[mrpaul]

I recently put a stroker crank kit with the ross pistons in my 400. It is bored 40 over and had all the machine stuff done at a competent machine show. The motor runs good, however, once it gets hot, it doesnt want to turn over.Cold starts are fine. I have tried changing starters to a mini one, no diff. I also unplugged the distributor, no good. Any suggestions?

[mrpaul]

I recently put a stroker crank kit with the ross pistons in my 400. It is bored 40 over and had all the machine stuff done at a competent machine show. The motor runs good, however, once it gets hot, it doesnt want to turn over.Cold starts are fine. I have tried changing starters to a mini one, no diff. I also unplugged the distributor, no good. Any suggestions?

[SD421]

Hi Paul,
On my 66 GTO I finally bought a heat shield from Ames that bolts to the motor mount.(Youll need to drill two holes to mount it.) Its a tube that you run the positive battery cable thru to the starter motor. Another and more desireable thing to get is from www.madelectric.com its the Start 'em up kit. Its a remote solenoid like what Ford used that you can mount on your inner fender. The Positive cable goes from the battery to this solenoid, then a battery cable from the solenoid down to the solenoid on the starter. Now the new solenoid is away from the heat of the exhaust and engine. It comes with step by step instructions and necessary parts. You will need to call the owner/company to order this. I have this on my 1962 Pontiac Tempest and I have faster starts and no hot start problems. Hope this helps.-Don

[mrpaul]

actually, I already have the ford setup.The motor is actually getting tight as it gets hot. No noise, it runs at 180 degrees in the driveway, but cranks really slow. I have also changed the battery too. The engine have less than a thousand miles on it so maybe it will break in, who knows. I may also try a lighter oil in it.

[screamingchief]

This was just gone over in another thread recently.Most likely causes,insufficient cable cappacity(MINIMUM 1GA FINE STRAND COPPER CABLES,00 cable best)with no cheapy clamp on cable ends,solder and crimp ends only.The other cause is likely a poorly grounded engine,run a good cable ground from the block to the frame,in addition to the OE ground wire(you do have the engine to body ground right?).

[SD421]

Hi Paul,
It might be the heat shield you need then When I first had my GTO's 389 built I had that problem until I added one. One night after leaving my girlfriends house at 2am I got pulled over by johnny law and I had to walk home cause the Goat wouldnt start back up. You say the engine is 180 degrees when you go to start it back up? 180 is normal. With the Ford setup how are you routing the positive cable to the starter motor? . Cause after I added the shield and added heavy gauge battery cables, I had no more problems.
-Don

[form406]

check for a dirty/rusty ground somewhere and double ground it before you spend anymore $$$...do you have and alternator light? ive had some alternators that failed only when hot...

[mrpaul]

Well, to try to answer all your replys. lets see, Yes the cable is large enough,and new. The cable routes on the bottom of the engine along the motor mount. I also tried the mini starter, which I like the way it mounts by the way, lots of room.My only question seems to be: is it a lack of voltage when hot? or is the motor getting tighter.

[form406]

technically your motor should get looser when hot...alternator light?

[mrpaul]

well, I will try to check my wiring. I have a 1-wire alternator and I use a voltmeter and its around 14 volts. But all replys lead to cables, so that is where I am going to go. Thank you all for your help and I will let you all know the outcome!!!

Thanks!!!
mrpaul

[screamingchief]

Not all battery cables are created equal.Many of the parts store cables are not even pure copper wire but are copper clad aluminum,and just don't cut it on any heavy load applications.

They will appear to be a substantal cable but just won't hold up to heavy loads and high heat generated by these demands.

And again I will stress that I feel a 1 ga. pure copper fine strand should be considered a minimum for any kind of reliability here.Most generic parts store 4 ga. wires just won't do well here(even if they are copper wire).

And IF anyone out there does manage to get by on them consider yourself extremely lucky.

NO CHEAP CLAMP ON STYLE BATTERY TERMINALS EITHER!They are terrible for good condutivity and durability.

And I also feel that the grounding needs to be determined here.To see if the engine is grounded properly take a large wrench(like a 1" combination wrench) and hold it tightly to the block and the frame solidly when you are experiencing the problem and if it helps it cranks easier you will need to add a better chassis ground.

When doing this make sure you get good metal to metal contact,no painted surfaces,or covered in crap and such.

Good luck with your problem here.

[mrpaul]

Thank you for your input screaming chief. You sound very intelligent and I will try you suggestions very soon.Thank you again for all your help!!

Paul