Hey guys-This isn't for my car; it's for a friend who just purchased a beautiful '67 El Camino and hasn't owned a Chevy of any kind in years. The car itself is gorgeous- all-iron 4-bolt 350 w/ TH350, all very clean and tidy under the hood. He brought it by my house a couple days ago to show it off and it cranked very slowly when he tried to start it to leave, finally requiring a jump to get it lit.I didn't take a voltage reading while the car was running but the (aftermarket) ammeter did indicate that it was charging properly. Brand-new looking Interstate battery, clean terminals all around (except for the telltale jumper cable jaw marks all over the cable ends on the battery). I didn't notice the amp rating on the battery but it was physically large enough to fill up the battery tray so I didn't think it to be inadequate. The car has very pretty jet-hot coated Doug Thorley headers that I surmised were cooking the starter and causing it to drag badly. There is also a cleanly-mounted remote solenoid on the firewall about 8-10" above and behind the right side header- I've used this little solution myself but it was on a truck and the solenoid was considerably further away from the pipes up on the inner fender. I didn't get under the car but I believe the starter to be the good ol' Chevy variety that always seem to struggle on cars with headers. The motor sounds pretty tame, not a lot of compression to inhibit cranking. My question is this-
I have surmised that the car isn't cranking well because the tired old OEM-type starter just isn't up to the task with all the header heat, and playing the musical rebuild game at Kragen or Pep Boys or AutoZone probably isn't going to improve matters any. While perusing my trusty Summit catalog I noticed probably a couple dozen starters that they claim will do the job, but they seem to vary in price wildly. I'm always reading on this forum about Vette owners with headers on their cars (my '70 still has the OEM manifolds and has so far been exempt from these issues) and was wondering what kind of best-bang-for-the-buck solutions some of you might have arrived at. If there's an ebay vendor that you might know about that's good I'd certainly be open to that as well. Thanks in advance and I'm all ears...

 

Ok i had this happen to me last summer. Sounds like who ever owned the car before went down this road also with the new battery and moving the solenoid. Nothing more embarasing than pulling into a gas station filling up jumping in and the engine just about turns over. First i checked and cleaned all my connections battery and starter, didn't help. Replaced the battery, didn't help. Had the starter rebuilt, didn't help. I was at the end of my rope had no other ideas as to what it could be. Then someone told me you have too much timming and to retard it a little. I was very skeptical but i had tried everything else and if it didn't help i would just put it back where it was. So one Saturday i gave it a try and i haven't had a problem since. I don't claim to be smart enough to know why it works maybe someone else here can comment on that but i know it worked for me. Since then i googled slow starting and timming and it has resolved this type of issues for others. But i would still check all of your connections the basic stuff anyway. However before spent alot of money for batteries and a starter i would try it you got nothing to lose.

 

Gee, thanks! I recall doing that years ago with my '69 AMX and it did the trick also. We'll bump the timing back a few degrees and see if it helps before we spring for a new starter (been looking at DB Electrical's site, they appear to have some interesting items).As mentioned in the original post all the connections are clean and tight and the starter is only dragging badly when the motor's hot.

 

I would go to a later model mini-starter if that one is toast. Try the timing first, then look at starters. Good application is like '95 Suburban or C4 Corvette.

 

Thanks guys...I'm leaning toward recommending a reduction-gear type unit. I really think that's where the problem lies but I'm gonna check the timing first just to see how much timing is actually in the dissy and how much we can logically back it down. If that doesn't help we'll be shopping for a new starter.

 

Just to close this one out...friend brought car to house yesterday (Sunday) and I reset the timing in the driveway while it was still running. When we first opened the hood it was advanced to about 16-18 deg. BTDC w/ vac. advance disconnected. I dialed it back to 8 degrees which previous owner claimed would give 36 total (which would have put it at 44 to 46 degrees total...aaaggghhhh!!). No way to check for sure as it was a stock-type balancer with no timing tape or other marks for reference. Reset the idle speed and mixture screws, shut it off, and...it started. Did it again three times and no more problems. Thanks 69MA for the stellar advice!! I think there's still a MoBetta starter in this car's future as the OEM unit still isn't cranking very fast with the header heat but for the short term it appears that a very irritating problem has been solved.

 

Hey there, happy you have your problem fixed! I have a similar issue that my car seems to struggle for a few cranks and then starts. Maybe that's my issue too, but I don't know how to adjust the timing. Any help?

 

Buy or borrow a timing light. With the engine off, look at the harmonic balancer from the driver's side. You should see a scale on a metal piece overlaping the balancer. I would do this with the engine off because you may need to clean this area up a little before you start timing, and you don't want to do that with the engine running. You may or may not see a mark on the balancer, if your engine builder didn't screw up, this is your "TDC" mark (top dead center) for cylinder #1. The scale that I mentioned before is telling you how many degrees before top dead center at which your spark goes. Now, start the engine. There will probably be a rubber hose going from your carb to your distrib, this is your vacuum advance hose. Disconnect this from the distrib, and plug it with a golf tee or appropriate sized screw. The plugging often sounds minor to people, but it is important. There should be three wires on your timing light, a red clamp, a black clamp and a funky looking one. Connect the red and black to the positive and negative terminals of your battery respectively. Connect the funky looking connection on the timing light to the spark plug wire of cylinder #1 (driver's side, toward the front of the car). If you have shielded wires, you will have to find a spot that is not shielded, or it won't work. Then, press the trigger on the timing light and shine it at the harmonic balancer where the scale is. The timing light is just a strobe light that flashes when it senses a signal from the #1 spark plug wire. Look on the scale and see where the mark is, this is your initial timing.

Adjusting: If you don't like your initial timing (like it is set for 18 degrees), there is a hold down bolt at the bottom of your distributor. Loosen this bolt just enough to be able to turn the distrib. Turn the distrib until you do like the initial timing, then tighten the bolt. Unplug the vacuum advance hose and re-attach it. Take off the timing light. You are done, you have just set your own timing. That should get you going. If you want to read more, there are numerous technical papers available here, and well, almost everywhere.

 

awesome, sounds easy! Thanks alot! I think my dad had a timing light, and I made sure to keep it, so I'm going to have to look for it again. I'll keep you updated when I get out to work on my car to find it's TDC mark. Hope its set right! Thanks again!