Distributor to carb vacuum hose route and a battery question

[Mac]

Rebuilding 1978 200 ci - 1965 mustang
A month or so ago I posted a pic of a carter YF carb and asked for help in determining what the ports were meant for. Since then, I have found a pic I took of the engine before I removed the carb and distributor, and the pic shows the hose routed from the distr advance to a carb port which I understand is the venturi vacuum for the later (dual advance) distributors. Heres the two pics side by side as one image. Pic #2 from june 2005 shows the advance hose routed to a lower port on left side of carb. Pic #1 is a pic I posted a month ago and it was suggested by CZLN6 that I run the distr vacuum advance hose to the carb port on the right side, near the top as shown by arrow.

Question #1 Did the previous owner simply have the vacuum hooked up wrong? Btw, the old dizzy was a loadamatic.... new dizzy Im hooking up is DS II, single advance. I will go with CZLN6's advice but just curious about the previous owner's hookup. Also, What the best way to plug an unused vacuum port?

Question #2 Altenator is 65amp. What would be a good battery match for that?

Thanks

 

[wallaka]

Yes, the previous owner had it wrong. I suppose he did the best he could since he lacked the correct port anyhow. Plugging unused ports can be done with screw-in plugs or bolts (If the port is able to be unscrewed), or the cheap way is to put a short length of hose on them and plug that with a screw or something.

As far as batteries go, I've been very partial lately to Optima batteries. They are about 100-120 bucks and have about 900 CCA for the regular red-top plus deep-cycle properties. Best battery on the market. Plus they don't leak and aren't too heavy. You don't really match the battery to the alternator. The alternator doesn't care.

 

[Anonymous]

That port on your carb looks more like a suction point for a PCV valve as large as it is?
There is no matching battery to an altenator output. Basically your altenator needs to put out enough to run all of your accessories, ignition, lights and anything else electrical and still have enough output to maintain a good charging voltage for your battery when all is running. 65 amps should be plently unless you have one of those high power stereo systems.
You battery amperage should be setup to your starter draw under worse case scenerios. When it's cold outside and that oil is thick and a battery is not as functional is when your battery is pushed to it's limit. I like to always have a few extra cold cranking amps available for those rough situations. I would expect that 500 cold cranking amps is way more than enough for your setup. Talk to your auto parts dealer to see what is recommended for that motor you have.

 

[fordconvert]

I go with the largest battery that will fit and that I can afford. The older cars seem to be able to fit the largest batteries that are around now days. I like some extra reserve for the Drive In Theater or working on the car all day.

Something you may have read about matching batteries would have had to do with some types wanting different charging. If you look at marine or rv gel cells you will see the often require special chargers. In optima's literature they say their battery is designed to work with standard automotive systems. You didnt tend to see larger than 65 amp alternators till the late 70's or early 80 unless you were dealing with something that was not a typical car. I have a 73 Cadillac that has power and heated everything but still came with a 65. Only the limo, hearse, and ambulance came with the larger one.

 

[CoupeBoy]

I go with the largest battery that will fit and that I can afford.

Largest physically or largest CCA? During the time I worked as a mechanic we noticed that the 1050CCA batteries failed more often then the 667-800CCA batteries. So one day I got curious and asked around the shop and the prevalent theory was that the higher CCA batteries contained more lead plates in the same amount of space and with the midwest heating/cooling trends (summer/winter) the plates often shifted into each other causing an internal short. I'm not saying this is 100% scientific but it seemed to make sense and I normally aim for stock replacement or at most a 700-900CCA battery.

My .02 FWIW
-ron

 

[Mac]

Thanks everyone.