Thank you
mongocanfly, Ol Blue K20, Clyde65 and
Getter-Done for the kind words!
Back from a 1000 mile trip last night. The wagon ran perfectly all the time.
Total fuel consumption was 17 mpg, which is about what I had expected, a
good chunk, almost one third, being urban driving/commuting.
(327, original Rochester Qjet, points ignition, new rings, bearing shells, and
a bit bigger cam a couple years ago, TH-400 and who-knows-what-cogs)
It ran great, but when we had a hundred miles to go, we noticed a bad smell.
It seemed to come out of the technical end, and sniffing around under the
hood, I found it was the battery that was cooking. I had brought some tools
along, and put the multimeter to work. Over 16 volts. We continued cooking,
and this morning I checked the battery voltage,and it was 13.6Volts(engine off). I put in
another battery, started her up, and got 18 Volts. After some digging around
the regulator, I found that the ground lead was loose. The hole for the sheet
metal screw was too big, which seemed to be the problem. I found a bigger
screw, sanded the connecting surfaces with some emery cloth, and
connected the ground.
Now we have 14,25 Volts, and all is good
I topped up the battery with distilled water, and will try to use it. A lot of the
acid had boiled off, so I guess there's a good risk it's shot.