Starting the straight 8 for the first time

[Dan the Upholstery Man]

Congrats Mike! I'm glad to hear that worked out for you.

After reading oldguy's reply about the Buick's oiling system I want to check something out with the guys who know more about engines than I do - that means 90% of you!

I'm going to be starting my '53 soon. It's the smaller straight 8. Apparently it ran good several years ago. The dipstick shows the oil half full and there's no oil leaks under the car. It turns over fine.

My plan is to start with Kanter's tune-up kit so I'll have new points, plugs, condensor, and wires. Maybe a carb rebuild kit too.

I have 2 questions: On the oil system, should I trust it to be ok like Mike did, and idle it until the oil works through the engine, or should I change oil and filter first? And if I do that is there anything that needs to be done about priming the system before starting?

My second question is, I have a 6 volt system. I've been told it doesn't hurt to use a 12 volt battery to start it as long as you don't turn on any of the accessories. I'm not a mechanic but that a kind of funky.

Any thoughts?

Dan

[theoldguy]

As long as you do not have ANYTHING connected to the 12 volts but the starter, you will be OK. Do not forget the guages! I had a Caddilac powered Chev back in the 60s that had 12-1 compression, and the way I resolved the starting problem was to use a 6 volt starter and everything else was 12v . I ran the car for 3 years and never hurt the starter ,and it never failed to start hot, which was a problem with the original 12 volt starter

[Dan the Upholstery Man]

The guy I am getting this car from has already used a 12 Volt battery to try starting it. He connected it direct to the car's battery cables. I assume that would have run 12V through the entire electrical system?

Hopefully there are fuses to protect the guages etc.

I think I need to be smart and just spend the money for a new 6V bat.

Thanks for that Joe,

Dan

[BillK]

Dan,
I would definitely change the oil and filter before trying to start it, and again after running it for an hour or so. If the car has an oil pressure gauge, keep a good eye on it when you first start it and make sure the pressure comes up.
When we were kids (a looong time ago [img]smile.gif[/img] ) we had a 53 Chrysler that we used to jump start with a 12v battery, but the 6 volt one was still in the car. I would not use a 12V battery by itself...no sense in overloading 50 year old wiring.
Hope this helps,

[Dan the Upholstery Man]

I hear you - it was a "looong" time ago wasn't it? Those were the days when you could actually work on a car.

That's a good suggestion on the oil change. I'll do it. A good flush might not hurt either.

On the battery - that's good to know. I've got a battery charger with a jump mode. I'll be using a new 6V so I think it'll be ok. The battery tray looks like it's about 6" wide and almost s feet long! Thise big ole fenders take up a lot of room.

Thanks for your reply Bill. It does help.

Dan