So, I got a 6V battery and got it hooked up today. Highest octane gas from Chevron with lead substitute. Hoses running to water bucket, sparkplugs are good. The starter is a question mark though.

We got it to turn over with the starter, but the starter was touch and go at the beginning after sitting so long. I will post some video if I get time before we try to get it to start again today.

The starter sounds laboured. Very slow to turn over. When we had the plugs out just to get the engine over to get oil flowing, it was "okay" it turned over, though not fast, but once the plugs were in it became very hard for it.

Any suggestions? it may kick over 3 times for a 4 second press of the starter.

Gerald.

Where Are You From? Langley BC, Canada

Do You own a car built by Durant? Yes - 1928 Durant M2

One: The highest octane in the day was about 84, therefore it is a waste of money to use anything higher. Because of the low compression, the engine cannot utilize it.
Two: Lead additive will not hurt anything but there was no lead in the low octane fuel of this era. Lead came out with the advent of higher octane Ethel fuel.

Did you dissemble the starter, clean it, polish the communtater, check the brushes, oil the bushings ? If this doesn't help get it rolling, you need to take it to a genuine professional re-builder. NOT Auto Zone, Pep Boys, O'Rileys, or such places.

In the meantime, you can use 12 volts for 3 seconds, wait two minutes, and repeat.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 23 Star, 27 Star, 29 Durant

Thanks for the reply Don!
I think the concern with using lower grades was the ethanol in the gas, apparently it's not in the higher grade. Not sure. Just going off advice :).

UPDATE:

Alright, new battery didn't have a full charge. After charging for 30 minutes it did kick the engine over faster. It almost sounds like an engine now and not a dying animal. I will update how it goes after it charges a while longer.
If It doesn't start at that point / the starter isn't moving fast enough I will try your advice.

I was sweating a little at the beginning as the engine wasn't turning over, and we were a little worried about the starter or engine being seized, was a relief when it did start turning. People talk about hand cranking it over to lubricate the engine, The part you put the crank on is fairly worn though and I don't think it's possible to manually turn the engine this way. At least, not without breaking a limb.

It is turning over now, much easier though, so the engine at least is okay, and the starter seems to be working ifnot perfectly at least enough to get it to turn over several times before I have to let it rest. The purpose of all this is to get the engine started long enough to see if the rebuild of the water pump is working before getting the rad for this car. There are bubbles a little when it turns over in the bucket when we turn it over, so there's hope I guess.



Gerald.

Where Are You From? Langley BC, Canada

Do You own a car built by Durant? Yes - 1928 Durant M2

Update:

About 6 hours in and I am done for the day, however we did get it started... eventually.

http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/RainmakerG/media/1928%20Durant%20Road%20to%20Recovery/Firingup.mp4.html

This is the short clip of it starting.

It will now start fairly readily which is a huge relief, the original reason we were doing this was to test the water pump. That didn't run as smoothly.

We had a long pip running from the top of the engine into a pain just in front of the front bumper, and the bottom intake we had sitting much higher than the engine. We had water poured into the hose at the bottom, and the top, so the engine was full, we blew the water through the bottom hose a few times and refilled trying to get any vacuum pockets out of the engine. It seemed that when the engine was started, the water level in the hose that we were holding up would drop a small amount, but it wouldn't pump the water through the engine. The water pump is spinning quite well, but it was our own rebuild. The impeller was pretty close to the plate on the inside, so there wasn't a lot of space for it to loose pressure, but it doesn't seem to be pumping the water through the system. Is there some way you are supposed to prime the system some how?

Suggestions?

Also was going to ask if anyone has added a thermostat to the engine.

Thanks everyone!

Where Are You From? Langley BC, Canada

Do You own a car built by Durant? Yes - 1928 Durant M2

Where Are You From? Fremont, CA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFI133Uuxjs

Where Are You From? Argentina

Do You own a car built by Durant? Rugby 1928

Sounds just like mine. I have thought these were easy starting engines. I had to use the hand crank at different times.

Have you tried blowing through the hose into the pump? All I can think of is that you have blocked it up somewhere. Gasket without a hole? Could there be so much rust and scale in the water jacket that it settled down and blocked the water pump inlet?

Do You own a car built by Durant? yes

I'm not sure if they are easily cranked. I would find out easier if the place the crank fits into on the engine wasn't worn and slightly broken.

We did actually blow water through the engine. I didn't do it personally, my friend did, but he described it as easier than blowing bubbles in a chocolate Milk Shake. So I am guessing it's not plugged up.

The water that came out of the engine wasn't too dirty, it was a little of course, but for the most part the engine water was fairly clean despite the age.

I haven't seen anything yet that would indicate that there is water leaking into the oil, and when it is running it sounds pretty smooth. Well as smooth as something approaching 90 years can sound.

We found someone who is going to convert an aluminum radiator, I think it's some sort of aftermarket ford radiator to fit the durant for now. Eventually will save up and get one that is more authentic, but that is just going to cost too much for now.

Where Are You From? Langley BC

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1928 Durant M2