Hans

I'm trying to figure this out too, out of curiosity. I haven't dissected a starter of late, and its too damn cold to go out to the garage. If the starter gear is connected to the solenoid, and the gear is hung up on the ring gear, then it might keep the solenoid from popping back. I seem to recall that it is the engine firing, and the flywheel then turning faster than the starter motor, that releases the gear. Which wouldn't happen in this case. I've never experienced this problem, in spite of many low battery issues over the years.

OK, I thought I had it, but maybe not. So if the solenoid/gear is stuck on the shaft or flywheel, it still keeps the main motor supply connected even if solenoid juice is cut off? To jimk's point, perhaps disconnecting battery, and hence feed to motor, takes the load/tension off the gear and lets it pop free into resting mode. A head scratchier. Charge the battery and report back!

Ok got it now .

Why would the starter keep running with key removed?

keep in mind this is all moot if you have notched pulley and pointer on the front case,

he has a cam. But yes, 40s are prob best for stock and maybe mild tune. As Toby said, maybe 32 chokes to start either way. PS thanks all for I.D. on water neck.

As i believe i said above, there are two schools of thought on the utility of cold start "chokes". I use them for all cold starts, with success, but others will say that a few pumps on the pedal will fire 'er up every time. I'd be inclined to keep them on the carbs in case you have starting problems.

I suspect you will feel a broken pencil, but having never tried it, I will wait for your report. I'd be more inclined to roughly get to just before TDC with tips above, then look down the hole with a pencil flashlight while an accomplice moves the engine slowly forward. Unless you have the aforementioned notches on the pulley.

Are there any grooves on the front pulley? Is there a pointer near the alternator bracket mount? You could pull the valve cover, turn engine by hand (or push car in 4th gear) to get two cam lobes for #1 in down position and look for mark on cam sprocket. You may then need to shine a flashlight down the hole looking for "0", or TDC. the ball is at, what, 24 deg BTC? I meant notches on the crank pulley for timing. Not all M10s have the pointer.

What happened to "no passing under yellow"?

RealOEM is your friend. Find part number and google it.

where did that water neck come from?

What he said. Did we talk sbout gaskets between carb and manifold ? I don't recommend soft mounts but some folks do. You can search for debates on here. Ditto cold start levers via choke cable. I hooked them up with a long universal cable to loop over alternator and pull towards front. I use it regularly, other folks will disagree.

I wondered about that, but OP says car ran before. How did you determine that was + side?

I want one of those testers mounted in my console. Very cool. My affinity with Mr. Kettering is his involvement with the Oldsmobile Rocket V8 engine in the late 40s. This was a popular hot rod motor in the mid 50s, AKA my misspent youth period.

yeah, a friend sent me that list.

Like he said. The distributor can be any place as long as firing order and timing are set accordingly. Usually condenser is at the back, which is where the stock black wire is located. But that's unlikely to be your problem.

Maybe the battery is dead. Or weak. That would cause the click but no music. How many wires are attached to the coil anyway?

Speaking of bolt holes, I would carefully check ALL the threads on a used head.

To confirm, you connected the wire to the distributor and something shorted? How did you determine that? I think #5 fuse feeds that circuit. Do you have a test light or elec. testing meter?

Did we test continuity/resistance on the coil ground wire? And power at the distributor? Also turning it over with cap removed to see if the points operate properly.points function properly

Make sure you somehow end up with a front cover that exactly matches the thickness of the head. Somewhere on here recently there was a comment about Scotchbrite disc contents that you might wish to review. The idea is to scrape carbon, not metal. Without wishing the dreaded scope creep upon you, how was the engine health before the head problem? How do the cyl walls look?

No, just resting. Needs its kip, y'a know.

Are you referring to the butterflies on top of the carb? They are supposed to be closed to start the motor.

You are a fine fellow. If NLA parts are removed, makes for thin reading.