1929 Chevrolet International - 4 Door Sedan Project by BearsFan315

7 minute(s) of a 636 minute read

went out last night and figured i would give starting a chance... 

did a once over on the engine, checked fluids, cables, wires, etc... then went to drop in battery and noticed the ground wire was hanging ?!? rolled under the car and realized that the battery cut out was fired and melted !! guess when the starter was arcing it caused excessive heat and melted the casing on the cut out. i know the battery was warm when i pulled it.

had to order a new switch, they are rated for 500A 12Vdc

3-28-2022

well the replacement battery cut off came in, so got it installed.

hoping to have some time later this week or this weekend to try to fire it up, attempt #3

3-31-2022

went out last night for fire attempt number 3.

did my once over, and installed battery, and then tried to fire spin the engine to pump gas to the pump, then carb. i primed the oil pump via drill . and the thing could barely turn over !! i can crank it by hand and it is a little tight, but i expect that on a freshly rebuilt engine. starter is fine and works great, they tested it and i bench tested it. i had to remove all spark plugs to get the thing to turn over.

so wondering if maybe the battery got fried ? burned out a few cells or something ? it is a Red Top Optima 6v, and this thing usually slings the motor around like there is no tomorrow. it stays on the tender and says it is fully charged, on a meter I get 6.4 v all day.

unfortunately i do NOT have a spare 6v battery around anywhere  think i will call local auto store and see if they can load test the 6v.

4-5-2022

took battery to get load tested, unfortunately no one locally can load test a 6v battery, everyone has the new auto testers that only do 12v. me and the guy played with the system and no where could you change it to 6v, so the battery would not load test because voltage was too low.

did try the battery back in the car, still can NOT spin the engine with plugs in it. if i jump it with a 12v then it will kick and spin over. going to get a new 12v battery this week. and try again. was able to prime the fuel pump, but took several rounds of 10 cycling (6v battery ONLY and no plugs)

4-7-2022

tinkered with the car some last night, mainly on spinning the engine over.

note that the 1930 is NOT home currently, it is actually out in Texas on Display at a Trade Show. It is being used for a NEWly formed Company as part of a promotion campaign, it will be featured on the company's NEW t-shirts to promote the company 

on to the 1929 remember all is relative, and relative in to how I perceive it

had the battery load tested and it passed, but said it was in last quarter of its life. battery code date is 07/14 (Optima Red Top 3 Year)

spinning it by hand with plugs in it is a little harder than spinning the 1930 with 1000 miles on it, you know when you hit a compression stroke on any cylinder, especially if spinning slowly. 

took the starter OFF tore it apart, made sure everything moved freely, was lubed up, and brushes seated and were free to move with armature

spun up starter on bench with (1) 6v battery, it spins up steadily, not an instant torque and spin. (2)12v battery, spins up fast and hard, way faster on torque end

installed starter back on car with plugs installed and attempted to spin up (1) 6v will spin engine till it hits compression stroke, which is not even a quarter or so turn, can NOT spin it past a compression stroke (2) 12v will attempt to spin engine but bendix gets stuck out and stops, tried various shim thicknesses and the same results. have to loosen starter to get bendix back in to try again.

strange thing is that with the plugs removed the 6v battery can spin over engine slowly, and bendix never gets stuck ?! maybe it is not kicking it out hard enough ? as noted i was able to slowly prime the fuel pump and carb via this method. took about 4-5 cycles of 10 seconds each to get the fuel pump full of fuel. remember New fuel line so has to pump from tank through line to bowl 

Ordering a NEW Optima 6v Red Top today, should be here tomorrow. NO ONE Locally within 25 miles says they have one in stock, called everyone around. 2 Local Parts store can have one to me next day. rest say approx 5-7 days, probably drop shipping from manufacturer. either way i will check the Production Date to validate when it was made. Easy to do on an Optima !

4-13-2022

messed with the car a bit this weekend...

got in the NEW optima 6v, did a test and same issue on the car as the other.

went through and double checked the timing and settings, reset the valves cold. 

did a few test Chipper recommended, i have a strong snappy spark, easily jumps and snaps 1/4" + gap with a strong blue flame. **POP** also pulled plugs and spun over engine to validate plugs were firing and sparking. so know i have FUEL to Carb, FIRE at the Plugs, and Air all around.

installed the battery and would kick the engine about a quarter turn and stop at a compression. so i set up the riding mower 12v 525CA battery with some jumper cables and ran it in parallel with the 6v, only connected it when i hit the starter and disconnected as soon as i stopped. engine would spin over and rotated with plugs, etc...  so made sure had fuel in carb, timing rough set and tried to fire it up, nothing. tinkered for a few hours, no avail. 

went out monday evening and tuesday evening tinkered around, same ordeal. about an hour or two each time. 

this morning went out and went over everything one more time, and then connected batteries, and after about half hour, the engine actually kicked and sputtered for a brief second. waiting a few seconds then hit it again, and tried to fire, once more and it started up, ran for about 10-15 seconds then died off. unfortunately had to pack it in and head to work. so i know it will now fire and everything is really close. figure if i can get it to fire and run, let it run for a short time and warm up and set in.