I have a 1950 2dr jetback. Currently been working on it for sometime with my dad but now life is slowing down a bit and I will take over everything. We had finished most of the front end and the car started fine. Now after the rebuild of the starter the negative terminal on the crank motor sparks while the vehicle cranks. I don't want to fry the solenoid. My question is since I should just take this as a sign that wiring could be just so bad it shorting, that I just switch over to 12 volt. Also at that point should I also just move it to disc brakes. I have been wanting to use it not as a daily but often driver. If I am just going to be ripping all the wiring out. Would you recommend taking it frame off sand blast the body and frame. This would just have me start from square one. Also I know when I switch to 12 volt I have to trade out all the bulbs to comply with the new power system and add an alternator. If you cant tell electrical systems are not my strongest area of expertise.
who rebuilt starter? sure have polarity right? negative ground? before starting need to polarize generator? good looking car - taking it all apart to start from square one is up to you - depends on what level of a car that you want to end up with - for a regular driver not really needed - be sure to check with your insurance co about whether you coverage will let you drive it on a regular basis - have you searched for a disc brake kit?
Northline rebuilders here in az did the rebuild. They just keep saying it could be a bad ground. I work in insurance and know the restrictions on how much to drive. Also I have found the wildwood kit for the front but currently looking for the rear as well. I just started looking for the brakes. The car has been through three moves and I am just hoping all the pieces are still in their boxes. The small pieces are the most I worry about. I want to have a decent build im not looking at show quality, but nice. I want to keep the straight eight and dyna as long as possible. ill probably have to find someone for interior and paint.
I don't think I would go with the body off. That's a lot of depth and hassle. Especially if its not needed. The sparks could very well be a grounding issue. 12 volt a definite headache remover. If the cloth wrapped wires are suspect in the least, replace them. I had a 49, those are huge with an interior large enough to put the pool next to the bowling alley.
Yea the interiors are huge. I'm just trying to decide where to put my bed. I think the wires are my issue. I found some from the guy before me that just did the worst wrap job on the fraid lines and some were almost split in half from him folding them up and jamming them into crevices. Would you just recommend sanding the frame and putting a frame paint on it. Thanks guys for all your input.
First thing I would do is find the correct wiring diagram for that car and trace out any wires that appear that the PO may have*******ed with them. From my own experience that kind of wiring insulation often deteriorated when the cars got about ten years old an a 66 year old car may have lots of suspect wires, On painting the frame so what ever spins your wheels and what you have time, energy and funds to do. We all have different views on that on cars that are being built to drive.
If you converted to 12 volts but kept the 6 volt starter, than you will see some sparks but it doesn't hurt the starter. My Chevy (and many others that I've seen) does the same thing when converted to 12 volts.
Is the negative battery cable the correct size and does it go to the engine block? Is there a ground strap from the engine to the frame and from the frame or engine to the body? If you have all of the above grounds in place you do not have a grounding problem.
Some strange advice being given. If there are sparks at the terminal, then there is a bad connection at the terminal. The only way sparks will occur is if the connection is loose
You say it ran with no electrical problems before the rebuild? If it were mine, I'd check for a problem in the wiring somewhere.
First step, clean where the ground goes- like sandpaper it clean. Wire brush the connector and the bolt to hold it down. Reconnect and see if it throws sparks this time. Then, sit back and figure out if you really need a 12 volt system. When I inquired here, the boys talked me out of switching my 41 Super. The engine will turn slowly with 6 but that's just relative to 12 volt. The other thing I understand that good solid/clean grounds are extra important when you are on 6 volts. Good grounds and good bulbs will give you enough light and you probably will find you don't need to go 12 volt.
Ok to clear up some confusion. 1. It ran fine no problem before the rebuild. The solenoid finally burnt out. 2. There are several wires that could be suspect. 3. There are no sparks at the terminal on battery or where the positive cable conects to the crank motor. The ground for the negative has been sanded down. The negative terminal is wired brushed as well. 4. If you look in the first picture you can see the negative cable is connected to the engine mount. Also in that pic if you look at the starter which has the solenoid on top, you can see a copper band going from crank motor to solenoid. The bolt there is the one that sparks. If I can I'll attach a video of before I found out the solenoid burnt out. The video will show the same post that sparks now but in the video it's smoking.
You have a loose connection where the sparks are coming from. Take it back to the starter place that rebuilt it and have them fix it. They can bench test it and it should do the same thing for them.
I'll have to try that. They said they bench tested it there and it worked fine. Thanks again to everyone for their advice
well finally got the starter back after sending to a different shop since the first shop messed it up. The starter is doing the same thing. i have deduced it has to be the wiring as all grounds are good. I did find the previous owner did some "amazing" wire wrapping that consisted of twisting the wires to the point of almost being frayed. SO that might be the issue.
If you want to get a really nice, easy to follow wiring diagram for this car try ClassicCarWiring.com - they're done in color and laminated.
Are you sure you don't have something that is shorting out that post. The video shows what appears to be a loose connection on the post. If the starter works ok off the car it is something on the car or something you have done that is causing the problem. Can you get a good high resolution photo of that area of the starter solenoid that we can see? Someone may be able to spot something that is out of kilter or shouldn't be connected to a certain spot.
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