Technical Tight engine

I have 1950hudson Pacemaker that sat in a barn for five years. It has a fresh engine that was locked up. Three months later and various oils and a slow pull, it's running but it refuses to turn over with the starter but will start easy with another slow pull. I have checked all connections, have number one cable, a new battery and new starter. My next and maybe last try is go to 0000 battery cables for what it's worth. The engine maybe has ten hours on it.

 

Sounds like you need to service the starter. How is your battery and you need Big cables if 6 volts! Good luck Gary

 

New battery and starter and pretty thick cables but I'm buying 0000 cable, really heavy and expensive.

 

How much torque does it take to turn over by hand? Put a torque wrench on the front crank pully bolt and measure it. Anything over 40 ft-lbs without spark plugs indicates an internal engine problem.

 

It sounds like you've already covered most of the bases. Before you go to the expense and effort of going to "overkill" battery cables, it might be a good idea to check for voltage drops at various points on the starter circuit with a multimeter ) if you've not already done it. Also, double check the starter, a couple of years ago I got a rebuild for my flathead Ford from NAPA that was defective. Something doesn't sound right..

 

I wouldn't use a torque wrench as a breaker bar.

 

Have you checked the voltage drop between the battery and the starter? Have you tested the battery? What happens to the battery voltage when you try to engage the starter? There are a lot of things to test before ordering parts.

 

Most of today's batteries are only half the capacity of the '50s units. Consider a truck repair shop HD 6V for an older 4 battery diesel setup. They've always done the job for me lately.

 

Just lean on it until it approaches it's limit and then back off. Even that tells you what you need to know.

 

Remove and clean all the battery cables from both ends, make sure the ground cable from the battery to the starter is clean and tight. Also ground from engine to frame and frame to body.

 

Use a beam/pointer torque wrench….

 

New does not always equal good.
Connect a voltmeter across the battery posts. Read the voltage when cranking. Try it again with the spark plugs removed. Report back what your results are.