Hard Work Hand Cranking Timing

H

Hoffman

Junior Member
1931 s/w Town Sedan with rebuilt motor (250 +- miles), neutral gear shift location. Started normally before current timing reset. Using the hand crank to set TDS for U-wrench. Incredible effort required to move the crank. Previous motor could be moved by hand turning the fan.
Is this normal rebuilt motor stiffness, or do I have an unidentified problem?
Thanks all.
 
You may want to have someone disengage the clutch while you try cranking. This would give an idea whether it's the motor or the transmission. I would want to know whether the block and rods were re-poured for babbitt or not. A fresh motor overhaul will have pretty good compression. If the plugs were all in then the compression might be a lot higher than your used to, Another thing is to make sure the spark was adjusted with full retard on the control. I have to assume it was adjusted on #1 compression stroke with the pin in the timing gear dimple.
 
Try cranking with the plugs removed to see if the engine is tight due to the rebuild. But agreed with all that has been mentioned.

Dave
 
A fresh built engine is not broken in until 1,000 miles or more. That said, check all the things mentioned above. It also depends on the compression ratio.
 
Ok, clutch depression didn’t change crank pressure needed. So I applied my manly shoulder and arm strength to TDC set. Re-timed with NU-wrench and she started right up. Appreciate all the good responses, thanks again.
 
For what's it worth...I think most would agree the Nu-Rex wrench is a great road side help...I would strongly recommend setting the timing with a test light and follow the Red Book instructions. I used the Nu -Rex and my timing was too far advanced and the starter would stop or buck as it tries to start the car...
 
jg61hawk said:
For what's it worth...I think most would agree the Nu-Rex wrench is a great road side help...I would strongly recommend setting the timing with a test light and follow the Red Book instructions. I used the Nu -Rex and my timing was too far advanced and the starter would stop or buck as it tries to start the car...
Click to expand...


I thought I remember reading in a thread that there was a bad batch of them.

Anyways - definitely a good idea to set the timing with a test light.
The first thing I did after getting a Nu-Rex wrench was check how it sets the timing, vs. using a test light. For my car, it happened to be dead-on - but that doesn't mean it would be for anyone else's car: I assume each setup may be slightly different, and it'd be good to know how YOUR particular car is.
 
Fortunately, I still have a magneto timing light to find when the points just break. A test light works well too for a lot less money. Just watch for a hot coil if it's connected. Watching it by eye was considered good to go back when they were new as long as the spark control is on full retard stop.

The modern replacement points just never seem to seat like they used to. The reproduction stuff always seem to require tweek type adjustment to get it close to where it should be.
 
jg61hawk said:
For what's it worth...I think most would agree the Nu-Rex wrench is a great road side help...I would strongly recommend setting the timing with a test light and follow the Red Book instructions. I used the Nu -Rex and my timing was too far advanced and the starter would stop or buck as it tries to start the car...
Click to expand...

jg61hawk, I completely agree with you on this. I have tried the Nu-rex wrench in my garage, ran the motor for a bit and then checked the timing with a light and one of the Nu-Rex indicators that bolts to the front of the engine. The timing went from about 5 degrees advanced with the timing lever all the way up to about 40 degrees. Reset the timing with the red book procedure and it started at 5 degrees retarded.
 
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