Raindance654

No idea. I wondered that myself. I took it to a specialist near me as it was running slow even on the bench and the bendix gear didn't seem to sit right on the shaft. The guy in the shop told me there was a problem with the Bendix but the insides of the motor were fine. It came back working better. For the minimal cost involved, whatever was up with it, I'm quite happy to take that as a win.

Yes. The starter pinion was apparently dragging and causing the motor to run a little slow. I added the battery since I was also not confidant that the original battery was up to scratch, even though it didn't seem too bad when tested. I added the extra big battery cables just for some cheap insurance.

UPDATE.............got the starter looked at and fitted new battery (OPtima) and huge battery cables (100mm sq). Starts first hit of the button now. Yayyyyy.................!!

Hi 9ft box. That's exactly what I did. I've since been to the tech tips page and have read it thoroughly, which I recommend to any newbie. Thanks.

Thanks for that. I did click the tech tab......and found thousands of threads. The sheer number struck a little torror into me as I'm not sure how I would have found what I was looking for...........lol

I did drop test (load test)the battery after a full charge with the correct apparatus and it showed very little voltage drop but I have had batteries which test ok under a load test but fail to crank satisfactorily...............perhaps the battery is to blame after all............!!!

Ok......so my starter might not be shot after all then...............

Whilst the starter is off, I'll get it checked properly......but sounds as though my "good" battery could be weak............

UPDATE. I just did another amp draw test when I was sure the battery was fully charged. The reading was approx 280 amps but peaked at just over 300 amps. To my mind this is WAY over what it should be drawing. My conclusion is that in spite of the starter being apparently in good shape, something is amiss inside............possibly a short in the windings. Before I spring for an eBay special starter could there be any other possible causes for such a high draw.............?

That's a great idea..........but as I'm in England these cars are quite scarce. Although admittedly I've only had my Plymouth for a few days, I'm not aware of any of these or similar cars anywhere near me............................ahh the joys............

I like the idea of intimidating my Plymoth into co-operating. In the meantime, I'll do some homework on voltage drop testing and I'll get the starter motor off once again for some more in depth testing and checking. I've learned the hard way in the past that new does not necessarily mean defect free, so I will be checking ALL components very thoroughly, if only as you say, to eliminate them as questionable.

Given the remarkable simplicity of the cars and boiling it down to those three things, you wouldn't think there could be such a problem, would you.........?? Of the three, I'd say that I am kinda missing the fuel side of the equation. Although there is plenty of fuel in the carbs and the booster pumps seem to work just fine and give a good jet of fuel when the throttle is opened. No matter how much fuel I tip down the carbs the plugs remain prety much bone dry. so my feeling is that I'm not geting fuel/air mix down to the cylinders. Even under cranking, I'm getting a pretty decent spark and on the occasion that I got three buddies to push start the car down the street, it started quite easily and ran sweetly enough, so even though I didn't physically check the timing at that point, I have to think that the ignition and timing must be in the ballpark.

Here are a few more photos of my car, which according to the paperwork that came with her is named "Betsy" . I was originally looking for a slightly later MoPar until I saw this 51. You can see why I fell in love with her, can't you..................?

What you say makes perfect sense to me, Plymouthy. It's my next move to go over the whole lot much more closely. This would be in normal circumstance my "go-to", as you say ..........but in this case, it appears that this has already been done as all the cables, wires, etc lok new or almost new. I think that as an ongoing problem, my guess is that multiple persons have been down this and other roads in an attempt to solve this problem. What I have to do is be the one who finds what they didn't.................and this is what I'm hoping you good folks here will be able to help me achieve.

This would very likely to be one and the same car................!! It's now with me in Dorset, UK..............right by the sea on England's south coast. The last owner of this car in the USA was Mr Greer. I wonder if he had the same problems with the Plymouth when it was in his care.................?