Just pull the coil wire out and see if it will crank faster is easiest way to check.,as too much timing it will lurch from one to the next .

 

Well I just completed all of the advice that all of you gave me, with no luck. The engine will not crank fast enough to create vacuum to change the advance timing. Here is my best stab at duplicating the crank speed " Grrr pause Grrr Pause... " and so on. Every one of the pauses would be the engine stepping through the firing order. The more plugs I remove the less pauses there are. This is like having a dead battery, this happens with a battery or a jump from my F150. Thanks

 

The engine will never crank fast enough to advance the timing, I think you misunderstood what we were saying about the initial advance , but it doesn't matter really. If it still cranks slow with a jump from a good battery and the COIL wire is removed it's not a timing issue. It's staring to sound more like a starter or cable/connection problem. Then again if it sat for a few years without being turned over it could possibly be semi frozen, rusted cylinder walls, gummed up oil etc. If you can tow it or push it and just let it free wheel without trying to start it may loosen it up some what

 

I just pulled the top end off and it looks real good cylinders shinny. So it's not ceased. I replaced the cables, Can a starter lose it's power to where an engine would not crank fast enough to start? I will look into the starter. Thanks, Roger

 

Thats good news. Did you try cranking it over with the heads and valve train removed?
I guess depending on what climate the engine sat in the starter commutator could get oxidized/corroded or what ever copper does. That would give a bad contact with the brushes...

Have you tried hooking your jumper directly to the starter terminal ?

 

I did crank it over without the head and turned over great. I connected the jumpers to the starter terminals when I was trying to start it these past few day.

 

That's more good news. You may just have a case of too much friction and a lack of oil on everything. The best thing you could do it remove the distributor and run the oil pump with a drive and a drill to build up oil pressure. Thats a little involved if you haven't done it before. You could try doing it just using the starter and keep turning it over while there is no pressure on the cam bearings from the valve train.
I would wipe down all the cylinder walls with a coat of oil first.
Take the valley cover off and pout oil all over the lifters.

Lube everything you can, rocker arms etc. before re-assembly

 

I had this issue with my '61:

Just put a "new" (to me anyway) 292 in it, cranked slowly also..... comp test: 90-125 not great, but good enough to start.... a friend was cranking it one time when I saw the throttle pedal twisting back and forth from pumping the pedal was arcing to the body! Turns out the (-) battery cable stopped at the firewall. I installed a 1ga battery cable from intake manifold to the stud at which battery cable terminates on firewall.

Fired right up like every component was new

Running on the other hand.......................

 

people ck the pos elect connection but not the ----- it's the cable that completes the circuit I have 4 main neg connections cab to frame, engine to cab, cab to frame, engine to frame, battery to frame
others radiator support to frame, alternator to frame, bed to frame, cluster to cab, and fuel tank to cab woops this isn't the electrical page!!

 

Yep! A very useful troubleshooting technique - use your voltmeter in parallell with the cables to the starter (check both sides of the circuit) while a buddy cranks the engine over. You are looking for significant voltage drop, the clamp can be fine but corrosion on the wire interface will hork the current draw. Also, see what the current draw is while cranking the starter itself - the voltage at the battery terminals themselves should not drop below 9.5 volts, say.

If the Truck has sat for a long time, corrosion at the various electrical grounds will do exactly what you describe. Also, check for loose connections - hot or smoking wires when this happens.

If the starter itself is bad, it will draw excessive current, rebuilds are hit and miss and even if they work, they generally don't seem to last very long sometimes. Note too, starters have a rated duty cycle, When an engine is tuned properly the starter is engaged for just a split-second. If the engine does not start right away, the starter windings become extremely hot and need a half an hour or so cool down before it is safe to try again. Hardly anybody knows this, and even fewer follow the spec. But unless you feel like shelling out the dough and replacing another starter, until you fix the underlying, take it easy on your starter, 15 seconds of starter grinding, better go get lunch. It would also save your battery if you had an outboard charger to top that off too. Let us know what you find! Tedster

Cleaning all the grounds and SAE connectors with solvent and then treating with a good electrical grease like NO-OX-ID pays dividends. The voltage drop on old, corroded connections can be significant.

 

'Nuther idea..... starter bushings. Same engine/starter, about 6 months later, started dragging again, I removed it with the intention to replace with a new one, found out the open end (towards bellhousing) bushing was eggshaped. That heavy bendix assembly takes it's toll on old brass. Not to mention the flywheel ring gear, and reduced clearance between the armature and case. I ordered new ones..... after I rotated it 180 deg putting the tension on the meat of the bushing, reinstalled it and drove for a week till I decided to change them.