8BA, rebuilt several years ago, 40 over, new rings, bearings, etc. stored, but never fired. I needed a little motivation on the RPU project, so I wanted to hear it run. New coil, plugs, rebuilt dizzy. I have a good strong spark. New fuel pump, rebuilt carb, I'm pretty sure it's gettin' gas. Add some oil, start to crank (jumper cables to starter from a fresh 12 volt battery). It will just barely turn over, then stops. If I pull the plugs, it turns over pretty well. I took the starter to a shop today and had new brushes, bearings, bendix installed. Now it turns over a little better, but still just barely when the plugs are in. I think that it just really "tight". I've pulled all the plugs and turned it over 10-20 seconds at a time, oil pump is pushing oil into the filter canister. I believe that it would start if I could get it to turn over a few complete rotations with the plugs in. Any advice is welcome. I just want to hear her purr for a little motivation. Thanks in advance, guys. Rich
WOW man, I don't have much of a clue, but I'm gonna take a guess at proper cam timing. Maybe its not letting it expel compression on the exaust side. I hope you get it figured out. I'll keep an eye on this one for future referance. Drew
I'd check the initial ignition timing. Sounds like you've may have it set too far in advance. Check the rotation of the rotor, loosen the dist hold down a little. Crank the engine and move the dist in the direction of its rotation. The engine should free up and start to want to run. Let us know.
I was just ready to suggest the same thing. I was also going to ask if it turned over free with a wrench before you put it in?
If those suggestions don't work you might want to see if the cam got put in with the wrong timing? No more than 8 degrees initial Dizzy advance like said before. I'd try it at TDC first though.
I had the same problem, only with my Pontiac Straight 8. Exactly the same, turned really slow and wouldn't fire, but when the plugs were out it turned really fast like it wanted to and you could hear that it had good compression. Know what it was.............. The distributor cap wasn't fully seated !!! Once I corrected that, it fired on the first crank !! It's always some stupid little issue that throws a wrench in the works !! Incidentally, is it getting fuel or spark (at the electrode). I'll post some more in a bit, gotta run.............
Man Im dying to find out what fixes this. I hope its somthing simple. That's my biggest problem I overlook the simplest shit and go straight for the worst, somtimes I do that and it still doesn't fix the problem. I'm on the edge of my seat here. Drew
Hello Be sure you have really big jumper cables, if you use cheap thin ones it won't work. I had the same problem on my tuck when I bought it, the owner before had mounted a thin cable from battery to ground. Lars
Just had this problem on my 50 ford. With the starter laying on the ground and jumper cables clamped on it, the starter would turn really slow. It turned out that the notch in the dust cover over the brushes was touching the washer under the power lead to the starter. Take off the dust cover and see how it cranks. Made a world of difference with on mine. Sitting on the floor the starter should just about jump off the ground when you put power to it. The fix was to grind the notch bigger before putting the cover back on. Works perfect now.
I didn't have much time to mess with it today, but I did put a different starter on it, and it acted exactly the same way. It does "seem" to be getting easier to crank, maybe. Maybe I do need a thicker set of cables. I'll try it again tomorrow. Stay tuned... Rich
a rebuilt starter with a new armature will turn it over a lot faster than an old one. even if its not the problem, at least you'll a have a reliable starter.
Jump it with a 12V battery but just don't hold the key down for a long time. Just had to do that with my 53 Pontiac
It's the cables, stupid. I used two sets of jumpers at once, and it turned MUCH faster. Sooo, hooked up the dizzy, choked it, pumped the throttle... It lives! I'll post a video in a bit. Thanks for all the advice, Rich
Fantastic!!! Glad to hear that it was something simple. Ain't it a great feeling to find the problem.....and hear it run!! Man, it happens to be simple stuff so much........we've all done that
Hey Crew, Dont under estimate the cable factor as I did. During FlatOz's invalualble help on the ShitHeap Special, the ride developed a funny starting problem. It would turn over fast and rapidly slow down, like a flat battery would, to the pint it wouldnt turn. Wait a while and it would do the same. The problem was solved by replacing the thin ground cable with a nice thick one and ditto the cabling to the starter motor. Could almost drive the car on the starter along it turns over so quickly. Danny
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