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Great stuff guys. You are really giving me some good ideas. You are really getting me honed in on getting it all done. Here is the latest:

We are going to get a good quality battery. He took the battery to Sears and it failed their test. They could barely get it to read, which I believe since it only had 11.6 volts static with no load. I gave him the money to get the DieHard Gold. It is the only battery that I have confidence in.

I bought a Delco for my 74 Charger two years ago and it went bad in a year. I didn't have the receipt because I had to walk from home to get it, and the receipt blew out of my hand on the way home. I was not going to drop the battery to run after the receipt on a cold winter day with a good breeze blowing (they did not put me in the computer for warranty). They get pretty heavy when you have to hike 1/2 mile with them. When it failed the test a year later, they tried not to warranty it, but I was able to convince the manager to exchange it for me. He told me that if the new one went bad I was on my own --> Deal. The replacement went bad a year later. This is the $120 825 CCA upper line battery - No more Delco for me they are 0 for 2 within a year --> JUNK.

I bought the 7 year Autolite upper line for my Lebaron last spring. It kept losing charge, so I would disconnect the negative when I was not going to drive it for more than 2-3 days. I took it in late Nov and it tested bad. This time I made sure that I was in the computer and kept the receipt. They exchanged it (I noticed the replacement had the same date code as the one that I returned). Didn't unhook it and not driven the car in 5-6 weeks, get in and Dead! Kid took it in to get recharged and tested to try in the Valiant tonight and it failed again. Autolite 0 for 2 in 6 months --> JUNK!

I used to work a 10 min oil change in high school and we sold Interstate. They would go bad waiting on the shelf to be sold ---> JUNK!

I used to test charging systems for Sears in college. At the time they had the DieHard and this new smaller supposed "powerhouse" battery called the "Incredicell" which they claimed had 650 CCA compared to the DieHard rated at 525 - 550. They told us to load test the Incredicell for the 525 like the DieHard. I did a comparison of both for my own interest and found the DieHard did better. It made more since because the DieHard was about 20 percent larger in size than the Incredicell (which is no longer offered anymore). Plus they would take old warranty exchanged DieHards and put them on hand carts to jump start customer's cars in the parking lot. They had the guy who worked the battery room put them on the trickle charger and retest them. If he found one that was still good they put a few on hand carts with cables to jump start dead cars in the parking lot. They did it alone without having an alternator/generator like jumping from one car to another - Not bad.

Plus Sears had a better policy for charging/testing their batteries. The national store at the end of my street who will remain nameless (Murray's) has you drop them off and fast charges them in an hour. Sears has you fill out a tag with your info and gives you a free loaner battery (once again a previously warrantied one that they can recharge and test ok). They check the acid/water level and add if necessary, then put it on a 2 amp trickle charger for three days and test it when you get back. I feel this has to be better for the battery than the quick charge down the street. The catch is Sears only does this for their DieHards and the place down my street will do anybodies including DieHard. Sears will test a non DieHard battery, but will not recharge it for you.

Not to mention that I have used DieHard for over 20 years and only had one that I can remember go bad within 2 1/2 - 3 years and they pro rated it. If you do not have the receipt, they go by the date code on the battery. You only lose 2 - 3 months of warranty typically if you do not have your receipt. Most of them go 4 - 6 years and I have had one or two make 7 - 8!

So I gave him the money to get a DieHard Gold after he gets out of school tomorrow. They have the best track record with me.

However, I do not recommend using their taps - but that is a whole new thread, just trust me on this one. Go with Hanson, or you will get alot of experience with Helicoils.