Hard hot Start Problem (common)

[JayChicago]

Originally Posted by Gene1949

Hard starting heat soaked flatheads were a fact of life back in the 6 volt days.

Because lots of people were driving old, tired cars that had maintenance problems. When all is well, no hot start problem.

[Gene1949]

Originally Posted by JayChicago

Because lots of people were driving old, tired cars that had maintenance problems. When all is well, no hot start problem.

And that was the key. When those cars were new they did function as designed. However, those "new parts/autos" had a relatively short working life.
IF I were to remain "period correct" and expect the drive the car I would replace everything electrical under the hood.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Gene1949

And that was the key. When those cars were new they did function as designed. However, those "new parts/autos" had a relatively short working life.
IF I were to remain "period correct" and expect the drive the car I would replace everything electrical under the hood.

Again not my experience -Every one I know who has had problems with reliability in their car have had it either "restored" by a shade tree mechanic and/or have upgraded it for reliabilty with mass produced modern inferior parts that Henry's quality control inspectors would have consigned to the scrap heap instantly. After 88 years and 105,000 miles my car is stil running many of the original electrical components with no problems. For me the functionality and relability of such old technology is part of the charm of owning an old vehicle -but each to their own

[pistonbroke]

OK, we have had this topic many times but I like to here it as it means my friends are driving (or want to be) their old iron. I have had many old 6volt flatheads, Ford , Lincoln, Dodge and Cadillac. The Lincoln Zephyr and the 46 Cadillac were the ones that tested my knowledge on starter draw and cranking speed. First and foremost, you have to have the cold cranking amps. On the caddy I use two optimas in parallel just to put my wife at ease when she drives it without me around. The Optima batteries have the most cold cranking amps in the 6volt field these days and you can hide on inside the case of your ford batterie case for show. Second , Cables need to be big , the bigger the better and the finer the wire strands the better. A lot of the new cables look big but just have more insulation and less copper. Look closely as I was fooled by a on line vender myself. Wire routing is next, the positive ground cable should be attached to the engine, mine are on the head bolt/studs. The negative should go to the solenoid in as short a path as possible. The same goes for the cable from the solenoid to the starter' Next, it's the solenoid that turns on the the starter circuit . These are simple switches that can work well for thousands of starts but eventually the contacts will burn and create resistance . If your solenoid get hot when starting you should replace it(heat is resistance) with a quality one. The starter motor is the hardest working part of this system. Just because it works doesn't mean it works well . These can be tested by a good electrical shop . I have taken most of my starters apart(even the new ones) and lubed the head or nose bushing with molly bearing grease to reduce the friction as well. This does seem to make a difference. If you follow these simple steps and have good clean tight connections. You ford should start in any condition, hot or very cold. May there always be road , Tim