The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Turning over too slow... Maybe?

On the right side of the block, {distributor side} raised casting numbers and stamped numbers into the pad just forward of the starter. The casting numbers will begin with the prefix number 3.
The casting number will I D what your engine is. "Chevy" will not be on the block. "GM" will appear casted into the block.

Your right, it is GM.

Anyways, i got my proper battery cables today (1 gauge) hooked them all up and decided to test with what little juice was left in my battery.... it almost started yet again. this time she's turning over way faster, but since i took my starter off to see what condition it was in and put it all back on, my starter is smoking and getting hot... did i screw up my starter??

I'll upload a video of the engine turning over with the new cables and a fresh battery but that wont be until about wednesday. Hopefully i will find a compression tester for then too.

Any other suggestions i can try?

I know you don't want to throw money at this thing, but if you are not ready to try rebuilding your starter yourself you might consider getting one at a parts store. That way at least you would know the starter is good. You should be able to pick one up for about $60.00
With a good battery, good cables, a good starter and good connections, that engine should turn over great. If it doesn't, then you will know there is something physically slowing the rotation of the engine.

the starter turns the engine over just fine, a lot faster with the new cables. but i think i might have gotten a bit of degreaser on the inside when i had taken it off and was scraping the mud off of it. ill check how much a new starter or rebuild kit will cost me. Thanks!

DO not crank the starter more than 5 seconds. After cranking allow time for the windings to cool.

Ok, I didn't want to bring this up again because I thought maybe I was missing something, but…. I took another look at your Flickr photos and I swear your plug wires are run all wrong. They almost look like they are run backwards I compared your picture to pictures of other 216s including my own. I did not find another distributor wired like yours.

My hope is that others will have a look at your pictures and help straighten this out . Maybe I’m wrong and your plug wires are right.

I've got my plug wires wired the way the previous cap was wired. This is also the way it would have to be wired for if what i believe "TDC" is at, but then again i wouldn't be surprised if mine are wrong after having so much trouble with finding the correct TDC.

I was going to take the bell housing dust cover off to clean and try to get a better look at the stamped letters ect, but i cant get it off. on mine there are 2 screws on the front (engine side). one on the driver side and the other on the passenger. are there any other?? it looks like it goes in between the the rear engine mount and the truck cab so if there's another screw... im screwed

The dust cover has four 1/4-20 screws holding it on. 2 in front, 2 in back. I'm not quite sure why you want to take it off, but it won't do any harm if you do.

It sounds like you are trying to take the bellhousing off, while the engine is in the truck. This would be a mistake, as it is not practical to do. The bellhousing is held to the engine block by 6 bolts with a 7/16-14 thread. There are 2 bolts on the top which are accessible, and 4 bolts inside which can only be accessed by removing the clutch assembly and flywheel.

Im not trying to take the bellhousing off, im just trying to take the dust cover off so I can wipe off the timing wheel. Im trying to set it at the TDC marking of UR, but I can't see it from it being covered in dust/greese

Josh, it looks like Steve Sr has it! Your Flickr photo # CIMG00026 shows the distributor wired correctly. I was going to send you a photo of mine but it looks the same as your 'before' photo. Swap your wires around to match and give it a go. Good Luck

I actually have had my distributor wired up the way in those pics, the new pics of the distributor that i had uploaded a while ago where when i was 180 out i think..
That being said, my truck is wired properly right?

Distributor
That link is to just show the way the old cap is wired, and my new cap is wired the exact same way.

Clean the inside of the starter with brake clean...on the backend. Remove all plugs. Rool up a tissue, fold it over and stuff it into the # 1 plug hold. Turn the engine over using the fan/belt. When the tissue pops out, look in the fly wheel timing hole for the BB. Make sure that it is on the compression stroke and not the exhaust. Pull the dist cap and look where the rotor is pointing. it will need to be close and or near the #1 dist terminal.

Your starter may need some TLC /rebuild / replacement. Note: If the dist rotor is to far away , it will be to far advanced.

Sounds to me like,you need to purchase you a high torque starter?They do have them!In my opinion,thats what I did to correct the problem.Best Regards.

A high torque starter... they have those for a 6v??????

so today still no luck, so i found TDC and set ignition timing. while i was doing this i noticed that cylinders #3 and 6 or really stiff. im thinking about buying some diesel and pouring it in the spark plug holes.

another thing i noticed is that the fuel bowl in my carb was empty.... i know that it should be full so what;s going on here?? is it my jets? Its a Rochester B1, and i know im gonna have a few guys tell me to get carter yf but i just wanna get the truck started with what i have.

Im going to create a new thread of elimination, for what i have, spark fuel ect.

Thanks for everybodys help,
Josh

Sorry,Josh,didn't know whole story.I just caught the,turning too slow. I had a built up 350engine,in my situation.And I went a higher battery output and high torque starter. Best Regards.

Josh, this guy will convert your 6 volt starter to a high-torque starter and he can also put a 6 volt alternator in your generator housing.

Did you ever get your motor running??? mine is doing the same thing and as of now i have replaced battery, battery cables, starter, condenser, points, cap, rotor, plug wires and plugs. mome still cranks over like yours did but will pick up speed after a few seconds of holding the starter. it is all set up for a 12 volt system too.

Finally, I've been fighting my engine project for a month, just about to give up. I put a fresh head on an old block, rebuilt the carb, did a tune up, even pulled the head and changed head gasket again. The reason for head gasket was I suspected a water leak, turns out my gas can had collected "rain" water, and I was pumping it into the engine. I don't know how important it is but I did "level" my engine, lower in the rear and it STARTED! I retorqued the head and it seems to run OK. Fires right up now, still no verdict on the overall condition of the engine, it has 040 pistons. I'm hoping it was bored to hotrod? Point is I picked up a lot of information on this post, tried them all, so hang in there, mechanical mysteries can be challenging!