<VV> Frustrating weekend

[Chris]

Sorry in advance if this is a little long, but I need the advice to be good,
so I want to be thorough.

 

A few weeks ago, I decided to deal with a problem I’ve been having with the
choke on my 61rampside.  It has a 62 80 hp engine in it, so it has automatic
choke, but the choke rods were broken off below where I could get to them by
the previous owner.  It was frustrating because it took 10 min to get the
thing going whenever I wanted to go for a ride, and sometimes it would
mysteriously stall and take me a while to get it going again.  I decided to
take care of several things at once, so I replaced the inline fuel filter
and the fuel pump with new.  I replaced the choke coils and rods, and I
swapped out the carbs for some nicely rebuilt ones from Grant Young.  

 

With all that done, it, unfortunately, ran worse.  The problems seemed to be
mainly on the right side, with backfiring out the exhaust and, to a lesser
extent, out the carb.  It would stall every time I came to a stop, and I
would have to pump the gas a couple of times if I wanted it to start.  It
also had less power than it had had before I started (not than an 80 HP has
much power to spare).  I got some advice from here and from Grant Young on
how to trouble shoot my problems and set out to get it running perfectly.  I
discovered that the timing was way off, so I set about adjusting it.
Problem is, I’m working alone, and, did I mention, whenever the truck is
stopped, it stalls.  So, I was trying to adjust the timing and use the
timing light and keep the engine from stalling and restart it whenever it
would stall all at the same time.

 

Before I could get the timing right, it stalled again.  However, this time
when I tried to restart it, the starter would not respond.  I figured I’d
run the battery down, so I put the big Sears charger/starter on and set it
to 40 amps and came back ½ hour later.  This time, the starter would barely
move (like with a cold battery in the dead of winter in Northern Minnesota).
So, I kicked the charger/starter to the “jump start” mode and tried again.
It would still barely rotate the engine as I cranked.  And as I glanced at
the charger, it was showing that it was delivering over 200 amps, so the
starter was really pulling all the juice I could put out.  The cables on the
charger even heated up.  

 

And, when I stopped cranking and let go of the key, the fuses on my stereo
both blew.  That was weird, since it is a whole other circuit.

 

So, I figured there was a short in the starter somewhere and I pulled it
out.  I drove over to my local parts store, and they put it on their tester.
It tested perfectly and sang like a brand new starter (it actually looks
like a brand new starter).  

 

So now, I’m thinking one of two things.  It could be that something happened
inside the engine to make it too hard for the starter to turn.  That seems
less likely to me because the starter will turn it, albeit slowly, and I
don’t hear any unusual sounds coming from it.  So, it’s not seized and there
is no clanging, banging or other ominous noise as it goes through its 1
revolution every 20 seconds.  

 

My other thought is that I must have a short somewhere else that draws power
whenever I’m cranking the starter.  I just don’t know where that would be.
I tried cranking it with a remote starter lead, in case there was a short up
in the ignition switch or something, but that didn’t make any difference.
And wherever the short is, why would it surge power into the stereo circuit
when I let it go?

 

A few people had suggested here that the problem I was having with
intermittent stalling might actually be a sign that my coil is on its way
out.  Could something in the coil cause all this to happen while the starter
is active?

 

Thanks in advance (and again) for all your help.

 

Chris