Slow cranking V-12

[Sparkydave]

Hi all, soon going to be picking up my dad's 1947 Lincoln coupe.  He and my mom are looking at moving into assisted living soon, and he's passing it on to me.  He and I have worked on it together many times, but there's still lots for me to learn.  For as long as I can remember, it's been slow to crank, and when the engine is at operating temperature it gets even slower to crank.  Even mom seems to think it didn't used to be like that.  New batteries don't seem to improve things.  He's cleaned battery terminals, polished up connections at the solenoid and the body ground, but it still involves some finger crossing when it's warmed up, or you'll have to push start it.  Any ideas?  Could the starter just be tired and needing a rebuild?

[trimacar]

Rebuild starter.  Make sure cables are correct size, if 6 volt, heavy cables. Run a ground directly from battery to starter.

 

Cars grounded through frame were great when all new shiny metal, corrosion at rivets and joints hurt conductivity.

[Sparkydave]

Thanks!  I'm sure it's going to be an adventure.  Very cool that you have a 1937 Cord 812, my family lived in Michigan when Dad and I got to see a Cord at a car show.  Supposedly, that Cord belonged to the guy who founded Listerine.  Beautiful car.

[L.E.Butcher]

After you get your starter back from having it repaired/ rebuilt and before reinstalling it back in the car ;  clean off the area on the pan

where the starter mounts.   NO paint, no rust, no grease,  no dirt! Must be bright silver!. If you don't have the small "Z" clip, obtain this, called the starter support Bracket- original  P/N- 91A11140B ; replaced by P/N 51A-11140.  This  is in the Lincoln Parts book and is available from parts vendors. It fastens  by 1 of the starter bolts and 1 of the pan/rail bolts. It helps keep the starter in alignment to the flywheel when engaged.   Keep us posted on how this turns out