SteveR

I'm wondering what your oil filter looks like and what's in the bottom of your oil pan?

I would still drop the oil pan and have a look at it and then have a good look up inside your engine. Gray powder sounds like ground metal. Perhaps a possible engine rebuild. You might want to pull the head. Something is drastically wrong in your engine.

I've got some swamp... I mean land in Florida for sale, Cheap.

Drop the pan. Why guess as to what is inside or how much crud is at the bottom. Was this a running car when you got it?

OUTFXD, How are you getting on? Any headway?

Ah, sorry Sam I thought it was OUTFXD

Ok I am assuming this is to the coil of your relay and you get the click click click. Switching the polarity on a coil will make no difference. We are back to it looks like you have a 12vdc relay in your 6vdc car. 6vdc is not strong enough to keep the contacts closed on a 12vdc relay. Coils, which is what you energize to close the contacts don't care if they are Positive ground or Negative ground. Your starter does though. However, it looks like you may have a poor connection between your relay and where it is mounted. I would remove the relay and clean it back to shiny metal on both the relay and where it is mounted. A poor connection could be the problem. Red is Positive and Black is negative. In your photo, It looks like you have the Positive to the relay. There are 2 wires coming off the Red terminal what are these and where do they go? ) The center post should go directly to your starter switch. Forgive me if I am saying anything you already know I see that you have an alternator. It reads '6vNEG ground' Is your electrical system changed to negative ground? This could explain why you have a Red(+) cable to the relay.

You reversed the leads, From where? Have you tried taking a jumper from the neg to the starter post directly, bypassing the relay? If so what happened? Troubleshooting is nothing more than eliminating things. Let's eliminate the starter first. Take a jump lead from the negative battery terminal directly to the starter terminal. It should spin. Make Sure You're NOT IN GEAR!

I agree completely. I once had a 1930 Ford Model A 4 door Blind back. I bought it not knowing much about restoring it. I eventually found I only had the shell with no wood framing. To restore this would have cost me thousands more than the car would have been worth restored. I decided to street rod it. I found a Chevy 350 4 bolt dirt cheap. If I had all the money in the world I would have done something different. If it's your car build it the way you want but remember resale value.

What about a 225 slant 6. There were bulletproof engines and the torque flight transmission was bulletproof as well.

Usually the body of the sol is the ground, but that brings up a question does the body of the sol have a solid ground or is it on a painted or rusty surface?

Hope this helps

A sol is just a switch being turned on by electricity. Basically, it is in two parts, an electromagnet and contacts (switch) Apply voltage to the coil (electromagnet) and the contacts (switch) close. To open the contacts the coil has to discharge (no voltage to it) and a spring will then open the contacts. A clicking comes from the voltage to the coil fighting against the spring. In other words, the voltage applied to the coil can not completely overcome the spring. This will happen even if the motor was disconnected. The motor should make no difference to the coil clicking. "Bypassing the solenoid with jumper cablesdoes nothing." something is wrong here. if you take the - side of the battery to the starter terminal it should turn over. If it does not then try taking the + side to the starter if it turns then you have a - ground instead of a + ground. Change those cables around. When using a digital multimeter to check voltage make sure you have the + &- leads correctly positioned on the + &- sides you're checking. It is possible to turn the leads around and still get a 6vdc reading except it will be a -6vdc "The solenoids would only work with the battery cables hooked on one way, reverse them and nothing happens at all." Sol uses a small current (starter button) to turn on a large current draw (starter). Because we are using a dc current the COIL will operate either way. Changing the BATTERY connection will make a difference. Think of it as two separate operations. a small current energizes a coil and the contacts close, This allows the large current to flow from the battery to the starter

I know we have been here before but what is missing/ Clicking would indicate that the sol is 12 vdc. Your 6vdc would not be strong enough to overcome the spring inside the sol contacts or your not getting 6vdc at the sol from the Starter switch.. Question: How old is your starter switch? When depressing the starter switch what is your ohms reading across the starter terminals? What happens when you connect the battery direct to the starter, will the engine turn over? What is the voltage at the starter from the Key and when depressing the starter switch what is the voltage to the sol? Are your connections to the sol correct? It's got to be something simple.

Why are you getting an ohms reading of 8.01 at the sol? What terminals are you checking across?

Are you saying you have 12vdc ground to battery or 0.12vdc?

I assume you are running a 12vdc Battery? car at rest, Key on refer to diagram: multimeter set to vdc Red to ground 12 vdc yellow to ground -o-vdc magenta to ground -0-vdc KEY OFF MULTIMETER set to Ohms Starter SWITCH to Starter Sol (low) reading .02 Starter to Sol (low) reading .02 This checks to see if you have a broken wire or bad connection Key OFF, connect across Starter Switch should be low reading .02 ohms Key off meter on vdc connect Starter Switch from Key to Ground should be -0-vdc

And me in trying to figure out what tranny I have. Looks like a 39 case with 40-41 gears. AGhhhhh

I remember back in the 70s in Minnesota a company started up by selling used (found on the roads) hubcaps. He turned it into a tidy business. I don't imagine he is in business anymore.

Sidevalvepete, I love the grill on your car. Do you remember what the clutch gear looked like in your tranny?

Here are a few photos of what I have. The first is the clutch gear I took out of my tranny Second Pic is the brass synchro Third, the 2 different styles of clutch gear. The bottom is out of my tranny the top is from A Bernbaum (37-39) Forth, The middle indent in the outer rings are not the same. It's hard to see in this photo. Also, the inner gears are not interchangeable Fifth, Shows the tranny case with the 39 on the side. It almost looks like 'DODGE' written on the side So are the synchro rings that of a 41? Is this clutch gear compatible with a 39? Is this a Dodge truck transmission?

There in lays the problem. My car is a 37, it looks like my tranny was from a junkyard with the 39 painted on the side yet the synchronizers appear to be from a 41. So I am wondering if the rings from a 41 will work on a 39 transmission? In the top drawing # 39 & 38 is what I have in my tranny & are worn and need replacement. Are they from a 41 tranny or where there different trannys components for a 39 tranny that used this type of rings and plates?

The synchronizers are what is worn on my tranny

I am having to rebuild my tranny in my 37 Plymouth. What I know of the car is it has a 230 engine swap. My clutch gear is worn and I ordered a new one from A Bernbaum. It is not like what I have in my tranny. My tranny has 2 brass synchro rings apart from the sleeve and the 37 has the brass synchro in the sleeve. In cleaning up the outside of the tranny you can faintly make out a 39 painted on the housing side. Do I have a 39 tranny? If so will the clutch gear work in this tranny? If not I will be needing the brass synchro rings and the 3 synchronizer shifting plates. The first picture shows what I have in my tranny. I am looking at numbers 38 & 39 on this 40-41 tranny. Also are the trannys from trucks the same as those in cars. I'm really not sure what I have now. The second picture is what my tranny looks like except for the clutch gear

I just realized when I did my calculation I was using the English gallon not the US gallon so my mpg would be around 14 per US mpg Here in England the price of E-10, 10% alcohol is £1.79 per Ltr. That's £8.14 UK and £6.78 US per gallon