Hey everyone...wake up...

[Mike]

Had to do it.....100 topics..!

Mike

[hi-per al]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ......Huh....Oh yeah...... Happy 100th! Mike.

[BRIZ]

argh!!! its been too long since i've touched the conestoga!
this summer!!!!

[Mike]

The starter is dead on mine...!

I bought a rebuild "kit"...the bushings are good, brushes are mostly gone.
Put the new brushes in, back together....still dead!
I hit it with the battery only...a little spark is all I get.

I did check the armature for a short or leakage...all good. I did not check the field for shorts.

Maken me mad.........!

I wish the V-8 was closer to goin in!

Mike

[hi-per al]

Hey Mikey...Dont take this wrong but it is great to see that someone else is having issues with thier projects. Means that they have not been backburnered and they are being afforded some attention. Sooner or later you will get that killer V8 project of yours flyin. The electrical gremlins are just part of the Good Ole Days. You will persevere.

I have been tinkering with trying to make my late Lark power steering conversion installation leak free. HAAAA! Another ram, rebuilt the pump assembly, new S.I. line kit and still I am blessed with Chinese Disease. As you may remeber before the forum change I was blessed with a driveline vibration. Checked and rechecked all of the improvements that I made in this regard and although the vibration was altered it was not removed. Finally think that I found it. My professionally retubed driveshaft was not only welded .040 off of center but it also required almost a full ounce of balance weight.

Anyway the weather here is still way covered with snow. Man...Climate change be damned! Anyway all I wanna do is take this ole girl for a Hit and see if any of these fixes amounts to a hill of beans.

[Mike]

.040" and an ounce out...that "PRO" should be shot..!

Well...............the weather here today was in the high 70's or low 80's today!!!
Last week (2 weeks ago?) I went to Fontana to watch the road race bikes....got cooked. Started out heavilly, darkly cloudy...no sun block...no hat.
Within about 2 hours...full sunshine. Too far to go to the car and back. I'm pealing all over the place!

Hey...just do what I did to make my 59 Lark power steering leak free...I removed it all..!
You don't need no freaken power steering......!!!

Not sure yet...but thru stupidity...I think, with the help of others...that I found the problem with the Conestoga. After replacing the brushes (as noted below) and found it still didn't work...I stopped by a OLD time Stude guys shop, he hooked up an old 6 volt battery...the thing spun like crazy! Then he hooked it up to a 12 volt battery....and it really took off!
So....The battery I bought about a year ago...and every two weeks or so put on the charger till it showed full charge....has NO grunt !
Had to call 4 places to find a 6 volt battery today, and they only have one. Hope it's still there tomorrow.
I should be working on transforming the car to 12 volts rather than making Stude heads flow well.....!

Mike

[hi-per al]

Mike...Great that you found your starter woes. Freakin batteries can be such a pain. We probably have a 5% failure rate with the NEW high end batteries that we sell to our motorcycle folks. 12 volts and an alternator. Yup that's the ticket. Way less intensive that your porting project. And as far as a daily driver goes, probably almost as rewarding.

Well...it finally got into the 40's today. A little slushy but I took "Connie" for a 40 mile spin to see how my fixes faired. The driveline vibration has greatly diminished but still starts to show a hint of its former self around 75 mph. Now I will take the tires and wheels off and just make sure that they are all balanced and happy.

I modified a stock offset air cleaner to pass a bunch more air by increasing the exposed fiter area and WOW did that wake the ole girl up. Real easy to turn the tires in first gear with the 1,2,3 shift trans. Mind you the rubber is only 215/70R15 but the point is she would not do that before unless you worked her. I am gonna look into doing the same mods to the offset C / K air cleaner assembly just beacause it does not look quite so bulbous. Just a little long but that will make it a bit more of a challenge.

As far as the "freakin" power steering goes I kinda like it as I have a smaller Lark steering wheel c/w suicide knob that I just luv to use. Tried the knob with larger wheel and the Armstrong steering and it was a bunch more effort to use. Dont wanna have arms like Popeye! And I must say that after the 40 miles all the Chinese Disease from the power steering system seems to have disappeared.
Cant say the same for the new oil leak that has developed from the fuel pump. Way messy.

Kinda kool as I was tooling around some back country roads today, I got flagged down by a couple of folks out for a stroll. They were way impressed with the sound and look of a Studebaker and flagged me down just to tell me that.

Briz...Try it, you will like it.

Anyway it was a great day in the neighbourhood.

Keep smilin and stylin....Al

[Mike]

Well....I thought....I had things worked out....!

Put it all back together, I shorted straight to the starter with the "original" battery...not the new one I bought....spins fine now, for what ever reason it didn't before...?
I reconnected everything thinking I...was gonna go for a late afternoon ride around the block.....inserted the key, hit the fuel pump for a coupla seconds, turned the to the "on" position....hit the start button...........NUTHIN....!
I closed the hood...locked the car (don't know why...!)........closed the garage door...and called it quits for the weekend.

Three switches, the solinoid is new, the starter switch...old, but I shorted across it and it "seems" to be ok...and the ignition switch...

I don't know...!

Mike

[hi-per al]

Did you ever let any smoke out of the wires

Did you try to short the solenoid to start it.? Did you loadtest the Battery? Motoring the starter does not draw much amperage. Is there a remote start switch? Did you lock your keys in the car?

[hi-per al]

Mike...Didya get anything worked out with your starter? Enquiring would like to know.

I did not get much done on my Studes but I did get a chance to go for the first real putt of the year and man that was good. Been a long wait.

Al