I know several of you know the number of the resistor in your head that is used to drop the voltage to a 6v starter solenoid so the drive doesn't slam into the flywheel ring so hard when used in a 12v system. I tried a search but as usual when it comes to these machines I failed. It will be greatly appreciated; Evan
Didn't make it clear, this is for a key start set up on a straight 8 Pontiac and the starter drive gets to turning so fast before the teeth reach the flywheel that they won't mesh with the starter ring teeth. I also have a 37 Buick on 12 volt that the 6 volt starter works just fine but I have read on this forum ( I think) of a resister to drop the voltage where this problem exists. I think maybe some who have used the car 6v key start set up on their old truck have had this problem and someone knew how to cure it.
Don't think a resistor is going to do the job Evan. Let's guess that the starter is going to pull 100 amps at 6 volts which isn't outside the realm of possibility. That is a 600 watt draw. The starter would have a resistance of 0.06 ohms. In order to use a resistor to bring the 12 volts down to six volts for the starter you'd need a 0.06 ohm resistor that could disipate 600 watts. Not something you find on the shelf down at Radio Shack.
The heavy duty resisters that our host sells are; 50W 1 Ohm 1%. I dont think the selenoids draw very much. If that doesent work you could change the selenoid to a 12 volt. I know the 55-59 still used the old style, but in 12 volts. Chris
Thanks everyone. I kept thinking about an ELECTRICAL cure when a MECHANICAL one solved the problem. I moved the pivot point on the starter drive fork closer to the pivot pin. It now moves the end in the starter drive quicker so the drive teeth are to the flywheel ring gear teeth before the starter motor has a chance to get fully revved up. A double hinged link from the solenoid plunger to the fork arm is used to compensate for working at an angle. The extra hole in the arm is not a mistake--it's called "inclusive engineering" (heh,heh).
Good Job ! Evan ; What i do is to find a 12 volt solenoid and use that on the 6 volt starter ~ this way there's no " slamming " . This involves carefully looking through the " Buyer's Guide " with the removed and cleaned 6 volt solenoid on the desk for comparasin . Looks like you've got it knocked allready .
