'62 hard starting

[Gordon A.]

I have an odd problem starting a '62 Fuelie. The battery is a modern Delco, fully charged. The car will often not start unless it is boosted with a charger even though the car cranks well. It seems as if it needs more amps to fire the coil. When the booster is on, it fires instantaneously. A new battery made no difference. Could there be a source of resistance that is keeping it from getting a good spark?

[Roy B.]

Re: '62 hard starting

The wrong "ballast" or weak coil or poor grounding??

[Gordon A.]

Re: '62 hard starting

That is kind of what I am thinking. Coil is OK, I think. Ground is good. My original ballast may be the source of the problem. Odd though... Thanks for the input

[Ed Jennings]

Re: '62 hard starting

Ballast should be about 1.3 ohms resistance, but the ballast is bypassed during starting. Fuelies usuall have to be cranked for several seconds when they have sat for a while before they will start. Making an assumption that you have a fuel shut-off solenoid installed in the spider, you should be able to hear it click open when you turn the key to "on". If it doesn't, the engine won't start, regardless of voltage. If you have an original, numbers type coil, go buy a new generic one for testing purposes.

[Gordon A.]

Re: '62 hard starting

Thanks for the input. I should clarify, however, that it is not a cold start problem exclusively. Yes I have a solenoid under the spider, but this is not a fuel problem. Even if the car is warm, I have the problem. I will test the ballast on Monday. Thanks...

[Ed Jennings]

Re: '62 hard starting

Let me clarify. The ballast resistor has two wires attached to the coil side. One goes to the coil, the other feeds direct from the starter solenoid and is hot when the starter is engaged. (Feeds full system voltage to the coil) Therefore, the only time the ballast is suspect is when the car will try to fire and the quit as soon as the key is released. To test, jumper between the two terminals on the ballast resistor. If that cures the problem, the ballast is probably bad.

[John W.]

Re: '62 hard starting

Gordon,

Jumpering the ballast resistor during starting is a good way to test the ballast resistor. The chances are that your system is wired backwards. The ballast resitor is in the circuit during starting and out during run. The extra battery in the circuit will allow the starter to run without pulling down the voltage to the ballast resistor quite as much. This will let the car start. Once the car starts and your circuit puts full voltage on the coil it will run fine. It will just cause the points to wear out a little sooner.

To test put your voltmeter on the lead going to the coil. Turn the key to run position and you should have something less than battery voltage. If you have battery voltage then your ballast resistor is wired wrong.

On one side of the ballast resistor you should have two 18 gauge Dk Green wires. One goes to the coil, and the other to the starter solenoid "c" terminal. On the other end of the ballast resistor you should have two 18 gauge Brown. One to the ignition switch, and the other to the windshield wiper motor.

Good luck tracing it out.