Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Chevy 235 Engine Not starting

Have my 54 GMC 150-24 truck, finally have the energy and (limited) time to go thru the engine. Checked the oil, little low but clean like it has a few miles not black. Checked points, cap and rotor, all look like new. Plug wires are stiff and some ends are little rusted or corroded, twisted the wires to help make better connection. Pulled plugs and looked clean, poured some Marvel in cylinders. Opened up the valve cover and checked all the rockers and valves turning the crank by hand. All spins freely and looks nice as well, lubed up the rocker shaft. Checked ground wires and cables, all clean. Jumpered with a switch for the ignition switch since missing a key (no patience to wait for new switch). Installed a 6v battery, engine turns over nicely with no bad noises.
Not getting spark at the plugs, I am getting voltage at the coil. I do notice the coil hot wire appeared that it has melted in the past, yet it still puts 6v to coil.
Been many years since I have dealt with points system.
Any pointers to help me on what to look for to at least get the engine started?
Once I get past that, I think I'll start the teardown process when I find a storage shed or place for the parts while restoring.
Might even work on getting the original 248 engine rebuilt if I can find all the parts.
Thank You in Advance.

Check your condenser and check for power from the coil to the dist.

Open the points and see if you have voltage through the coil.

Read somewhere that I can use a 12v battery on the starter. The ignition coil is 6v. Was wondering if I can use the 12v battery on the starter just to turn over the engine and the 6v battery just for the coil to at least get spark and start it for a few seconds. It turns over but doesn't seem fast enough. Still trying to figure out why no spark, coil is fine, removed the 6v wire and directly wired to battery with an on/off switch. Will pull cap and see if I can get spark from the coil by manually open/close the points. Unless someone has a suggestion?
Like to at least get an idea of what all I need to do to the engine before pulling it. Might drive it a few times or might just wait and do a frame off restoration.

If you have a fully charged good 6v battery and it won't turn the engine fast enough to start there is an issue. Dirty greasy starter? Bad connection especially engine to frame ground & battery to frame ground. The starter may need a good cleaning, commutator cleanup, brushes? The starter could be drawing so much power that there is not enough for good spark especially through old questionable parts & connections.

It is safe to run a 6v starter on 12v if you are not making long cranking runs. The problem would be that unless you remove the main power feed 12v will be running through the whole system and some stuff won't like it. I think it would be better to add more 6v amps by connecting another 6v battery or booster in parallel with your battery.

You cam check spark to the plugs by simply removing one & grounding the base on the engine and cranking with the ignition on. My dad used to just grab the plug wire. HEI ignition and a magneto on one of my flatheads broke him from that.

Not sure how fast the motor is supposed to turn with the 6v battery, it turns over just not as fast as todays cars. I have removed a couple plugs to check for spark and even pulled the boot back off one wire, still no spark. The key switch id off as I don't have a key, just wired the hot wire directly to - on coil as it was from truck. Already pulled connection off frame, motor, starter and cleaned real good even though they looked great. Will check again this weekend.

Been there with the grabbing the wire test in my teen years, on HEI was holding the insulated part and still got zapped.

OK, I think we are back to what Larry & Will said above. You have power to the coil. Turn the engine so the points are resting on a flat between lobes. Make sure the points are fully closed. Use a screwdriver to open the points. If there is no spark at the points it could indicate several things. Here is a good video I found. The guy make a few miss-calucations but the basic info may help you find your problem. Other than coil & condenser a bad wire to short is likely it. I checked the link and it goes to a page. It is the first video on the page.

LINK

IT RUNS...

Did some more checking and found the points not getting continuity when closed. Found that weird, filed it flat and still no continuity. The points, cap and rotor appear to be new assuming they (in past) were trying to get it running and gave up. Talked to my boss and he thought no way it cannot be making contact, especially metal on metal points, took his meter and checked, sure enough no continuity. Never saw that before. Replaced the points and condenser, gap at .019, pulled plug, got spark. Pulled air cleaner and dropped a couple tablespoons of gas down carb, it did not hesitate to start, sounded beautiful for it's few seconds.

Damn, I'm a happy camper. Now the real fun starts, but where do I start? Hell I am ready to just do the brakes, tires, rebuild the carb and fuel pump, patch radiator, strap down a milk crate with a pillow on it and start driving it. I only live under a mile away from work and on a dirt road, I am sure my police and sheriff neighbors wouldn't mind, LOL.
Ok, wishful thinking.

So list of restoring is going to get created. Just not even sure where or how to start. Like to at least have it movable for when winter hits and I can bring inside to work on. Too much to do on it.

Thank you for all your help. Will start a new page once I get working on it.[size:26pt][/size]

That is great! It had to be something simple. I'd go the milk crate route for a little while because once you tear it apart it will be quite a while before you'll have a chance to drive it and it really won't be the same truck with all the new stuff.

I'm Glad to hear you got it running, well running within reason anyway. It is nice when things are simple. But it is the simple things we overlook a lot of times.

That's the scary part, things have been too simple, scary simple. Wondering why the truck has been parked for so long, but the guy had at least 40-50 vehicles in his yard with more to get rid of. Even old motorcycles, see one motorcycle in middle of growing trees and shrubs still standing, need to cut down to get to it and actually see what it is.

Have another question, tires. Have these tires and want to know if good and safe to use? If so, where can I find tires? Seems wherever I look, doesn't seem to be that size.
Thanks again

NO and NO too dry rotted. Try and find a 17in 8lug rim that will fit that truck and get rid of the Lock ring rims If you can.

Most tire shops can find tires it you are not too picky about wanting them fo look exactly like original 50s tires. If not try Coker tires they look old And I've had good luck with them except for some of the whitewalls.

I happen to like the looks of "split" rims on a truck. They have some disadvantages for models use.
1. You'll have to run tubes & probably flap between the tube & rim.
2. Many shops won't mess with them or will charge extra.
3. If you don't know what you are doing and don't have the right tools they can kill you.

I worked in a tire shop when I was going to JC after high school. They found out I could do them so I got them all. Some I refused to do but if they were in reasonably good shape I'd do them, but I took my time and would not babe rushed. We didn't have a cage so I inflated them using s couple of short chains and set them under one of the car lifts. Never had one come apart but ai saw a terrible "accident" at a shop where my dad worked. One guy was killed and the other probably ended up loosing and arm. My dad had refused to work on their old rusty wheel so they left and came back later and without permission they tried to use air pressure to get a ring loose. They did.

I ran them on my '40 International 2 ton. 20" six of them that required that I take apart 12 to get useable tires and a set of wheels that matched. I had them sand blasted and then I painted them. Did it all in my driveway with hand tools. I wouldn't do it again but I see the truck at Hot August Nights and they are still on it 30+ years later. I also had them on my '53 for a while. Those rims are still around.

I just went out to check a '50 GMC 3/4 ton in the yard. It has 4 different 16" 8 lug wheels on it. One is a split.
Your truck could have come with either 16" or 17" wheels. 16s might be easier to find but 17s are popular again now too. I'd look around for a nice set that are right for the truck and that fit modern tubeless tires. I don't like modern looking wheels on our old trucks with only a few exceptions.

Also if you are going to rebuild a six build a GMC!

You got that right Beater, you really have to watch them rims. For the longest time I would never touch them. I worked in a tire shop in high school, and lost a good friend because of a big Ahole who would never use the cage. And one day a ring came through a block wall , and i was the lucky one because of the tire machane between me and the wall But My friend wasn't so lucky.

When I worked here for DOT I had one blow up on me and this was after it sitting in a cage for around 3hrs Because i had to go do a road call When I got back I checked the tire pressure I check the pressure 60psi and Just as I hooked up the air chuck to finish fill the tire , That bad boy blew it bend 3 bars on the cage and set me across the room when I came to i had people standing all around me and I couldn't hear a Word out of anyone But I could see lips moving. I could not hear for almost a MO. and I had a hernia disk in my neck which Almost paralyzed me because it had pressure on my spinal cord and every time, I would tip my head back my arms would fall to my side. I had no feeling in them till I tipped my head back up. But to this day I am still kinda gun shy when it even comes to airing / mounting up a regular tire. And this was Way over 20yrs ago now.

I have great respect for all things under pressure especially when there is no means of restraint. That goes beyond just mechanical things.