Several times in the past month, I've been primed and ready to start up the car only to be confronted with some new challenge. The last false start was perhaps the most disappointing.
Following a successful dashboard installation, I added a few gallons of gasoline to the tank and charged up the car's battery. I even set up a camera on a tripod to film the grand re-firing.
The only thing left to do was top the car's cooling system with the required five gallons of antifreeze. Things were going swimmingly, at least until the coolant level reached the radiator's top reservoir and antifreeze began gushing out onto the ground.
I looked at the badly leaking radiator, looked over to the bottle of radiator leak-stopper on a nearby shelf and then looked back at the radiator. Then I stopped myself. If the radiator leaked that badly with no pressure in the system, it needed a new core; even if a hasty fix would work temporarily, I'd just be pushing the problem a bit further down the road.
After a quick but costly stint at the shop, my radiator is reinstalled and ready to go. Now I'm left struggling to make sense of the electrical system. The engine turns over, so I know the starter works. I'm getting a spark, but it's weak—is that the nature of six-volt systems, or is my coil toast? Restoration remains an on-the-job learning process.
To help cut the Gordian knot of the wiring harness, I'm buying a brand-new battery and plunking it down under the hood as soon as possible.
It's true that installing a new battery won't fix the loose connections, blown fuses or badly grounded junction blocks still lurking in inconvenient corners of the car. If the coil's shot, it won't change a darn thing. Still, a new battery removes one more variable from a very complex equation, bringing me that much closer to getting back on the road.
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