Thread: New Motor Startup-problem??

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Finally got the motor in my car- '92 302 into a '68 Fairlane, carbureted, with the Ford Duraspark ignition. And my ballast resistor was smokin, only when I left the key on without the engine running.
I started the motor and it ran fine, the ballast didn't get hot as long as the motor was running. Is that normal???

And another thing, I bumped the starter over, let off the key for a second then hit it again and the starter hung up. Had to turn the motor over a little by hand to free it. It does this consistently if you hit the starter-disengage it-then hit it again. Could that be because of a new starter and new flywheel meshing together to tight???

The smoking resistor will probably stop doing it after the contamination burns off. The starter might be more of a problem. Sounds like you have the wrong starter, they changed slightly in , I think, mid-'82. Not sure which way it is, but the one type will fit in the hole for the other, but not line up right. The other way won't fit at all, the register hole is smaller.

The starter I bought is supposed to be for a '68 Fairlane, I'm using the same tranny (C4) original to the car, and bought a new 50 oz 154 tooth or 157 can't remember now but it has the same number of teeth as the old 28 oz flywheel.
I'm hoping that maybe the teeth just need to break in, they seem to work fine together as long as you don't hit it-let off-then immediately hit it again, that locks them up every time. Turn the motor over by hand just a little and everything's fine again.

The ballast resistor gets warm/hot to the touch if you leave the key on but engine not running. I unplugged the wires at the ballast and I've got 12 volts on the side going to the key switch, and just a couple volts on the side going to the coil??? I unplugged the wires at the coil and the neg./tach side is showing a small amount of voltage which is coming from the control module. I'm using a Duraspark module with the blue grommet and a TFI coil made by MSD. I'm sure it's wired up right, and the problem goes away after the car is started.

Can anyone unplug their coil and see if they read pos. voltage coming from the neg./tach side of the coil, I'm getting a small reading here and I'm sure thats what is making my ballast get hot, power coming from both sides. Just thinking I may have a defective control module.

OK the ballast res. seems to be fine.
Ran the car up to 185 a couple times and each time I started it the starter sounded worse & worse. Now it won't engage at all- crawled under the car and the teeth on my flexplate are trashed.
'92 motor, '68 C4 trans, 157 tooth flexplate balanced at 50 oz, used a new starter for a '68 trans.
There is a different part number for the starter in an '81 to '89 car w/302, but I don't won't to keep guessing at this. Anyone know what starter I need ?????