1937 Buick Starter

[John Mason]

I had my starter rebuilt. They said I should only connect the back wire on the soleniod, it should work as a modern car. That did not work. If I run 6 volts to the soleniod it works fine. My question is this. If I run 6 volts to one side of the original foot starter and the second back to the soleniod will it work?

[MCHinson]

Welcome to the AACA Discussion Forum. The accelerator start feature does not work with an electrical switch at the accelerator pedal. There are a few more components in the system than that. Over the years many have been modified, so it is important to figure out exactly what your car has. Do you have a 1937 Factory Service Manual? If so, the manual describes the system and includes a diagram so that it might be easier to understand what it will take to get it working as it did originally. Many of these cars have been converted to start with a simple momentary contact push button switch mounted on or under the dash. If you supply 6 volts to the solenoid relay terminal on the starter via a push button switch on the bottom of the dash, that is one way to resolve your issue if you don't want to go back to the original system.  

[Morgan Wright]

There is no foot starter. There is a vacuum switch on the carburetor. If this was bypassed then a simple switch as MCHinson described will work.

[pont35cpe]

11 hours ago, John Mason said:

I had my starter rebuilt. They said I should only connect the back wire on the soleniod, it should work as a modern car. That did not work. If I run 6 volts to the soleniod it works fine. My question is this. If I run 6 volts to one side of the original foot starter and the second back to the soleniod will it work?

John, is your starter solenoid similar to picture? If so and you have a push button, ground one post and supply power from push button to the other post.

[1937-44]

1 hour ago, Morgan Wright said:

There is a vacuum switch on the carburetor.

The 1937 does not have a vacuum switch on the carburetor. It does have a vacuum switch in the manifold.

 

[Morgan Wright]

21 hours ago, 1937-44 said:

The 1937 does not have a vacuum switch on the carburetor. It does have a vacuum switch in the manifold.

 

 

Is it bypassed? If not, and the switch is good, then you need to run the power there as in the original wiring diagram. It's cool to start a car with your foot, makes all the other kids jealous.

[1937-44]

Morgan I believe the starter switch on the carburetor was first used by Buick in 1939, possibly some 1938's depending on the carburetor. The 1937 used a vacuum starter switch that was in the manifold, connected to the carburetor by a rod and was activated by the accelerator pedal.

 

Carl

[MCHinson]

Owning both a 1937 Century and a 1938 Century, I can say that, in my experience, the Vacuum starter switch was mounted on the manifold in 1937 and moved to the Carburetor in 1938.  In any case, the important thing for the current question is to determine what, if any, modifications have been done to the car in question to determine how he needs to proceed.