The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay '54 starter issue

I've got a 54 3100 with the original wiring and engine and has been sitting a few years. The problem is that everytime we go to start it the positive cable running from the battery to the starter starts to smoke. Looking at some diagrams, there seems to be a gnd strap from the bell housing to the frame that is missing. Would this account for the smoke? The starter does turn the engine.

Hy bigBob, welcome, when you say the cable starts to smoke, do you mean the whole length of the cable, or just the ends? Six volt starter cables are supposed to be twice as large as twelve volt cables, and since six volt stuff has not been used since the mid fifties, true six volt cables are getting hard to find. As for the ground strap, yes the factory had a braided ground strap going from the battery to the frame, and from the frame to the engine. So re-establish a good large ground from the battery to the engine, and make sure you have a six volt sized hot cable to the starter, hope that helps.