Has anyone had any probs cranking a 347 with a stock starter motor? It seemed to crank OK until the oil got up then with a full battery only wants to go one pot at a time. The bastard wouldn't fire up either,I'm guessing it's because the oil wasn't up to the lifters and opening the valves properly. Its got victor jnr heads and a 2040 cam and cranks over good without spark plugs. Any advice welcome, I wanna hear it running. Hopefully I'll be fitting a high torque starter and thicker battery leads tomorrow if the courier has their s**t together.

Check timing mate, sounds like advance to me

cam timing is set up with stock gears as per crane recomendation, ie; dots lining up. I've tried moving the dizzy and also setting it at 30degrees advanced although it did seem to wanna kick along better at around 25 degrees. Also rotated dizzy 180 degrees to ensure it was on right stroke. Had a cuppla good misfires along the way. Have good spark, fuel but the not wanting to crank with the plugs in is my latest drama. Could it be that the starter can't handle the pressure, it'll only crank 1 or 2 pots at a time and the wires get bloody warm. When it was cranking good would/could the reason it wouldn't fire be because the valves weren't opening properly due to empty lifters? gotta go 2 work now, I'll reply to any info tomorrow...

What comp is it running?

some cams can have a different firing order. Worth checkin!

I've plugged a tweecer into the ecu but haven't had much of a play yet. Still using number 5 setting...stock. The cam has the same firing order as stock according to the card. I don't think I've incorrectly measured valve to piston clearance while building it. It spins cleanly without plugs in. I noticed a bit of oily crud on a few plugs so that may account for not firing up properly when it was trying. I'll give the high torque starter a crack today with heavier cable, maybe the old starter doesn't like lifters being full of oil.

How old is your original starter? More than likely its seen better days. If you have decent cables, a good earth from the battery to the block and a well charged battery then it shouldn't have problems. We've run up to 13:1 comp with a standard starter motor.

Old starter is a cuppla years old. Compression is only about 10.5/1. Now that I'm outa bed and over nightshift, I'll fit new starter with heavier cable and give it another crank.

I noticed a big jump in starter revs when i swapped my battery from a 430cca to a 580 cca it might help

I've hooked my battery up in parrallel with young blokes fairlane battery, his motor running, 12mm leads, RRrr faarrk. Fried new starter after about 5 goes in 20second bursts, over 1/2 hr period. Didn't have a name, just a number on a plain box, I reckon the manufacturers didn't want anyone to know where it was made?? I can still turn the engine by hand with torque wrench but I don't reckon it's overly tight for a fresh motor. There are no clunks or squeaks when it does crank. When It was cranking it still wouldn't start. I've removed timing cover to double check timing gears are correctly lined up, dots lookin' at each other still, dizzy was at no.1. Set base timing at 30 degrees btdc by shorting 2 left pins with a female spade in the plug in the fuse panel. Double checked roller rocker tension on valves, all good. Next, while waiting for a decent starter motor, I reckon I might make sure no crud has found it's way into injectors. Anyone know what usual symptoms of u/s ecu are. I know I'm getting spark and fuel but not sure about the timing of it. The only fault code I'm getting with koeo test is transmission temp sensor??? Hasn't put engine into limp mode surely. If it'd start limping I'd be half happy

Measure from the block to the negative post of the battery with a multimeter. You should be getting zero ohms.

Pete.

G'day Pete, at the moment I have 0.2 ohms, block to post with key off. Value changes to 6 ohms with key on. I've just installed 5 metre long 12mm battery leads to fit battery into boot and have the -ve lead attached by one of the starter motor bolts to the block to get the current as close to the action as possible. These leads hardly even feel warm after cranking, whereas the original 7mm leads were fair sweating. Would having to be 0 ohms be to do with starting or the ecu?

Hi Col,

zero ohms for cranking...my fluke can read up to 0.07 ohms and it's ok but 0.2 ohms sounds a little high but, of course I don't know what meter or scale your meter is on?
When you say 12mm does that mean 12mm Square or 12mm diameter? and if it's the diameter is it the copper that's 12mm or does that include the insulation?
Don't turn the key on when measuring resistance.
What fault code are you getting?
Does it actually try to fire when cranking? Have you got a fuel pressure gauge on it?

Pete.

12 hr shifts, can't play much at moment. 12mm is the actual copper diameter, fairly heavy duty. It has tried to fire and been close to starting but no bananas. Whenever I leave it for a while and try starting again, the first thing that usually happens is a decent backfire. Ive also removed injectors and checked them all for crud in the filters, all good. Fuel line is pressurizing and is clear but I dont have a pressure guage to check how much.The only code I'm getting is 636. I disconnected fans while renewing radiator and checked codes again. I was getting 2 extra codes saying l & r fan not working but that's ok coz I know why. I've just remembered that economy switch in consol is disconnected because most of the interior is getting a refit. According to my w/shop manual it is just an open/closed switch so I guess that shouldn't affect things much, or could it? There's also a substantial sized plug disconnected which may be connected to gearbox but I haven't reconnected that yet. Without looking too closely I think it's to do with elec windows. I refitted a new starter motor tonight but haven't tried cranking it yet, trying to show a bit of respect to neighbours. Then again, they might think I've shot meself,lol. I'm leaning towards the notion that the valves aren't playing the game properly yet due to lack of oil in lifters.