See attached photos of damaged battery cable, this cable is off my 1970 mini, looks like wear and tear over the years .The old type cables have minimal insulation ,hence wear through and risk of fire, I have bought a new heavy duty cable from battery world with excellent cable insulation. I would expect that all new battery cables would be much better than the cables that were available 50 years ago. I take great care in fitting cables and I add some extra material where required to make sure there will never be any problems.
The lifter springs usually rattle, I added a stainless neat fit tube over the shaft ,and added split pins .this should fix the rattle problem. Maybe its a good idea to check your battery cables for damage.
P7676

Hmmm, that could have been a lot worse. Lucky one.

I had one short out once on my Mk1 S against the rh hydro pipe underneath the car. It split the pipe and the fluid started smoking real bad as it leaked out. Fortunately I manged to get to the battery and disconnect it before the hole thing went up in flames. I run my battery cables inside the car now.

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1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)