[Healeys] Cold Cranking Amps

[Bob Spidell]

There's several variables to consider:

- Later 6-cyl cars have the battery in the boot.  That's a long cable 
run to the starter solenoid; the cables and terminals need to be in good 
nick.

- Ditto the starter.  The field coils in starters build up resistance 
over time and, eventually, the starter won't crank as well, putting even 
more load on the battery.  After a couple cranks, the field coils get 
warm and the resistance builds up and, of course, the battery's reserve 
gets depleted.

- The higher the compression in your engine, the harder it is to turn over.

- Thicker oil, like 20W-50 can bog an engine down a bit.

The more CCA you have, the more margin to start an engine, esp. on a 
cold day (that's why CCA is the nominal stat for batteries). My Healeys 
are harder to start after they've been sitting for more than a few 
days.  The 500CCA number I gave was a SWAG; I haven't seen any full-size 
auto battery with less than that anyway.  We got a battery for my dad's 
'65 Mustang 289 with 550CCA from Autozone; Costco didn't sell the size 
we needed.  It cranks the V8 OK.

FWIW, when I rebuilt my BJ8's engine the (previously) satisfactory wet 
cell battery I had wouldn't even turn the engine over (later compression 
checks showed 180PSI +/- in all 6).  I had the starter rebuilt and 
installed an 800CCA AGM battery.  The starter actually startled me the 
first time I cranked it; it's nearly as fast as the geared starter in my 
Mustang.

TLDR; The more the better.

Bob

On 5/14/2018 10:12 PM, John Spaur wrote:
>
> So... wise ones (and I mean that sincerely)
>
> My current battery is an Intimidator rated at 775. Bob S. mentioned in 
> a post about a minimum of 500.
>
> How many CCA’s should a battery have for a Healey engine?
>
> TIA
>
> John Spaur
>
> San Jose
>
>

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