Battery Upgrade - 1963 Imperial

[UGW]

Never once did I blame the gas or a factory style starter for the problem.

Fair enough. I haven't had the car long enough to know what's normal, nor have I owned anything this old before. I figured I'd start with the easy stuff first, and a battery is about as easy as it gets.

Current battery is a no-name 27, but only marked 550CCA. If you guys are running 800+, I imagine that would help.

 

[wyrmrider]

IN WA and CA Walmart has longer warranty than Costco and the part stores
I've also used group 65 in my 73 NY and 69 Polara
Use 24 in my dakota, chev PU, Nissan Quest and Honda and Subaru Honda and Subaru come with JUNK batteries
Get a trickle charger and I like that precharge fuel pump idea
I also like Dakota type starters over the built up OEM big Mopar starters (new coils etc) and 6v size wires

 

[UGW]

Update: I replaced the wimpy 550A battery with one that has over 700. It still takes a bit of cranking on the coldest days of February, but at least now the car always starts before the battery runs out of juice.

I've also concluded my car just hates the cold. We had a few days in the high 60s recently, and it fired off like a brand new car even after sitting.

 

[CBODY67]

To help cold starting, or any starting, DO make sure the spark plugs, points, and such are in great condition. So the spark is reliably made so things start quicker.

What viscosity of motor oil?

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[UGW]

Plugs are brand new iridium, gapped and installed in December. I also installed a new ballast resistor, since the one on the car was reading a higher resistance than the manual specified. (That probably wouldn't make any difference, since the resistor isn't used when starting?) Coil is within spec according to my multimeter and service manual. I'll check the distributor soon. Car starts immediately as long as temperature is above 50 degrees.

 

[CBODY67]

Thanks for the additional information.

Perhaps some tweaks to the phasing of the automatic choke might be needed? I have found that some re-phasing of the automatic choke operation can help (to me) things happen better on my own cars. With everything else being to specs or slightly better.

Thanks,
CBODY67