time take your volt meter and connect the correct lead to either post and then start touching the top of a dirty battery case around the top of the battery. I had a student who's battery in his mid 60's Chev pickup would drain down to where it wouldn't start in about 3 hours sitting in the school parking lot. He fought it for a number of days before I did the "lets follow the volt trail" thing and we found that in some spots on the top of the battery you could get a nine volt reading as the battery was dirty and wet.

 

Dampness at floor level will cause a battery to drain. the charge can flow to concrete over the outer case. With new plastic battery cases it's not as common as it was with the old rubber cased batteries but it does still happen under some conditions.

 

Funny thread. I know just the fellow(s) you’re talking about. I run into them all the time. I would assume most of us have worked on or been around the SBC. Well these guys are the mechanic’s mechanic and they’re plentiful, they know everything about the SBC Chevy including the most rarest of rare set of SBC heads, the “194/202” heads. The conversation goes like this.

Him: “hey is that there them 194/202 heads?”

Me: “No, those are 2.02” / 1.60” heads”

Him: “Naw, canit be” as he’s looking at them already mounted to the block. “my uncle’s cousin’s brother’s brother-in-law had them on a dirt track car back in the 80’s. I know because I mo-sheened them fer him with my nuw cordless drill”

Me: “bullshit, you can’t have two intake valves stuffed in that little bitty chamber.”

Him: “naw no bullshit, I’ve worked as a mo-sheenest and mo-can-eek fer 40 years. I gots two sets up yonder in my gay-rog” This guy’s not even 40 year old.

Me: “look man I don’t know much about these engines. Could you give me a hand? What is the firing order of a small block Chevy? I get confused is it 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 or 1-3-5-7-2-4-6-8?”

Him: “UH, I gotta go get another beer” He scrambles off, but not before I ask him “do you mind if I have a look at those heads? If there the heads I think they are we could put them on that 305 in my garage and make a real street sweeper or put them on e-bay for some fast cash.” he said, “hell them come off of a 283, they wouldn’t fit that 305; any how that sum buck would turn 9,000 rpm and do 120 mph in second gear wit a three on the tree”

I couldn't stop laughing.

Hadn’t seen that guy in a while, must have spooked him.

 

I worked with the same guy. No offense, but his name was Bob as well, and we called him "Rhino Bob" due to his having killed several rhino when he was in the Special Forces in Africa. We even had a "Rhino Bob" hand signal, make a fist with your pinkie sticking straight out, and hold it to your forehead. RB's most often said quote was "that ain't nothin'", and then he would proceed to fabricate a tale that would, at a minimum, quadruple the daring, fear, accomplishment, sexual conquest, etc. of whatever story had just been shared by someone else.

What a jackass.

How many of you did the "Rhino Bob" hand signal after I described it?

 

As a bonus in my divorce I got rid of two brother in laws
that both knew absolutely everything about everything.
It was funny to watch them argue with each other though.
But I hated when they would come over.

 

yeah I got one here where I work
she knows everything,,and I do mean every fucking thing

one day I had enough, I told her I threw away all my encyclopedias, manuals, and dictionaries..she asked why??, so I told her If i ever needed to know anything I could just ask her!

 

:d