the reason I ask is I want to start my 31 banger engine to see if it would run....Its only original once right..... I have a flatty Im building to take its place but I want to see if the engine is good Will a 12v car battery hurt to start it? I dont want to throw down a $100 on a 6v just to start the car so any suggestions can you convert it down to 6v also what about the coil and the distributer can they take the 12v for a short time
The starter can handle 12v but the coil and distributor cannot. You could use an old style 6 volt lantern battery (probably less than $10 bucks at the hardware store) to run the coil and distributor. It won't last long.
I started my '28 last week with a 12v battery. I ran it for about 10 seconds. Just don't turn on your headlights!
well It may take multiple starts so I hate to screw up the engine before I can get it going the lantern battery is a great idea....what about dropping voltage to the coil and points is this a option or will the cost be the same as a new battery
I started mine on 12v no problems. I swapped the coil for a 12v, made some new plug wires and away it went. My car had no lights or anything else so I swapped it to negative ground. Starter worked fine, just make sure the timing and fuel are good so you don't have to crank it forever. I even drove it around for a day after it fired up. Good luck!
Why not buy a cheap voltage drop? The you can run it all you want (cause you know you want to) We found a voltage drop and a beat up old coil we found in a box and... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=548017
The last time I started one the lifters were rusted in the bores. They all stayed in the full open position. Oil and gently forcing them down a few times solved the probelm. Smoked a lot but ran. Be sure to put oil in the cylinders before you first crank it. Charlie Stephens
If you're not too proud of the appearance of your 12-volt battery, you can screw a sheet metal screw into the lead 'bridge' between the 3rd and 4th cell....This will give you 6-volts between the screw and the negative terminal of the battery... and you can run the coil off of that as long as you wish. Cost....1 sheet metal screw. When you're done just take out the screw and put some silicone in the hole.
To start a 6v positive ground car with a 12v battery: Disconnect the battery from the donor car Ensure polarity is correct Turn your ignition on Place the "hot" jumper lead on the starter motor side of the solenoid The starter will will spin without damaging the 6 volt system DO NOT press the starter button Good luck
Make sure the engine turns over freely by using a wrench or a bar on the crank pulley BEFORE hitting the starter with 12-volts. Turn it over several complete revolutions. The starter will produce about double the power on 12-volts that it produced on 6-volts, so make sure the engine turns freely before using the starter to avoid breaking anything inside the engine. I ran a racing hydroplane boat with flathead V-8 for a couple of years using the standard 6-volt starter with 18-VOLTS (a 12 + a 6 battery) with no ill effects to the starter. It was direct drive, so the starter also had to turn the propeller. It worked great! JG
when we raced gokarts in the 60's we started our high performance alky engines with 6 volt Ford starters and 12 volt batteries and they NEVER went bad
thanks for the advice.....I lubed up the cylinders with lucas oil and cranked the engine by hand only had one lifter that was sticking so i pulled the side cover and used wd40 to get the lifter freed.....now everything works good so ill try it and post video's
As so many others have already said, you can no problem. If you don't have a ballast resistor handy then use a tail light bulb (stop filament). You can run for a good 10 minutes without burning points.
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