You said you replaced the starter with a starter from the original engine. Did the starters come apart as you pulled them out of the engines? The starters will fall apart if they aren't taken out with care and have to be put back together correctly. Sounds to me like a misalignment with the starter or something is binding inside the starter. If the end bushings on the starter is worn it will allow the armature to come in contacts of the fields of the starter, jamming it but since you said the second starter worked fine in the original engine then I doubt that's the problem but if you had to put the starter back together you might have the brushes misinstalled, that's fairly easy to do.

You also said you cleand the battery connections, did you clean the connections at the starter? Every connection on a 6 volt has to be absolutely clean to properly work. There is also a small bracket that bolts to the oil pan and one of bolts in the starter, at the back. Is that bracket there? Sometimes if the bracket is missing the starter will twist just enough to jam. Many times these brackets will be removed and not cause a problem but some engines just may be a little more affected if it's missing.

I've jumped started my F-2 many times with my daily '04 driver. Just make sure positive goes to positive and negative goes to negative. Don't allow the vehicles to touch. My daily is a truck and still has a metal bumper. I even check my timing on the F-2 using the 12 volt from the daily driver with the pick up lead clamped around the #1 cylinder spark plug wire on the F-2.

 

Hello Bob,
Both starters did open up a little when I pulled them off. I just kinda pushed them back together the 1/2 inch the end bells seperated. Was I supposed to do anything something with the brushes and would it still be working a little bit if I had? I did reinstall teh bracket that goes from the starter to the pan. The connections are all shny clean.

 

It's possible that the brushes cocked when you pushed the units back together. They tend to jump out of their holders. It's been a while since I hand any of my starters out but I think there's a metal band that goes around the end of the starter that's held together with a single small bolt. I suggest you take the starter out and take the band off to make sure the brushes are making good contact the armature. The trick with the brushes is to have the pulled out of their sockets just enough to have them cocked with the spring resting on the side of the socket. Once the armature is installed then take a hook and pull the spring back and into the brush socket behind the brush. My dad used to use a button hook, the old time kind they used when we had buttons on our shoes. You just need to find a small hook big enough to pull the spring back.

Another thing you should do if you plan to have the starter out of the truck for a time is to insert the long 1/4" bolts and fasten them with nuts or else they'll surely fall apart.

 

Also it's been mentioned in kind of a hidden fashion, but you have to make sure your groundin cable is large as well (no flat weaved ground straps for the engine, but a thick copper battery cable), and it is bolted to the engine someplace.

Not only do the grounds all have to be clean, but they have to be of large enough cable and you absolutely must have cables that ground the engine either directly to the battery, or engine to frame them frame to battery!

 

I am heading over to work on the problem more today. Just a thought, could I have the wrong flywheel? I took off the thinner and smaller flywheel of the engine when I got it and installed the larger clutch and flywheel that got mixed up when I pulled out the old engine with a flathead 8 that I had puled out of another truc recently. Is there any difference between 8 and 6 flywheels or starters?

 

From the catalog I have the 6 has a 11" clutch with a 114 tooth ring gear. The eight has 10" clutch with a 112 tooth ring gear, so I say assume they're different. I've have both but I've never swapped trannies or matched up any of these parts.

C=F-1, D=F-2, Y=F-3

 

They are different. I'm surprised the V8 bellhousing fit over it, and that the crank flange is the same size and bolt pattern.

 

I guess that's the answer to the problem.

 

Solved!!After pulling out an old starter from a flathead 6 that has been out in the elements for at least 10 years I noticed how clean the spacer was where the starter mated up to it... My 3 coats of engine paint could be the problem. I cleaned off my lovely paint and gave it 6 volts and away it went. Started with a little fuel down the carb until the fuel pump started spraying fuel everywhere. Next I will order a fuel pump rebuild kit. Than you for all your help!!!

 

Bad grounds will kill you every time!

Glad you got that fixed!

PS Curious about the flywheel now?????!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I'm not understanding how a 6-cyl flywheel, a V8 starter plate, and a 6-cyl starter motor could work together?! or was that not the case?

 

BTW, I found there were different starter designs there the Bonus Built years. A while back I had starter problems, the insulators on the back plate were bad so I thought I'd have an easy fix, pull the starter from my parts truck in the back forty and swap back plates. No so easy. My F-2 is a '49 with a '50 engine, I have a '49 parts truck. The outer casing is different. I was able to swap internal parts but in order to use the backing plate I had to use the corresponding case.