hey ya'll. i'm working on my 1951 vicky, 1950 8BA, 3spd BW trans. a couple weeks ago i had just gotten it up and running, drove it to the car show and put about 50-60 miles on it. it was running great ...so i decided to take it apart. more specifically, i decided i was gonna switch out the single carb for a dual setup. i got as far as having the new intake installed and decided i didn't want to make the switch because it was running so good and i wanted to enjoy it more before i did the swap. i went through the process of putting everything i had taken off, back on. i got everything on, turned the key and click. tried a jump box and still nothing but click. i then put a wrench on the crank pulley and i couldn't move it. i took the plugs out, took the tension off both belts, was able to move both water pumps and the alternator but still no go on the crank. now there was a instance, right before i started to take everything apart where i went to bump the engine with a remote switch and it was in gear. it lurched forward but luckily i had chocks in place. i mention this because back when i first installed the drive train, after trying to start it, the engine did kinda the same thing, acting like it was seized. i pulled it out, dropped the trans and lo and behold, it turned. it seems the trans was stuck between gears. i was told that this could have happened but i switch the trans out even though the first one turned fine once the engine and it were separated. i'm grabbin at straws here hoping my engine somehow hasn't seized itself after for sitting for 2 weeks. i'd appreciate any and all suggestions on what i can do to confirm if it is indeed seized or if something else is going on. thanks
Remove your starter . I bet if you do and reinstall it , it will be fine . Sometimes it just happens especially if you dont have the bracket on the starter to oil pan .
You could test by putting it in high gear and rock the car foward to rear . If you hear a clunk , no need to pull the starter . It’s probably what happened the first time .
I have an old Farmall tractor with the same type of starter drive as the early 50’s Fords. Randomly when you hit the starter you will hear a faint click or thump and the starter will lock up solid. Towing the tractor will not loosen it up. I loosen the bolts on the starter enough to wiggle the starter back and forth, re-tighten the bolts and it starts right up…..until the next time. Try loosening the starter.
I had one that did the same thing. Seemed to be worse if the battery voltage was down. I'd loosen mine, then hit the key, it would free up until it did it again.
Turn the crank backwards and tap on the starter. It may come loose. no luck.... Pull the starter. You have to be careful with the starter because it can come apart. It’s a good idea to use masking tape to hold it together. Loosening and jiggling it may work but personally I would like to see what’s going on. Cleaning does wonders for those parts. If cleaning does not help maybe a new starter or bendix is in your future. If it’s 12 V that bendix will take a beating and can fail. It hits hard on 12V. I would inspect the starter plate for anything warped or out of shape. Taping it up helps on reinstalling it. If it comes apart you’ll learn some new words getting the brushes back in in their correct spot. Years ago there was a “Locked up 63 Wrongbed at pull a part. It was a good looking truck. I tried to turn the engine. It was locked. I reversed the big ratchet and it turned backwards with compression! That truck was in the junkyard over a locked bendix!
On an unrelated note, dual carbs do not work well with the stock distributor. It’s possible to use the stock distributor with duals but they have to be 8BA 94s and some tricks have to be done to the distributor and vacuum lines. It’s not easy and results vary. If you just put duals on with no modifications, the spark advance will not work.
once again the community on the HAMB comes thru! thanks for all the info. and yes, it was just that, a stuck starter. so dave, thats just what happend. i loosened the bolts and i could here the thunk of it returning. i did take a look anyway and it looked good. F-one, the tape thing is a great idea. i have had it come apart before and you are correct it is a @#$%^ to get back together. it is a 12V too. as you say, it hits hard. can that be a problem? on the unrelated note, i did need to change the distributor, no vacuum for it. i bought all the stuff to do it but i found a 37 ford panel and it's going on that! thanks again for the replies.
Yes, that 6v starter hitting hard can be a problem and it can fail/break suddenly. Is it a major problem? No Is it worth getting a starter rewound for 12V? No in my opinion. It just one of the downsides of converting to 12V. Since you have had trouble it may be a good idea to get a spare starter.
My first car was a 4cyl. With one cylinder's worth of good compression. Every time you shut if off. it came to rest in the same spot. That spot on the ring gear was eventually worn. The starter would stick in this spot frequently, especially if you were on Hook Man's Bridge Road, at midnight, and heard a noise. Like @gary macdonald said, put in 3rd, hang your foot out the door and give it a rock. You would hear the drive pop loose, Bob's your uncle. Later I worked at a machine shop, we replaced ring gears with wear in one or two spots all the time. If one wasn't available, we'd remove it and turn to a better spot and put it back on. Try to have a look at the ring gear, it probably has some edgy teeth somewhere. Mike
My friend John McNally (owned el Matador when it burned down) loved '49-'51 Mercuries. Went to see a '50 coupe advertised for a reasonable price. Got there, seller said the engine's locked up, so $100 will buy it (this was in the mid 1960s). John hands seller the $100, gets the title, removes and replaces the starter, fires it up and drives it home. Them were the days. He also put a cash down payment down on a '50 convertible (on his way to work) which was way, way underpriced but when he went to pick it up was told, "Sorry, I didn't know my husband had already sold it." John realized there was no way he would prevail and accepted the return of his down payment. Can't win 'em all.
Shitcan that starter and put on a “stump puller “ gear reduction starter and you won’t have those problems anymore bro!! Take it from someone who lunched 3 of those poorly designed stock and after market starters
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