350 problem (slightly OT)
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,831
Likes: 10
From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
350 problem (slightly OT)
This isn't in my Vette, but I've been fighting with a somewhat worn-out Chevy 350 in a parade vehicle owned by my parents (1939 American LaFrance fire truck...). The old 2BBL carb and points dizzy were worn out, so I dropped in a rebuilt QuadraJet and HEI. The throttle linkage then became bound up, which I have just fixed. Last night I had it running for a few seconds at a time and it sounded good...then the "fun" started. After it started a few times, whenever I would crank the starter the engine would let loose with a horrid metallic "clank" after a few revolutions - right about when you would expect the engine to start to fire. After this happened several times, the starter began to freewheel. The nose of the starter had cracked. I swapped that out today, but it's still clanking when I try to start the engine. Any thoughts? This thing is driving me nuts. 
Pro
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 570
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From: glace bay nova scotia
the town i live in has an old lefrance firetruck.this one still has the original motor and of course,chain drive!always wanted to fix it up,it's in very good shape,even has the wooden ladders,but it's needs to be repainted. the guys say she pulls harder than the new ones.they still used it for grass fire season until about 10 years ago.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,532
Likes: 4
From: Fairview Heights Illinois, near Saint Louis MO, STL C3 Shark
The old starter could have been the original and needed no shims. The replacement may require shims.
Sometimes starters just decide to quite working, or the little gear (bendix?) doesn't slide back down the shaft after cranking.
Take the starter back off and take a real close look at the gears and see if you can tell how it is engaging the flywheel/flexplate.
Sometimes starters just decide to quite working, or the little gear (bendix?) doesn't slide back down the shaft after cranking.
Take the starter back off and take a real close look at the gears and see if you can tell how it is engaging the flywheel/flexplate.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,831
Likes: 10
From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
The thing that makes me wonder if it's a starter problem is that the "clank" occurs while the starter is still grinding, not after attempting to disengage. I think my parents are going to have a local mechanic come look at it, if he doesn't have any good ideas I'm going to rip the intake and heads off the next time I have a chance. The exhaust manifolds are cracking apart, anyway. (Anyone know of a good cheap source of ram's horns with the angled outlets?)
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Drifting
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,532
Likes: 4
From: Fairview Heights Illinois, near Saint Louis MO, STL C3 Shark
You could see about narrowing it down by removing the starter, and putting some power to it while it is removed, see if the starter itself is making the noise, or if it only makes it will installed. just a thought.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 971
Likes: 7
From: roanoke va
Is the distributer installed in the correct location? And if so is the timeing close enough to start the engine? Did you install the wires in the correct order? I would suspect timeing issues. You said it did not have this problem untill you changed the dist. and carb. right.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
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From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
Dizzy is fine, that problem was straightened out while the throttle linkage was still freaking out. It was real easy to get into a runaway idle situation, but if you were careful you could get it running. I got it to start a couple of times on Sunday before this problem started, but I couldn't keep it running due to the stale gas. Then this mess began.