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MG MGA - New owner with questions

After much searching I recently acquired a 1600 Mk1 finished in original OEW and black leather. The car was restored to a very high standard in the the early 90's. I am new to MGA ownership but the BB and various books have been a great way to start to gain knowledge of the A. The car will be garaged this winter away from the UK weather while I 'fettle' ready for lost of driving next spring/summer. I have a couple of questions that probably demonstrate my lack of knowledge, but hear goes:

1. The batteries are 2 x 6 volt so presumably a standard 12v trickle charger is OK (I have just ordered a CTEK MultiXS 3600 which is 12v and recommended in classic car)? As the MGA is positive earth, does it mean I should reverse the normal connections of the charger?

2. I understand the boot(trunk) release rod that runs through the boot should be body colour - mine is unpainted. Should the joint mechanism which connects the rods at right angles in the corner of the boot and the terminal/lock housing also be body coloured?

Thanks from a novice.
P Wright

Welcome on board.

1. I will let others with your battery configuration reply to you - I run a 12 volt battery and have converted to negative earth.

2. Yes, the rods and latches are all body colour.

A very good investment for you (Christmas present?) would be 'Original MGA' by Anders Ditlev Clausager. Many of us use this book as the authorative source for all originality issues.

Enjoy the car

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi. Welcome to the MGA web forum! In response to charging the batteries: Your two six volt batteries are wired together in series so as to output twelve volts. Therefore a 12 volt trickle charger is fine for maintaining your batteries. If your car is indeed positive ground, then yes, the battery charger would need to be connected "polarity backward" to the way modern cars are set up. You need to make very sure that your car IS actually positive ground, since many MGA's have been converted to negative ground. To do this, find the ground cable and trace it back to the battery. If the cable is connected to the battery terminal, then your car is indeed positive ground. If the cable goes to the battery negative terminal then the car is negative ground. Additionally, when you use the battery charger , one of the charger's clips will connect to one battery, and the other clip will attach to the other battery. THe clips should NOT attach to the battery teriminals that connect the two batteries together in series. Please also make sure that the polarity of the charger is is correct, as noted above. Cheers! Glenn
Glenn

Mr Wright,
Welcome to the neighborhood.

If by "reverse the normal connection" you mean put the positive connection from the charger on the negative post of the battery...no, please don't do that. Leave the batteries joined by the connector cable. The charger is connected to the termnials not used by the connector cable. Put the postive connection from the charger on the postive post of one battery and the negative connection from the charger on the negative post of the other battery. I prefer disconnecting the ground cable when charging.

In case you are unaware, the achives section of this BBS can be queried for the answers to many MGA questions.

Regards,
GTF
G T Foster

Hi. In my last post, I left out an important word. here is my revision:
If the cable is connected to the POSITIVE battery terminal, then your car is indeed positive ground.
Sorry for the error.
Glenn

Hi

Welcome to the band of idiot's (especially me), avoid Steve Gyles, he dangerous, don't believe his stories!

Regards

Terry
Terry Drinkwater

GT is correct,...regardless of how your charging system is wired / connected,...you ALWAYS connect the Positive to Positive when jump starting or charging a battery. Connecting the Positive lead to a negative lead can burn up your wiring and possible even cause the battery to explode.

I have witnessed this personally from the past.

You will want to convert over to a single 12 volt battery next time you need a replacement. The single unit allows less chances of poor connection, less chance of corrosion, and is less expensive to purchase.

Regardless if your car is set up Positive or Negative ground, you use the same type battery.
Danny T

Thanks all for the welcome, and the sound advice.

Regards, Peter
P Wright

This thread was discussed on 13/11/2005

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