Hello oldsys i have a 72 cutlass supreme with 350, rebuilt engine.the problem is with starting. starts fine sometimes and runs but sometimes it can barely turn over, usually after running a little bit .very frustrating!! I want to be able to drive without the worrie of not starting. tkanks lightning

 

Hot starter issue of fable and lore?

There is a GM spring for the solenoid that is supposed to help.

Heat shield around the starter may help

Remote solenoid [Ford type] mounted higher up

running headers?

 

How was the engine rebuilt? Increased compression?
Is it the original starter?
Are you saying that the engine cranks slowly when it's warmed up?
How are your battery and starter connections and terminals? Shiny clean?

- Eric

 

no headers but exhaust is about 2 inches awy.

 

same compression but he said he put a light cam in it .I dont no size ,this has been awhile ago. starters been replaced awhile ago,starts fine after pumping gas and running maybe 10 minutes to go get gas. shut off than try restart and strugles to turn over.could check connections . starter hard to get to.

 

Is the battery older? Are the terminals clean and the cables in good condition? Is your timing too far advanced?

 

cleaned battery termanials and grounding points. I,ll get timing checked.do you know what it should be ? wont a slight cam affect the timing and how do you adjust if not knowing what cam was put in? thanks

 

Points dwell angle should be set to 30°.

You're right that the correct timing is likely to change with a change in the cam.

There is frequent and lengthy discussion of this subject both here and on other car sites all across the web, so I will not go into it again.

Briefly, you should set the timing so that it is about 35°BTDC at about 3,000 RPM, then see where it winds up at idle.
You will likely benefit from using an aftermarket kit to tune the timing curve of your distributor.

I will say though, that your description of the problem (which you never verified in response to my earlier question) sounds more like a problem with a bad connection or with the starter than with timing, unless your timing is too far advanced at idle (which is possible, but easy enough to check by backing off the timing a few degrees and seeing if it starts better).

- Eric

 

Which distributor do you have?

 

thanks for info ill try it ,cleaned battery terminals and grounds couldnt get to starter but should probably drop and check those.

 

the original.

 

do you know where i can get heat shield?lightning

 

If the battery, cables, and starter are good you shouldn't need a heat shield. Whats the battery voltage when you crank the engine? Are the cables ends good and tight? Start with some basic diagnostic work. Get a digital voltmeter, put the positive probe on the positive post of the battery, the negative on the positive cable end at the starter. Crank the engine, if the meter reads more than .5 volts you either have bad connections, or undersized wiring. Do the same for the negative battery cable, the lower the volts the better.

 

thanks for the input ,ill try to get those suggestions done . thanks again lightning.