1936 Engine Problem

Robert/Texas

Robert/Texas

Well-known member
Yesterday was my 92nd birthday and my wife and I decided to celebrate it at our place in the country where I keep my old Fords. We hadn’t been there for a long time due to travel and medical problems. I wanted to drive my ’34 roadster to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch. I got the car started with a little starting fluid and drove it from the barn to the house. After about 3 hours we decided to leave. It started right up but suddenly it made a cracking sound which sounded like it came from the left front of the engine and the engine stalled and wouldn’t restart. My wife thought it came from the rear.
The car was about 12 feet from my workshop, so I drove it in there with the starter. We went on to the restaurant with our modern car.
The 1936 engine is the later bearing type and was rebuilt by one of the well trusted rebuilders around 1995. It has about 30K miles on it and has been running great and burns little or no oil. I checked the oil before starting and it was full.
I’m think that this might be the timing gear, but I don’t know how to prove this. Any help/suggestions will be much appreciated.
 
Robert, I think you made a good guess. Timing gears are known to be a weak spot in a Ford flathead. Removing the timing gear cover is a pain, so you should be able to get a good view of the cam end with the distributor removed. Remove the fan first and use mirror while cranking.
 
easier method; pull sparkplugs, get the wife to hit the starter whilst you look down spark plug holes and see if the valves are moving
 
Brian said:
easier method; pull sparkplugs, get the wife to hit the starter whilst you look down spark plug holes and see if the valves are moving
Click to expand...

if a bachelor or widower one of these will substitute for the better half.
 

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You should be able to tell if the cam gear has failed just by cranking the engine, the engine will crank very unevenly because very few or none of the cylinders will have any compression. The engine should just spin around with little resistance.
 
One wire connects to the center stud on the starter solenoid, the other to ground. Been using one of these for 60 years.
 
Keep in mind, he may not actually have a starter solenoid - as it didn't come with one. The original car had a big ole' foot operated starter switch (between the pedals) - there was no solenoid.

You can only use that remote switch if somebody has done an upgrade to your starter circuit and added a solenoid!
 
It could have had a problem in the distributor too, such as a broken rotor. Pop the caps & look at the rotor if needed. Do a compression check if you think the cam gear let go.
 
Bored&Stroked said:
Keep in mind, he may not actually have a starter solenoid - as it didn't come with one. The original car had a big ole' foot operated starter switch (between the pedals) - there was no solenoid.

You can only use that remote switch if somebody has done an upgrade to your starter circuit and added a solenoid!
Click to expand...

didn't know that. thanks. :)
 
1937 & later had a solenoid mounted on the firewall under the battery cutout in the dash. My solenoid had a little button on the bottom of it that would actuate the starter. Don’t know if that was OEM or not.
John
 
John Gibson said:
1937 & later had a solenoid mounted on the firewall under the battery cutout in the dash. My solenoid had a little button on the bottom of it that would actuate the starter. Don’t know if that was OEM or not.
John
Click to expand...

neither do i, but...

when i recently replaced the solenoid in my car and while fiddling with it, i accidently, in a shower of sparks, welded a screwdriver to one of it's contacts. that made a strong enough impression on me to keep my hands clear of the button underneath. i can tell you that. haha :)
 
John Gibson said:
1937 & later had a solenoid mounted on the firewall under the battery cutout in the dash. My solenoid had a little button on the bottom of it that would actuate the starter. Don’t know if that was OEM or not.
John
Click to expand...

i recently replaced the solenoid in my car when while fiddling with it, i accidently, in a shower of sparks, welded a screwdriver to one of it's contacts. that made a strong enough impression on me to keep my hands clear of the button underneath. i can tell you that. YOWSA!!! :)
 
John Gibson said:
1937 & later had a solenoid mounted on the firewall under the battery cutout in the dash. My solenoid had a little button on the bottom of it that would actuate the starter. Don’t know if that was OEM or not.
John
Click to expand...

Yes, the ‘37 Ford had a solenoid (tall) with a button on the bottom, protected with a screw-on knurled brass cap. The ‘38 continued the tall solenoid with button, but eliminated the brass cap.
 
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