When I was cranking I heard a loud snap inside the car. I just need to see for myself cause then when I asked them was it a white or a whiteish blue color they then werent sure if it was really yellow but they said yellowish white to begin with.

I will go with that till I see first hand myself what color. Might be tomorrow after work as I got home too late tonight to mess with it.

 

Little update since I haven't posted since early last month. I didn't do much lately, I just ordered a battery cable set for it as well as the manifold to firewall ground wire, valve cover gaskets, valve cover decal, and the decals for the starter, generator, and voltage regulator.


My idea is to replace the cables as the solenoid to starter cable is basically bare wire and has green oxidation all up and down it. I still think this is part of my problem if not the whole problem. The engine just doesn't seem to spin over fast enough while cranking. I put new cables on the '58 Ford 641 tractor and that while it is a 4 cylinder has the same starter and it spins over considerably faster than this 292 does. I think the 292 should spin not quite as fast but faster than it does now.


Now if the cables replaced doesn't correct the issue then I will move onto rebuilding the starter innards as I feel during cranking there is way more draw than there should be. That much I know for a fact as plugging a battery charger to the battery and setting it to 225 Amp start the engine spins faster than just on the battery.


The other thing that is my problem is I need to reset the choke I came across this on a old '80s Buick that the choke was set too tight by the boss and it would not attempt to fire. It was flooding the engine out so I think this is why when I held the throttle to the floor it had some attempt after cranking a few seconds. So I will set the choke open as well I complete my other line of thought to see if that makes a difference or not.


I hope to get this finished and if I do I will get a video of the engine running for the first time in 30 years and upload it and link it here.

 

I got the battery cables installed today, no change in the spinning of the starter, I think it is still spinning way to slow, it sounds like the battery is half dead but it is not.


Looks like the next step is to rebuild the starter so I am ordering a starter rebuild kit as well as a generator rebuild kit while I am at it. I want to replace the battery cable stud on the starter as it feels loose but it is temporarily discontinued for now. I could just say screw it and purchase a remanufactured starter with bendix drive for $180 including $40 core charge. But I think I rather rebuild as I have been told constantly that the amature and field coils never really go out unless you over heat the starter.


Thing is though my starter post feels loose after I tightened up the battery cable and Macs has a repair kit for that


If this still doesn't fix it then I guess that Duracell 29N battery I got is just not enough cranking amps then.

 

If you need to replace the starter, this is about the only option

Y Block Ford Gear Reduction Starter

Expensive, I know, but I got tired of yearly replacement of rebuilt starters. I've had that starter for probably 12 trouble free years, now.

Mummert also has a modern starter available but I don't think it is on his website, yet. FORD Y

 

This is the first time I am doing this myself, the car sat for 30 years and it had a slow crank to it but the battery cables were bare wire and they had this green corrosion on it so I replaced them thinking that was it.


It wasn't so the only other option I have is the starter, the shop manual says battery, solenoid, cables, or starter. But that is for a no crank or slow crank symptom.


I don't see a solenoid causing a slow crank so I haven't replaced that. I replaced the cables and the battery is a Duracell 29N but it doesn't say the cranking amps just the cold cranking amps so its possible the battery is too low of a cranking amp or it could be the starter.


If the starter fixes this and if I have trouble with starters going out I will most likely do the gear reduction starter on it.


First thing I need to do is later tonight I will check battery voltage with key off, key on, and cranking to see what it looks like.

 

Even a 500 CCA battery should be nice and zippy with a good starter, spec is 180-200 RPM. A dragging starter is noticeable on the bench, a good starter armature is easy to turn by hand.

 

Has anyone ever load tested that battery? Or have you tried a known good battery? Original type starters, while not the best design will run for years and years when right.

 

If you haven't rebuilt starters before or have the tools to do it you won't have much success and will waste your time and money. I got a great rebuilt through a local auto parts store, not one of the box stores crap.. It was $87 and included a Bendix with most rebuilds don't.

 

390 CCA @ 0*F and 465 CA @ 32*F is what this battery is. This is the only battery I could find locally and it is a group 29N I could find without spending hundreds on a reproduction battery.


As far as the speed is concerned, I honestly don't think the engine is turning over that fast it sounds like its spinning over at maybe 50 RPM at best.


The battery was bought a few months ago. It has always been like this and the horn and headlights are loud and bright. But when cranking the starter seems like its not getting enough amps like something internally is causing a higher than normal draw.



What special tools are needed to rebuild the starter? The only tool I could see is the one to remove the pin on the bendix. But aside from that I don't know of any other special tools required.


As far as rebuilding a starter before, I haven't but the one person that is going to be helping me has rebuilt many starters and generators before.


As far as finding one local, I found one for $170 reman local without bendix but they sell the bendix separate for $96. I also found that Macs is selling a complete reman starter with bendix for $140 + $40 for core which comes out to $180. That is the cheapest I found so far. But I already ordered the stuff and will give this a try.






Was too tired to do this today but just to make sure I will be doing the voltage drop test as lined out in the shop manual.


Pos. Lead to the Pos. battery terminal then the negative lead at the starter, at the battery side of the solenoid, and at the starter side of the solenoid. Then from negative battery terminal to the ground mount.


Says from battery to starter post should be 0.5V or less, then from battery to battery side of solenoid shoud be 0.1V or less, then from battery to starter side of solenoid 0.3V or less, and the negative cable should be 0.1V or less. I am confident that I should exceed these voltage drop readings.


One thing interesting I did read in the shop manual was talking about excessive drag internally in the engine. I know there is one spot where the engine tends to get a little hard to turn by hand. But without the plugs in the engine it was spinning over considerably faster than it is now and it was a steady spin which would have to rule out internal engine drag.

 

Look on eBay for a bendix, good new old stock. 96 bucks is a rip off, and it may be junk to boot.

I like to pair a new solenoid along with a new starter and new bendix. 390 CCA is technically OK but would want to see more reserve capacity. How are you keeping it charged though, if the truck won't start? It will get wallopped quick if the starter is dragging.

 

At the moment I am not cranking on it much, not much more than probably 5 seconds of cranking at a time. When I saw that the crank speed hasn't gotten any faster that's when I stopped.


When I had the battery charger hooked to the battery with it on while I was cranking the engine did seem to turn over quite a bit faster. but still didn't seem as fast as it should be though.


I will see how this starter looks when I get it out if it seems that its just too bad to attempt rebuilding I will just order a rebuilt one from Macs for $180 that comes with a bendix.

 

No what I mean are you charging the battery.

I bought a "new" or remanufactured from DB electrical for $120 iirc. Seems OK. We'll see. Have one bum starter and one that was getting there, so I bought a rebuild kit from Dennis Carpenter. Has bushings, brushes, positive post and motorcraft armature. So we'll see. having a working spare on the shelf seems like a plan.

 

Y Block Ford Gear Reduction Starter

I'd have to say that finally replacing the 1930's technology starter with the modern one above was one of the best moves I've made for my Y-block.

 

One thing you might want to do since you've been doing a lot of cranking, at very low rpm if the battery is not up to the job, without starting, is to pull the distributor and prime the oil system. Use a socket taped to an extension to reach the pump drive shaft and then turn it with a drill. You can also use an old distributor shaft and there are actually tools for the job. Pull the valve covers and turn the pump until you get oil out of the rockers.

 

Rebuilding your own is OK if you can turn the commutator, remove and replace the bushings and solder the brushes.

A gear reduction type is probably the best but investing that kind of money on this old engine that has sat this long and may have many issues is a bit much. You can get a Wilson rebuild at O'Reileys for $107 with bendix, I've actually had good luck with a few.