Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1967 mustang lifters, crank pulley, hydraulic lifters

Question
I just had my engine rebuilt and it seems like it is really tight.  It is very hard to get it to turn over.  I am thinking that the lifters are too tight and that will stop it from cranking.  I also have the wiring from the coil going straight to the battery and the other to the distributor.  Should I have the positive lead going to the ignition instead of the battery?   Also I am also having trouble finding a wiring diagram for the altenator. I know this is a lot at one time.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Kenny

Answer
You didn't say which engine your car has, so I don't know for sure what might be wrong, but unless you have a modified engine or an "R" code engine, your engine has hydraulic lifters - there is very little likelyhood that they are set wrong in such a way that it affects the cranking speed.  Even if it does have adjustable lifters, having them set wrong wouldn't cause hard cranking.  It might cause some valve noise, or even a miss, but it wouldn't hurt the cranking speed, unless something isn't put together right causing a valve to impact a piston which would be a very major error in assembly.  No experienced mechanic would make that bad a mistake.

All freshly rebuilt engines will be harder to turn until they have some miles on them - that is why you should have been given instructions as to how to break-in the engine.  If your mechanic didn't give you that information, contact him and get some help - you can ruin a good rebuild by not following instructions.  If you think your engine is too tight, check it by putting a socket wrench on the big bolt in the center of the crank pulley, and see if you can turn the engine by pulling on the end of a foot long socket handle - if you can turn it, it is OK.   If you can't budge it, there may be something wrong internally - get the rebuilder to check it for you.  


The usual cause for slow cranking is poor condition battery cables, or dirty connections at either end of the 3 battery cables - check all 6 ends of the cables, and make sure there are no clamp on "repair" ends on them - if there are, buy new cables and throw the clamp on ends into the weeds!  All connections should be clean, bright shiny metal (no paint!), and tight.  The battery amd starter should both be in good condition, and the battery fully charged.  When you have that, the engine should crank very well.  The 3 cables are:
1: "+" terminal of battery to solenoid,
2: solenoid to starter, and
3: "-" terminal of battery to engine block.
Each cable should have at least 5/16" of copper conductor inside the insulation for good starting.


The + terminal of the coil should go to the ballast resistance, which in your car is incorporated into the wire from the "I" terminal of the ignition switch to the coil.  You can connect the coil directly to the battery for a short while (the car does that automatically during cranking), but if you leave it that way for more than a few minutes, it will overheat the coil and possibly burn out the points.

Wiring diagrams are in the shop manual for the car - if you don't have one, contact one of the automobile literature dealers and order one - it will pay for itself 100 times over if you are going to be keeping the car.  I use Ed Faxon at www.faxonautolit.com, but there are others.  I'm not sure that your car came with an alternator - I think 1967 was the changeover year - you might have a generator - that's a totally different looking device, and it is wired differently and uses a different voltage regulator.

Dick