My 1927 Roadster has been starting hard. By that I mean that when the key was turned to battery the coils would buzz sometimes, sometimes not. I wired in a new switch and the coils would only give a weak, short buzz. I turned the engine over with the starter and they buzzed strongly tried it again and then the weak short buzz. I noticed that when I stepped on the starter sometimes it would not turn over till I hit it several times. Any ideas ? Randy Glowacki
Sounds like maybe coil box instead of the switch. See if you move the coils around a little if you get better contact. Does coil box have a lid?
If that does fix it need to rebuild coil box and make sure lid presses coils down firmly. Also double check that coil box connections are all firm and snug.
Also now that I re-read your post maybe just bad ground to battery, check battery cable and that you have good ground to frame and engine.
Could be a low battery. If the battery is low, the coils will buzz strongly until you hit the starter switch. Then your starter will just clunk and the coils will buzz very weakly or not at all.
Check all connections between the battery terminals and the body for ground and between battery and starter switch and from starter switch to starter. Also from starter switch to terminal block and between terminal block and ammeter and switch. Also check wire to generator cutout for loose or corroded connections.
Also check the battery charge and charge the battery or replace it.
Norm
Sounds like a bad connection to me also. As stated start with the battery connections and the ground to frame too. A heavy draw like the starter can cause a poor connection to go open and you lose power.
Thanks to everyone for your advise. I will start checking all connections tomorrow. There is a local care show on Saturday that I would like to drive to.
I'm guessing you know that only one coil buzzes at a time depending on the timer position. If not, It sounds to me that some of your coil points are properly adjusted and some are not. Try hand cranking very slowly so that each set of points can buzz and if one out of four sounds weak, remove the coil box cover to see which one is buzzing weakly and in need of adjustment.
My bet would be on poor ground or low battery. The ignition switch is irrelevant. It has no effect on the starter.