Howdy from Bossman. I figured I would give you the latest update as of about 20 minutes ago. I was talking to a good friend who specializes in rebuilding old cars and trucks, especially rare ones. He also has been a heavy equipment mechanic for a few decades. He said he would be willing to bet me any amount of money (if he had any) it was the starter. Boy, that sounds familiar. He lead me into his shop and pulled a 12V starter off a 1960-ish pickup that he had sitting on the shelf. It was rebuilt, then put in his pickup and worked just fine. Then he pulled it off when he scrapped the engine for other reasons. He told me to put it on my engine and give it a try. I took my 6V off, installed the 12v and hooked it up with jumper cables. Remember, nothing else is connected right now because the engine is about to come out. I jumpered it to my 1994 Suburban so I know the battery is good. Guess what... it doesn't turn over any better than with the 6V that I had in it. It does make some extra gear noise that I don't get from the 6V so that tells me the other "experts" were right and my 6V is matched properly to the flywheel. I hope this puts an end to the suggestions that it is the starter, cables, battery, etc. By the way... the 12V starter did turn it over without plugs in it, just like the 6V, but actually not as fast. I think that is because of the expected clash between the starter gear and the ring gear. With the 12V starter it sounds like a chain drive instead of a gear-to-gear mesh.
The next step is to pull the engine out and shotgun the 216 in it. I can't do it this weekend because of a previous obligation. My luck it will be raining next weekend. I will keep you guys updated as I move on.
