Technical Flathead Ford Starting Issues…

This kinda ties into the driving a 6v car in the winter thread but it’s a whole nuther set of issues.

I was working on my Tudor and left my woodie under the carport for a couple of days. It was dipping down in the teens at night and mid 30’s in the day. I was ready to start moving all the cars around so I could get them in order for the winter storm hibernation thing and when I went to fire the woodie up it acted really stupid. I have an AGM battery in it that was on a maintenance charge so it was fully charged but it turned over kinda slow (30w oil maybe) but sounded weird. The motor would spin backwards and cough whenever I stopped turning it over with the starter spinning by itself for a bit like when the bendix isn’t doing its job.

When it finally decided to try to hit off it acted like it jumped timing making a popping sound through the carburetor. When it started it was popping through the carburetor but was ****ing the entire time. Also it seemed like it was trying to fire on two cylinders at a time. I had to play with the throttle to keep it running but it wouldn’t clear up until it idled for 5 or 10 minutes until it warmed up. Eventually it would run fairly smoothly but still wasn’t perfect.

So is this a cold thing or is it time to junk the flattie and do something else? Honestly I didn’t think one could jump timing because it’s gear driven. I’m leaning towards an ignition problem maybe the points were not wanting to open and close fast enough? Heck I don’t know so any suggestions why or what happened?

 

Mine is very difficult to start below 60 degrees after it has sat for days.
Is your engine stock, how many carbs do you have?
and NO, don’t junk the flatty

 

I put electronic ignition on mine and that made a HUGE difference in the cold. Same thing on my old Ford 9N.

 

It’s a Dearborn Award winner, bone stock as they come.

 

Honestly I wouldn’t junk the motor just sit it out with all the other flatheads I have on the side of the garage in storage. I’m wanting to drive this on the Great American Race this year so if it’s hurt then we need to fix it.

 

I would start at the battery, then the starter
I’ve seen many starters die from a bad battery in the winter.

when the volts are down the amps are up

 

The battery is almost new I ordered a reproduction tar top that is an AGM and it’s been in the car for 7 months there about. The starter turns over pretty fast normally but it’s the whole it won’t run for **** when it’s fired up that bothers me. It sounded horrible and as my dad would say “couldn’t pull a sick ***** out of bed”

 

I’m kinda leaning on the ignition system being the cause for this problem, for one it was acting like it was trying to fire on multiple cylinders at the same time and maybe that’s why it was spinning backwards after I let off the starter.

I have a bone stock flathead in my Tudor and it doesn’t act like this whenever I crank it up in colder temperatures than this one. But every motor is not the same

 

If you have straight 30W oil in it, change to 5W30. Makes a huge difference.

 

If I even change it I’ll run straight 20w like I have in my Tudor and it cranks in 20* weather with no problems. Plus I only have around 500 quarts of the stuff here that needs to be used up so what the heck Also I never drive the woodie unless it’s super nice out and it lives in a climate controlled garage so it will turn over as easy now as it does in the summer.

 

Usually when an engine runs backwards it has fired too early . Check to make sure you have the correct distributor advance. Just a thought.

 

Before you start on the ignition system, do a compression test. What you are describing sound like a stuck or sticking valve.

 

Maybe the cold weather condensed moisture in the cap and spark is jumping around.

 

Depending on the ice storm we are having I’ll try to get out to the garage tomorrow morning and check it all. It was running perfect before it set out in the cold those few days but that might not have a bearing on the issue at hand. I might try to crank it again and see what happens, it’s 68* in my garage so that should rule out the cold.

 

Oh heck, I was under the impression it was outside.
BTW, your garage is warmer than my house!

 

It was outside whenever this happened so you might have hit it on the head.

 

That's not true about low battery voltage, amps don't go up when the voltage goes down. Low voltage and you will have less amps flowing. A starter needs all the amps it can get to turn over a motor and that is why the circuit has to be clean and good wiring and a good battery.

 

It turns over great per se’ but that’s not the real problem, it’s the fact that it spins backwards and acts like it jumped timing. I’m gonna say it’s an ignition issue, points can only open and close so fast when it’s in the teens. But the car didnt have any power once it cleared up 10 minutes later. Normally I wouldn’t care about this because I have plans for the car this coming winter but I’m wanting to drive it on the Great American Race this summer and possibly take it to the Woodie Clubs nationals that’s going to be tied in with the TROG show this year.

 

Gas look healthy ?

 

Yeah I filled it up this fall and have driven it a few miles around the neighborhood afterwards at different points. Whenever I moved it out of the garage to do the maintenance to my Tudor I drove it around and did great like always.