Guest Classic50s Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 I had my 364 rebuilt for my 59 LeSabre and got it ready to fire on the stand so I can retorque the head bolts. I made a lead from the pos. terminal on the battery to a ballast resistor to the pos on the coil then from the coil to the distributor. I then used jumper cables from the battery to the main starter terminal and the positive terminal to crank it over. I couldn't get the starter to crank over fast enough to get the engine to fire. I used the small 12V from my 56 Chevy which it cranks over fine (worn out 265). My 364 is running the 10.5/1 compression pistons though. Do I have the basic idea right with the wiring, and just use battery cables and a bigger battery, or do I have the basics wrong? The motor was dynoed and ran great so I know she runs.Thank You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Wiring is ok, but you will never get it to crank using jumper cables...battery cables will get the job done. Your engine rebuilder and/or gasket supplier would know for sure, but I have never re-torqued the heads on a nailhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Classic50s Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Time to pull out the battery cables. I thought after having the heads rebuilt you need to retorque the bolts after getting the engine to operating temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Yea, Battery cables made for many years now are copper clad meaning its aluminum wire with copper coating and the cables usually are too small of diameter for big V8 engines. They look like copper but they aren't where it counts. Battery cables on the other hand are solid copper and larger diameter than most standard jumpers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 (edited) If you search the Buick form for Bob Becks 55 century, on page 4, 3rd post down, you will see a pic of my 322 running on a test stand. Engine was started with a battery and jumper cables no problem whatever. In fact I've done it with at least 4 engines including my Chrysler Hemi. My guess is there are bunch of cheapie cables being sold. My cables are top grade. If you have high grade cables and the connections are clean it should work just fine IF you have it connected correctly..............Bob Edited August 4, 2014 by Bhigdog (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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