Battery Orientation

Reminds me of an experience I once had. It was my $100 1964 Pontiac Lemans and yea, I had the wrong battery but I dropped an nut behind it and when I reached down to get it my wedding ring bridged the gap between the fender and the positive terminal and, it only took a microsecond but that thing glowed like it had just come out of the forge at Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings. I still have a scar.

 

Maybe some context is in order, that was about 40 years ago.

 

I'm not understanding the concern re clearance between the battery cover/battery terminals. The battery cover can't move any closer to the terminals than its fully tightened-down position. If the bolts become loose, I suppose it could move but it would move further away.. Or am I missing something?

 

Battery comes loose, cover stays still? There are probably other unlikely situations. Generally the design tries to minimalize those possibilities but in my morbidly humorous example you want to keep the positive terminal as insulated from any ground potential as reasonably possible.

 

Funny, re that: I drove my 328 across the country two days after I bought it in Las Vegas and discovered, when I took it in for its required state safety inspection, that the battery had no hold down clamp! It failed the initial safety inspection for that reason.

 

That is a very vivid and entertaining story -- you know it's bad when you gin up some dark magic. I once spun a ratchet handle across to the opposite battery terminal when I was a teenager and let's just say that was a very effective one-time lesson in electricity, welding, and metallurgy.

 

I had a coworker about that many years ago via a wrench and a battery terminal stud on a starter do the same. Mel was one of the toughest humans alive but his reaction taking his ring off required me to leave the room. I couldn't help and I couldn't watch. It cooked that segment of his finger. Never forgot it and never wore jewelry of any kind working on cars as a result. Friend who was Marine pilot had his wingman slip on the ladder getting in an airplane. Ring caught cockpit rail and stripped finger clean to bone.

 

They used to teach that kind of thing in shop class in my school days. And from 7th to 9th grade, everybody went to shop class.

 

I didn’t have the excuse of teenagerhood and it was a golf cart so 36V, six 6V deep-cycle batteries in series…. Only once.

 

Neil Armstrong had his ring finger torn completely off on some farm machinery but being a steely eyed astronaut he was able to pack it in a bag, drive to the clinic and get it put back on.

 

Was probably taking a few swigs of Jack Daniels as he drove his 427 Corvette to the clinic...

Ok, I don't really know if he: A - Drank Jack Daniels or, B- Owned a 427 Corvette.

 

Yikes! I'm good about taking my watch off and even not wearing jeans, but only to not drag metal across the paint when leaning into the engine bay or fronk. I never thought about my ring. I know now.

 

Another stupid thing I did as a teen was to accidentally cross the starter terminals with a wrench reaching up into the engine bay while working below a car on wheel ramps. Normally I would put a car in gear and set the brake when on ramps, but that day it was not in gear thankfully. Starter spun and scared the heck out of me. If it was in gear the car probably would have lurched off the ramps and crushed me.

When I last worked under my 328, I used Quickjacks and placed about 40 wooden timber blocks to crib up the front and rear of the car for backup. Looked like I was building a fort under the car. My wife thought it was hilarious that my special car was up on wood blocks. I just liked knowing that if all else fails, there is a fort under my car to hold it up while I get out.

 

When I was in high school, my buddy's Chevy Nova broke down when his alternator mounting bolt somehow sheared off. He wandered around and found an old coat hanger near the road. One end of the coat hanger went in the alternator bracket (a solid ground) and as he was moving it around, the free end accidentally contacted the positive terminal of the battery. The coat hanger wire turned into an incandescent light filament then vaporized. Fortunately, no one got fried but that could have ended very badly.

I am continually surprised at the number of cars I see where the positive side of the battery is right next to the bodywork

 

I’m the same way. I never get under my car unless I’ve got jackstands under all four corners AND a railroad tie crib under the side I’m working under. I’d trust a lift with locking pins if I had one but heck I barely trust what I do and it’s overkill.

 

Another "funny" story about electricity. I was adjusting the timing on my '72 Alfa which apparently had a bad lead and got the shock of my life, probably around 18 to 20 thousand volts I guess. That was over 40 years ago and I swear I have NEVER touched the distributor on a running car since.