My ‘48 Chevy 3600 has a 235 engine swapped into
it and has been converted to 12V by a PO, but it still has a 6-volt starter.
I’m having an issue with getting the starter to work. I believe the starter is internally shorted through the armature.
A few days ago, while reinstalling the starter and connecting the positive lead, the internal parts of the starter switch shifted and caused a short which shorted my battery through the case of the starter directly to ground. I shorted it a handful of times trying to figure out where the issue was. After figuring out that the switch was bad I replaced it with a NOS unit, and I verified that the NOS switch does not short on my starter.
The issue I am having now is that the starter simply does nothing. When I hook it up and turn keyed power on, the truck’s fuel gauge pins to full (the gauge is inop and usually stays in the full position) and when I push the starter switch in that gauge drops down to empty (where it usually sits with keyed power off) until I release the starter switch, leading me to believe that there is a short in the starter and not an issue with it getting power.
I have verified that my battery is good and tried switching batteries, my positive and negative connections are both clean. There is no short through the starter switch and no short when the switch is not closed (engaged).
I pulled the starter apart and have found no obvious defects or visual evidence of shorts.
I’ve been trying to test the armature but I am not 100% sure that I’m testing it correctly. I don’t have access to a growler, just my multimeter.
There is not a short from anywhere on the commutator to the iron core or shaft. However, every section of the commutator has continuity and 0 ohms of resistance to every other section, which leads me to believe there’s an internal short.
Does it sound like I’ve correctly diagnosed the issue?
Also, if I’m correct, what is my best bet for sourcing a replacement armature? Or is it something I can rebuild myself if I buy the correct tools?
