Ok a little background. I went to Nebraska in July and picked up a 1954 F100 with a 239 Y-block. Jumped it off with a 12V and drove it around town. Loaded it on the trailer and brought it home. Had to Jump it off to back it off the trailer. Backed it into the shop. Fixed several rusted spots and repaired the drivers door so it would close. Replaced all of the brake system with new parts. Went last Saturday and picked up a new 6V battery. Tried to crank it and it would not hit a lick. It turned over but never tried to fire off. Went Monday and bought new points, condenser, plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor button and coil. It still will not start, doesn't even try. But I can jump it with a 12V and it cranks and runs fine. I rechecked everything several times. I have spark at the points, I have spark at the plugs. I have not checked timing yet, I will have to buy or borrow a timing light. I can usually figure things out but I am at a loss on this one. It was a lot of fun to take it up the street and back but I was trying to turn it around in the driveway to back it down into the shop and stalled the motor. Had to get the jeep back out and jump it again. Thought maybe when it warmed up it would crank off the 6 volt but it wouldn't. Any help is greatly appreciated. Oh and no I don't want to change it over to a 12V system at least not yet.

 

Timing/ did the PO install 12vdc battery cables/ maybe frayed wire between coil and dist./ check all wires for corrision/ 12vdc on starter not so much problem, but on coil, dist points, condenser not good/ solonoid maybe old and to much internal arcing causes resistance/ check inside disc cap arcing carbon traces/ always check plug wires at night, old wires can look like a lightning storm at night. chuck

 

Is there any chance that this truck has already been converted to 12 volts? What voltage are you getting from the generator/alternator once its running should tell you the voltage it needs. My 2 cents!

 

Never mind. After reading again, I just now caught this line: "But I can jump it with a 12V and it cranks and runs fine."

 

I would first check the size of the battery cables. If too small they will not allow enough 6 volt current to power the starter but would power the coil and points.
The second thing I would check is the started it's self. Check to see if perhaps it's a 12 volt starter. If it is a 6 volt starter I would pull it and check it out. If the brushes are bad and not making contact it would take extra voltage to spin it. If you have the ability to determine current draw on the starter would answer a lot of questions as to what might be the trouble.
With 6 volts so much of the battery power is used to spin the engine, not a lot is left to power the coil to make fire. So if the starter is drawing too much current they might spin but not fire and start. Six volt is a different animal than 12 volts. With that said if the cables are large and the connections including grounds are clean and the starter is good they will easily start.
Good luck hope some of this helps.
Larry

 

I left out some infor in my first post, we are all thinking the same thing. It is all original as a 6 volt system. I replaced the battery cables with new ones and they are the heavy duty ones for a 6 volt system. I cleaned the grounds good and used new hardware to put them back. Checked with volt ohm meter and have good continuity. Starter spins the motor over good just never tries to fire. All new plug wires and distributor cap and rotory button. I have not checked what the output is off the generator or the timing. I will do this next. I hate to jump it with a 12 volt but it fires right up. I can not tell that the 12 volt spins the motor over any faster than the 6 volt. That is how similar they are. I have a good spark at the coil, plugs and points. Could it have something to do with the vaccum advance on the distributor? Now that I type that I doubt it. I'll update after I look at some other things, might not get a timing light till this weekend.
EDIT: Oh and I replaced the wire between the coil and distributor. It was in bad shape!

 

Yep its getting good gas flow. I even shot some starter fluid down the carb. Like I said it runs great and cranks good right off the bat with the 12 volt jump. I could understand if the 6 volt was lagging but it turns the motor over very good also.

 

Larry you might be onto something. I will pull the starter and check it out. It is a 6 volt and looks like the original one. It still has red paint on it same as the motor. I will also put an amp meter on it and check it.

 

Hey Lakotas,
While you are doing all that battery/starter stuff - what is a "VTX1800N for relaxation" in your profile? Maybe some new fangled foreign thing like the Fisker.... My money is on the starter needing a little TLC but it sounds like you are all over it...

Ben in Austin

 

A Honda bike

 

Will it bump start with a tow or rolling it on 6 volts? If so than I would think the starter is pulling all the power.

 

Ben
The VTX1800 is a big Honda twin cyl. motorcycle that loves to eat Harleys for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had one for several years and it is one big bike, heavy and FAST. Mine had a rev limiter that limited the top speed to only 160mph. They are a blast to ride.

 

Thanks Larry - that's one I've never heard of - Sounds like fun though I think I would be scared senseless going 160mph on a motorcycle.

Ben in Austin

 

Ben that bike is a dream to ride! The wife has a 1300 VTX and we took them to Montana a couple years back. Did a little over 4000 miles in 14 days and spent 4 of them days laying around in North Platte Nebraska with my father in law who is a big Harley rider and he loved the VTX. Now back to the starter. I think Larryb346 is all over this. I took the starter off and it had a lot of crud inside and only about 1/4 inch of brush left and the armature was all carboned up! I gotta get over to the starter shop and see if he has brushes if not I'll have to order them. I'll update as soon as I have some new info. Thanks guys this IS the best site!

 

Arctic y block, I wanted to try that but its hard to do when you work alone and don't have any friends interested in your crazy old truck projects!