1949 Cub Natchez MS Updates

[cavingreer]

New starter switch on. Just did a first starting attempt. Still having a hard time getting it to turn over but that's because my truck battery and the jumper cables don't feed enough juice. It does better with the truck cranked so I figure once I get a battery box and battery on it that won't be a problem anymore. Doesn't sound like it's firing. I notice 2 things that concern me.
1 is the coil and ballast resistor are very warm, which makes me wonder if I have something wired wrong.
2 it's dripping fuel from the bleeder valve in the bottom of the carb throat. This was before I had the gas even connected so it's drawing that fuel from the float bowl while turning over.
I'm about to go over my wiring diagrams and pull a plug wire for a firing test and following that check the points but I had to come inside and cool down and rehydrate so I figured I'd toss this out and get any thoughts anyone had.

[cavingreer]

Wiring all appears good. I have 12V at the ballast resistor, 7V at the + side of the coil and a little less at the - side only when the switch is on. I have 12V at the B post of the Alternator. It is firing at the end of the #1 plug wire. I shut the gas off and drained the float bowl and cranked it some to dry out. I was trying to put the lever and pull rod on the starter switch and noticed after several minutes that the starter continues to get hotter just sitting there, so something has to be wrong, but it does turn at a good speed so I'm not certain what the problem could be. Still not getting a "hit" when turning over. Simply blowing fumes out of the pipe.

[Eugene]

I was trying to put the lever and pull rod on the starter switch and noticed after several minutes that the starter continues to get hotter just sitting there, so something has to be wrong.

Voltage is being applied to the starter motor.

The switch on top of the starter motor is shorting to the starter motor.

Disconnect the battery until you get the problem solved.

[cavingreer]

That was my thought Eugene but it's a brand new starter switch, there's no indication of a short in or on the switch, there's no voltage or short registering on my multimeter between the switch post and the body of the switch.

UPDATE - Just went out again with my meter and my little booster pack. Reading completely open, no continuity between the post and the body of the switch or starter. Reading 12V on the post and zero on the body between different ground points. Didn't feel any heat with it just sitting this time. Cranked it over a few times and got a little warm so probably just the old starter getting run on 12V after being cleaned up at the auto-electric shop. I'll keep an eye on it. Meanwhile I'm thinking new plugs, probably wires, points and condenser, to get it firing properly

[cavingreer]

IT CRANKED!!!

Changed plugs and wires, cleaned up the points/condenser/dist connection, finally got some spark at #1. The wires were completely backwards, figured that out when I was redoing them. I redid the static timing. All a sudden she fires up! About to go back to my real job for a bit but the one thing I noticed is the ammeter seems to be showing -30 all the time, do I maybe have something wired wrong like the diode?

[staninlowerAL]

If everything is correctly wired and sounds like it is, you can swap the wires on the amp gage.

[cavingreer]

After getting back in the office and doing a quick web search and hitting 100 posts on that, and then remembering I had seen that several times before, I realized that's probably all it needs LOL. I'm gonna leave the post up anyway so everyone can chuckle with me about it. Will get those wires swapped when I get home this evening. Next I'll get the fluids changed, front tires put on, and see how she drives!

[staninlowerAL]

"......Next I'll get the fluids changed, front tires put on, and see how she drives!"
I just love it when the plans all begin to come together!!

[BullDAWG]

glad you got her runnin...
I'm down here near Hattiesburg. I'll have to come n visit n bring my ole farmalls with me...

[bythepond88]

Before you swap the wires, is it possible that the generator has reverse polarity, and the problem can be solved by re-polarization?

[cavingreer]

post by bythepond88 » Fri Aug 14, 2015 5:15 pm

Before you swap the wires, is it possible that the generator has reverse polarity, and the problem can be solved by re-polarization?

Michael it's an alternator, I converted to 12V using a Delco.

So guys why is the starter switch such a ... pain ... to get working? Or do I have a bad contact on the top of my starter?
I've had nothing but issues with the starter switch and bought a new one. Most of the time unless I'm using the truck to jump it off and pushing the switch by hand I'm not getting contact. Just went outside to jump it off and pull it over to a tree to winch up and remove the front tires. Before I tried cranking I put the starter pull rod back on and wound up loosening up the screws on the switch to get a little leeway to hook the rod up. Now dang thing won't contact again. Barely getting a bump once in awhile and this is what always happens when I'm fooling around with the starter switch.

[BullDAWG]

is the rod going to the switch adjusted right? If its not pushing in the switch enough it will never make good contact. Check the rod and the lever pivit point and see if it is working good and/or adjusted right. I had one that the pivot point was actually gone (the pin fell out) while the rest looked like it was working, it would only touch the switch but not actually push it to make contact...

[cavingreer]

I've played with that to the point of obscenity but I get the same results pushing by hand now

[staninlowerAL]

....So guys why is the starter switch such a ... pain ... to get working? Or do I have a bad contact on the top of my starter?.....

Is the starter contact post burned/pitted/shiney bright clean? You can dress this up with a file if needed. Take a look at the inside of the old starter switch and compare with your new one, see if the contact bar on the end of the push rod is burned. Your new switch might just not be the exact type to bridge the gap. Also have you had the armature out of the starter? Sometimes the brushes are worn to the point they won't make good contact or the communtator is dirty and needs cleaning up with fine emery cloth.
EDIT: Disregard the last statement, I reread your post and saw the starter has been rebuilt.

[brewzalot]

Disregard the last statement, I reread your post and saw the starter has been rebuilt

That rebuilt starter was getting hot just sitting there and now its not... red flag? I didn't see posted what fixed or caused that issue?

It was mentioned earlier but are you absolutely sure you don't have a ground issue now? They can come and go and drive you crazy, especially if you are only concentrating on the hot side of the circuit. Just curious when you jump the starter, where are you hooking your ground clamp up to?
It may not be a ground issue but its worth checking, again.

Tim