Gentleman, I have a 53 Cadillac with a 331 and when I crank on it, even with a full battery, it turns very slowly and makes a horrible grinding noise. This would lead me to believe its a bad starter, however all I can find are rebuild kits. I'm going to pull the stayer and bench test it. If it tests bad, can it be rebuilt without worrying about the windings?
If it 'motors', the windings and probably the fields are O.K. A good electrival shop (not only automotive, all electric motors have bronze bushings) can provide the correct bushings. Remove the starter, take it apart. The nose bushing will probably be the worst...GM started bushings were VERY common, so if you drive the bushing out of the starter nose casting and find one that's too long, install it and hacksaw it off the outside end, then dress it with a file.
ikf you need extra noses let me know. I have like half a dozen of them. my starty guy told me not to get rid of them. don't know if that helps but...
check between solenoid and power in can be rusty or bad contakt when you clean them put a extra copper plate to add som more thickness the plates seems to be warm and then power is down.
Look in the Yellow Pages for a local rebuilder or auto electric shop. A good shop can rebuild your starter better than any parts store rebuild, and usually cheaper. I no longer bother trying to fix starters, generators or alternators. For what it costs, the local rebuilder is well worth the money. They order parts out of a catalog that has about 4 grades of parts. Parts store rebuilds always use the cheapest parts. Local rebuilders generally use the better parts. If you want the best parts you have to ask for them and be prepared to pay extra, usually $20 to $30 extra for the best parts.
Did a bench test today and it seemed to run just fine, no grinding or strange noises. I'm putting brushes in it anyway since its out. May have a bigger internal engine issue.
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