VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 52' Styleline update

Good evening all,

Been under the weather, so not feeling up to cutting/splitting wood, I got to play on the car some.

Had pulled the distributor a few days ago. After changing the oil I fabricated a rod to spin the oil pump with a drill and gave it a go. It took a little bit, but I got oil coming out the 12 spots on top of the lifters. Cleaned the battery cable connections and pulled the 12V battery out of the tractor. I hooked it up and some of the interior lights (turn signal and a red light under the steering wheel) came on. My boy was qutie excited. I gave the headlights a real quick test and both shone for a second, but one went out. May have fried it, but the glass is broken on it already. I will likely be converting to 12V in the long run. The key and start button didn't want to engage the starter, but I may have had a bad connection somewhere. I ended up hooking the battery up and jumping across the solenoid. The starter spins up fine, but does not engage the flywheel.

The starter is easy to pull, but I've heard of some difficulties where the starter will be engaged when not on the car and the "plunger" will come out and not return, since the flywheel isn't there to spin it back. Then it can be a nuisance to get back on the car.

What should I look for when I pull the starter? I will work on cleaning plugs/wires up next so I can hang a small fuel source to the carb and hopefully try to fire it up sometime soon.

TIA

Chris

Chris,
I see no one has responded so I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. I am no expert on '52s but here are a couple ideas.

1. If you bypassed the solenoid, the starter will run but the solenoid will not engage the bendix gear with the flywheel ring gear.

2. The solenoid may be stuck or defective.

If you can't get it to work on the car I would pull the starter and inspect it for problems and give it a good cleaning. I would leave it 6 volts if I were you, it will work just fine as it was designed to do if everything is in good shape.

Good Luck!

Good advice about leaving it 6V, but be sure to purchase the proper sized cables at least 01 guage for the positive and replace the ground with a new strap cable.

Thanks guys,

After tinkering a little more, we did get it to crank using the start button and a 12V battery. I need to get a temporary fuel set up, go through the plugs/points and see what happens.

I've been refurbishing and using a 1960 Ford tractor that was originally 6 volt. Just under a year ago, I swapped in a 10 si alternator and 12V battery. Pretty hard to beat the dependability of the new alternator and the added starting power is good too. Agian, I'm interested in a daily driver, but still open to suggestions on why 6 volt is preferable.

Chris

Glad you got it to crank. If you want to convert to 12 v. it can be made to work fine. You will have to change all bulbs, the spark coil (or put a resistor in the circuit), the blower motor, and you may have to put a resistor in the gas gauge circuit, may have to change the horns, and possibly a couple things I forgot. The alternator will probably be a little more trouble free than the original 6 v. generator and regulator and 12 volt will be easier and cheaper to make a modern radio work. I think I prefer 6 v. because it is original and because you don't have to change all that stuff, plus if things are working the way they should, 6 v. will start the car just fine even in cold weather. Back in the 1960's I had my '37 for a dailey driver work car and started it many times in below zero temperatures. Good luck getting it going and have fun with your son, it can be a great learning experiance for him and great for him to have a prodject with his Dad.

Thanks Ed,

I got the temporary gas tank hanging from the hood this evening, pushed new grease through the distributor and cleaned the points. It appears to be gapped somewhere around .013-.015, I need to check the spec. on that. After cleaning plugs and plug wires, I will be ready to get No. 1 at TDC combustion stroke and put my distributor back in.

Of course, I still need to confirm fuel delivery through the cleaned carb as well. Hopefully get to play with it this week some.

Chris

Hey all,

Winter and life put a halt to playing with the 52' for a number of months. I went through the ignition system last weekend, new points, plugs, rotor, cap & plugwires. After a little more use, the starter is working pretty dependably. I'm not sure about the carb, so I'm just pouring small amounts of fuel in the top side currently.

After a few hours of playing with it, the 235 will fire and run on its' own. I don't have the radiator in right now, so I haven't tried to keep it running for any length of time, but it cranks right up and is starting quite easily.

I think I will get a kit for the YF and rebuild it. I just cleaned it up last year, but didn't rebuild. Seeing that I've got compresseion and fire, I will likely go through the carb and start checking out the fuel pump, fuel tank and the line connecting them.

I will likely pull the rear seat and get my boys to cleaning up some and start assessing rust damage. What is the easiest, cheapest way to rework the existing seats that are pretty well destroyed (just down to springs and little to no padding)?

Thanks for any comments, just trying to decide what to do next. Based on rolling the car, etc. I beleive the clutch is functioning, but won't know if it will pull the car until I get it back on the ground and see what happens (probably not soon).

Chris