Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

FORUM RULES: Users agree to these Rules when using Forum.

The site administrator reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of the user agreement without prior notice to the user. It is the responsibility of the user to regularly review the terms of this agreement.

The user agrees to the following terms:

All information that you provide to us for your membership is correct.
You will not use your membership to spam, harrass, or exploit other members in any way.
Vulgar, Abusive, Racist and Sexist Language will not be tolerated.
Commercial-type sales postings will not be allowed.
No mass posting or flooding of the boards is allowed.
No Advertising of parts or cars; no Ebay or business/commercial ads (please use the "Classified" for ads Wanted or For Sale).
VIEWING MULTIPLE TOPICS ON SCREEN: You can choose to see more than 10 Topics at a time ... Log In and choose "Preferences" from the top bar on the Forum page. Scroll down and Change the "Default Topics Returned" parameter to 25 or 50, and save the changes. Since this setting is stored in your browser 'cookies' (if enabled), it seems to use that stored value even if you are not logged in. So, if you use a PC that you haven't logged into the forum from, the setting still seem to remain at the default.
EXTERNAL PHOTO LINKS ON FORUM: You can still use external photo links in your posts on the new forum. They follow the rules of any link in that they have to have the URL link qualified down to the full image file name (example: .jpg). The links will open in a new browser window, the same as an uploaded image attached to a post. Since an image attachment to any post does not display inline with the post, the results are the same. You can use multiple external links within a post. This link is from photos on a site from Don Clink's 'Deuce@75' albums:

http://donclink.com/deuce_75_1/images/dscn2950.jpg

Using links from photo sites such as Photobucket can help in "size" issue with uploaded attachment files. For best viewing in web browsers, photos should be around the 800x600 pixel range, and probably not more than 1024x768. Most cameras today store HUGE jpg image files, as the default settings are in the 7, 8, 10, and 12Mb image sizes. The image files that are then attached are very large, and the browser can't display the full image size without using the scroll bars. Use the re-sizing functions of your photo editing software to reduce the image to 800x600, which reduces the file sixe and the image load time in the browser. Don uses Google's free Picassa3 software, which is an excellent photo management product. All of the photo albums of the Deuce, Grand National, and Auburn that are links on the NORG site were built using Picassa's web creation functions. And it's free? (THANKS to Don Clink for the info!)
HOW DO I SHOW MY EMAIL ADDRESS ALONG WITH MY USERNAME? You can LogIn on the Forum, and select PREFERENCES. On this page Members can add optional information such as their City,State, Country; Occupation; Hobbies: list a Homepage; list AOL Instant Messanger Handle; Signature; "Make Email Address viewable to others;" and even change the number of Default Topics shown on a page. WHEN others click on your profile, they will see this information.

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Cable gauge for starter

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion

<< previous || next >>

Posted By

Discussion Topic: Cable gauge for starter

jimbomac

08-06-2020 @ 6:29 AM

reply profile send p.m.

Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Jul 2014

What gauge wire should I use for the solenoid to the starter. Car is a 53, 6V pos grnd. Thx!

TomO

08-06-2020 @ 7:39 AM

reply profile send p.m.

Senior
Posts: 7256
Joined: Oct 2009

Most of the vendors supply the correct cable. The correct length is just as important as the gauge of the wire.

Tom

jimbomac

08-06-2020 @ 10:00 AM

reply profile send p.m.

Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Jul 2014

Thanks, Tom- the reaso that I ask is that the car cranks slowly when warm , fast when cold. The battery cables are #1 G, and the starter cable is obviously a smaller gauge. The vendors all sell #1 as the replacement cable

46coupe

08-06-2020 @ 10:34 AM

reply profile send p.m.

Member
Posts: 272
Joined: Oct 2015

I went to a welding supply with my old 12v cable and he cut me one out of #1 cable. Bought two terminal ends from NAPA and it works great. Based on what Tom and some others told me on this forum. I went and got all my cables replaced with #1 cable. They didn't have OO or O. WHAT a difference. Car starts on a crank and a half. No pumping the gas pedal or choking the carb. Turn on the switch, pull the choke to half throttle and hit the starter button. Vrrrooom.
Thanks again guys.

TomO

08-08-2020 @ 7:45 AM

reply profile send p.m.

Senior
Posts: 7256
Joined: Oct 2009

Jim, You can do a v9oltage drop test to see if the problem is the starter cable or something else.

Starter is slow, how do I find out why?

A slow starter can be caused by:
· Low voltage to the starter
· Poor grounding of the starter
· Poor grounding of the battery
· Worn starter bushings
· Worn starter brushes
· Worn out starter.
The easiest to isolate the problem is to check is the voltage drop going to the starter. First we must establish that the battery and its connections are good.
1 Check the battery voltage by connecting the volt meter across the battery posts, NOT the cables.
2 Have a helper crank the starter with the ignition off, or with the coil wire disconnected.
3 Read the voltage. This will be the battery voltage under load. With a 6 volt battery, a good battery will read around 5.2 volts or higher.
4 Repeat the test with the meter leads connected to the cables. The reading should be within 0.01V of the previous reading. If not clean the posts and cable ends and repeat the test.
Next we can measure the voltage drop between the battery and the starter. The max drop should be 0.1V per connection (battery to solenoid, solenoid and solenoi to starter)
1 Connect the COM or black lead to the battery cable and the POS or red lead to the starter connection.
2 Crank the starter and read the voltmeter.
3 Good connections will give you a reading of 0.3V or less with the starter operating.
4 If the reading is more than 0.3V, move the red meter lead to the starter side of the solenoid and repeat the test. The reading now should be 3.2V or less. If it is more than 0.1V less than the previous reading, the cable is bad.

Tom

<< previous || next >>

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

Merchandise Questions

Membership Questions