MG Car Repair: MGB Starting and restarting Battery issues, excessive amperage, road cams

Question
Hello Howard,

Please excuse if these problems are not connected -I just wanted to give you
as much info as possible.

I have a 1979 MGB that is in mint condition.  The PO modified the cams of the
engine added a manual choke and at some point the pollution controls were
removed.  Other than it being lowered to pre 1975 height level these are the
extent of modifications.  I have some problems with it though, and I'm not
sure if they are related:

1) on cold starting the car needs to crank for approx 30-40 sec with the
choke out before it catches (it apparently did this with the PO).  Warm starting
is usually easier.  (I have since replaced the fuel pump but that doesn't seem
to help)

2) the battery was replaced (the old battery would lose a charge quickly and
testing showed it to be faulty) this year and I fitted a new alternator ((saturn
type from a 90's model) (to help with the 'ignition light dimming at night'
problem)).  Yesterday, after I had the oil changed I went for a 35 minute
drive, ran an errand, then could not restart the car without a boost.  No fault
indication from the ignition light, nothing.  The battery terminals were quite
hot but once boosted the car ran fine.  upon arriving home I put it on a
charger that indicated the battery was flat.

The car has twin SU carbs and a manual choke -  the timing is another issue
since the Kent road cams cancel out the factory specs for timing - I'm not
sure how to proceed there.

How do I begin?  

Thank you very much,
Lance

Answer
Lance, you will drive yourself crazy trying to track down all those issues at once and throwing money at it by buying parts is an expensive way to fix anything. So pick only one item and trace that item down with tests.
If it were mine I would start with the hot cable ends as it shows either an excessive amperage going through the cable or there is a high resistance in that cable end. NO cable end should get hot. Clean the terminals and cable ends. High resistance causes heat at the point of most resistance and lowers the available voltage to everything including the ignition system. A starter motor draws a lot of current so maybe nothing is left over for the ignition system. Current always goes the easiest route. Could have been your original charging system problems too. The original Lucas alternator was as good as any. A charging system can't charge a battery through high resistance cable ends.
Howard