my cars been having this issue, and it seems to cure itself everytime. but i had a job interview the other day and went to start the car and nothing....

car is a 350 5speed carbed, when i go to roll it over it like powers down, and it sounds like its seized. put a wrench on the crank and sometimes itll free up other times it wont. i know its not seized because ill try to get it working for hours then give up, come back few hours later and itll fire right up... does anyone know what causes this? base timing is 6 degrees.

 

I'm having the same problem you are with same engine and tranny. Except I have a mini high torque starter and my engine powers down and clicks. I'm thinking my starter solenoid is shot and am trying s remote solenoid.

 

hmm it could be, i was thinking my valves are not set right, or something i replaced my starter but it didnt start doing it till i put the aftermarket heads on it.

 

Has it run right since you did that?

What heads did you use , what compression ratio did you end up with?
Too high a CR will make a starter work very hard to crank a engine over , even more so if the valve timing
and spark are not spot on

 

its worked awesome since i did the swap, just 3 times in the 3 months of daily driving it does it, i just used arp bolts and torque wrenches, 64cc head and stock dished pistons outta a 1970 caprice. i did the valve lash by ear

 

just once in a while itll start to crank for a second then hit a spot or something then it will like hydrolock, if i walk away and come back x hours later its like nothing happens, just fires up

 

may sound stupid but check the neutral safety switch under the clutch pedal the next time it wont start reach doun and push the switch in by hand then crank it , mine was tempramental and I was having the same problem , All power options would work fine but no crank (sometimes) . others it would fire rite up. the last time it did this (no crank) I pushed in the switch and blamo fired rite up . there are 2 switches that the clutch pedal influences the nss is the hardest one to reach . I pushed mine in and out about 20 times and it never happened again.

 

How long does it normally take to start it once you turn the key to start position??
Have you checked the starter?? It is possible it has a flat spot in it which checking it might not catch it.
Are all your teeth on your Flywheel in good shape??

 

How old is the starter?? Is the starter strong enough to turn over your engine with that compression? I used to have a problem with my neutral switch like dad said. Try pushing it in by hand as suggested. Are all your connections tight?? Sorry to point out the obvious.

 

i had the problem with the neutral switch before so i took it apart and took out the springs so its like always in, worked great, but this is a diff kinda no crank, like it tries but just drains power. but ibm im not sure, i bet thats my issue, but i dont have a way to check right now without pullin the motor... its gonna warm up in the next few days. i was also thinking my new starter cable, it was side post but switched to top, ill switch back and see if it changes anything

 

Is the Bendix getting jammed out? Or is it doing nothing at all? Have you used a volt meter at the starter connections to check and see if you have the proper voltage? And is your battery still in good condition? Maybe shimming it out?

 

Just to clarify, Your not losing electrical power, You are just hearing the clunk of the starter solenoid.

If you are losing power ie. Light's, Dash, etc then you have a bad battery or grounding cable..

If you just hear the clunk, I would almost bet that the starter is probably bad.

You stated that you put different heads on it. If you over torqued the valves by ALOT there is a possibility that it would make the engine hard to start.. But considering that the engine runs great once it starts, That isn't an option..

My bet is the starter.. See about getting it on a lift...

 

ill pull the starter again tomorow, its 2 years old and i put a new solonoid on it this summer, its never had shims but always started fine, just happened 3x's since ive been driving the car

 

The heat from the headers will destroy solenoids unless you wrap the headers and use a heat shield. Or you could use a remote starter solenoid and plant it near the battery and keep it from the headers.

 

im going to have to do something, my headers melted my original battery to starter wire, which is what i replaced and top mounted, then melted all my fuseable links, just got them all replaced few weeks ago but it ran since then. i was out today working on it, it was soo cold but i had charged then did a 75amp boost and still doing it, in the next pay im going to get a new solonoid, and battery cables

 

weather was bearable today so went out to work on it.... think i figured it out, what i was gonna do was remove the spark plugs and try turning it over and when i removed the very last one from piston 8 it had ice on it.... i had bad antifreeze in it and guess i found out the easy way my head gasket is going.... i put new antifreeze in it the last time it ran before it got super cold thank god... should get above 0 in the next few days, hopefully she thas out