Technical starting problem

I rebuilt my 53 flathead several months ago. After finishing it and getting it running In put it in storage for several months and now it won't start. The starter cable gets hot and smokes when cranking on it. Is this a starter problem? Any other suggestions?

 

check those cables , are they old

 

Make sure the cables are clean and tight. HRP

 

does the engine spin? since it was sitting for a while it may have gotten water in it some how.
does it crank at all before the wires get hot?

 

Yes, it does. It cranks over but won't fire.

 

Are you getting any spark? HRP

 

did you check the cables?
how are the grounds? im leaning towards a starter only because you said it was running before
when it cranks now does it even pop? or is it a dead crank?

 

it is a dead crank. I have primed the carb and nothing.

 

Well, it sounds like, once your battery cables stop smoking (high resistance, probably need replacing) and you've checked out the starter (pull it and verify free spin with jumper cables on the garage floor) you are going to have to troubleshoot the distributor.

I pulled mine and the ground wire had finally broken. A little time with solvent and some fresh wires, new condensor and points filed and tested it by grounding the body to the negative post on the battery and spinning the shaft by hand. Nice fat sparks across the points after replacing broken parts. If it sparks on the bench, it will spark in the motor. Pretty easy way to tell if it is still working.

It really boils down to air/fuel/spark. If you don't have all three in a reasonable proportion, you need to sort that out first.

 

check for spark. make sure you are getting some spark at the plugs. check all wiring to coils and or distributor, may have a loss of power or ground

 

You appear to have more than one problem. As for the battery cables getting hot....are you using a 6 V or 12 V battery? If 6 V, you need cables sized for 6 V, as it takes twice the amperage for 6 V as 12 V. So, lighter gage 12 V cables will get hot on 6 V. If the cables match the battery voltage, you likely have a starter problem.

The lack of ignition spark is a separate problem, though may be related. coil voltage, points, condenser, internal distributor wiring, etc. need to be checked out.

 

I'll jump on the 'ground' bandwagon. I've had a very similar experience a couple of times, and each time it came back to a bad ground. Either too light of a ground wire, or the ground point was shaky.

 

Do you have a ground cable from the frame to the block? HRP