Gonna try to start Bud, need directions

[289stude]

I know this has been covered before, but If we can cover it one more time that would be great. Bud is sitting with no front sheet metal at all, nothing is hooked up. There is just a bare frame and engine. I need to know what to do to try to start him. A diagram may be neccessary. The starter, generator, distributor, coil, carb, ect. is all intact.


Thanks John

[52-fan]

Is this a fresh engine or one that is about to awaken from a long sleep? Are you just wanting to see if it will run briefly or tune on it?


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[289stude]

It was on a 6000 mile rt 66 tour 5 yrs ago. it hasn't been run in 2 yrs, I put some penetrating oil in the cylinders and it turned immediatly & smoothly off the crank bolt. I just want to see if it will start.

John

[Tom Bredehoft]

Make sure it has fuel, coolant, oil and spark, and turn the key. An exhaust system is nice, but not necessary.

You might want to pull the distributor and pump oil through the engine with an electric drill, but putting the distributor back in [right] is a bear. If you don't do this, don't romp on it till its got good pressure on the gage.

[img=left]http://www.alink.com/personal/tbredehoft/Avatar.jpg[/img=left]
Tom Bredehoft
'53 Commander Coupe
'55 President (6H Y6) State Sedan
(Under Construction) 331 hrs.
'05 Legacy Ltd Wagon
All Indiana built cars

[DEEPNHOCK]

Just the basic's like posted here, John.
Remember...Safety first!
Keep a fire extinguisher close by, just in case.
Jeff[8D]

quote:Originally posted by 289stude

I know this has been covered before, but If we can cover it one more time that would be great. Bud is sitting with no front sheet metal at all, nothing is hooked up. There is just a bare frame and engine. I need to know what to do to try to start him. A diagram may be neccessary. The starter, generator, distributor, coil, carb, ect. is all intact.
Thanks John

http://community.webshots.com/user/deepnhock

[289stude]

There is no ignition with a key, the engine is not wired up to the truck. Picture an engine on a test stand basicly. I need to know how to fire it with the bare minimum, bypassing all systems, The radiator is not in the vehicle. The Oil is good, don't know about spark.


John

[WCP]

You need the crank turning to properly distribute oil. Rather than removing the distributor to turn the pump, remove the spark plugs and spin the engine with the starter under "no load" conditions until you register significant oil pressure. Best to do this with the ignition off. Run the starter in 20 second bursts with a comparable pause. With a previously dry engine, it may take 3 or 4 shots to get good oil pressure. This assumes that your oil pump is up to snuff. Re-install the plugs and fire it up. This prcedure will also fill the carb.

[N8N]

get a starter solenoid (or just find the one for the truck.) Hook the starter up to the output of the starter solenoid. Hook the positive battery cable to the input side of the solenoid. run +12v to the coil through a switch (if you wanna get real elegant, wire a Chrysler ballast resistor in series, if you plan on running it a long time) then get a remote starter switch and clip one end to the battery side of the solenoid and the other to the "s" terminal. That's enough electrically to get you running. Just press the remote starter switch to turn the engine over, once the oil pressure comes up, then flip on the switch for the coil and try it again. Hopefully you will be rewarded with the sweet sound of a Stude V-8 awakening!

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight

http://members.cox.net/njnagel

[289stude]

This trtuck does not have an oil pressure guage,(it's a 57, came with idiot lights) so how will I know when the pressure is up? Do I run the +12v from the coil to the selinoid? There is a white porcalin looking resistor on the firewall, should i run it through that? I don't think I have a remote starter swithc, can i use some other type of switch?

Thanks John

[N8N]

I'd get a cheap mechanical gauge and plumb it to the oil pressure switch port (or one of the other three similar ports on the engine.) I forget that some people don't have a "junk box" with all this stuff

If you think you may want to add one later just go ahead and buy a good one. Most of my vehicles end up with a three gauge panel under the dash at some point in time, only the specific gauges installed vary with vehicle

Shadetree solution - pull a valve cover while cranking over, and watch for oil coming out the rocker shafts. That'll probably be the last place that oil gets to in the engine. Alternate shadetree solution - pull the oil pressure switch or one of the little pipe plugs at the corner of the head, and crank it until the oil comes out the port. Then reinstall the switch or plug and crank it a few more times, then try to start it.

you can do this whole exercise with test leads with alligator clips, or in a pinch, simple bulk wire stripped and folded to grab onto where they need to be connected. None of these connections are particularly high current, just be careful that no unfused wires are in a position where if they fell off they could short to ground. (that is, don't tap a wire to the "S" terminal to start the engine and then when it starts, just drop it onto something metal... that would be bad.) If you have a junk box with some sta-kons in it you can whip up something a little less poorly engineered in just a few minutes. Yes, if you have a factory ballast resistor and not a resistance wire to the key switch I'd just connect your "ignition" wire to the side of that resistor away from the coil and leave everything from there to the coil connected. I didn't know if trucks used a seperate resistor or a resistance wire. *don't* connect the ballast bypass wire, if you even choose to do so, until you've brought the oil pressure up, otherwise the engine will catch as soon as it gets fuel (assuming that points, etc. are OK)

Oh, heck, just drop the truck off in my driveway. I'll get it put back together for you, but I have a couple little hauling jobs...

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight

http://members.cox.net/njnagel

[buddymander]

Two wires. One wire to the positive side of the coil. Other wire is the cable from the starter. Just touch it to the positive post and it'll crank it over. If you run that direct wire to the points for very long it will burn your points. But your ignition system runs 12 volts direct anytime you crank the starter anyways. If you run juice to the input side of the resistor, it might not receive sufficient voltage to fire up.