wont start on its own battery??

[greg1.4]

ok, i thought i had a major problem with my nova after re-building the top end on my engine. i have a 1300 SR block with a 1200 head, SR manifold and downpipe, pierburg twin choke carb and i went to fire it up and she kept turning over and over. i checked all the usual things like fuel, plugs, leads, dizzy, coil, timing and all was perfect. tonight i really wanted to get the car going so i put jump leads off another car and she fired up no probs. i let her idle for a while incase there was any nasty rattles and bangs, then after a while i was revving her and she runs perfect.

this makes me think its the alternator which was working before i swapped heads or a broken earth or i have not put one back on..

i have also changed the battery to see if that helped and never.

when i try and start it without jump leads it turns over slowly but when i put the leads on she turns over fast and fires up..??:confused:

any ideas?

cheers,
Greg

[coombsey]

i had this with my xe it turned out to be the earth on the gearbox was missing

[greg1.4]

mines is there.. i had the same bother with my other nova and thats what it was aswell. i checked that first.. cheers anyway mate..

[big gra]

battery might be nackered and not have enough amps to power the coil?

[greg1.4]

i put up there ^^^^^^^^, i even swapped the battery to check it was not that.lol

thanks anyway matey..

[big gra]

did you try another battery or a new battery? because if you have rebuilt your head there will be more compression and if the battery is old it wont have the power to turn the engine over quick enough to fire, thats probably why it goes with the extra boost from another battery!!

[SRI crazy]

it could be a bad starter and its draining the power form its own battery and cant turn over quick enough i hav had a problem like this and that was the problem

[Welsh Dan]

Replace the gearbox earth strap anyway as the normal ones corrode a lot, or add a few more earth straps yourself. When you changed the battery was it for a new one?

[Adam]

Add a jumplead from the gearbox to the battery negative terminal.
If it starts then its a engine to earth problem.

[greg1.4]

battery i had on was dead, but started with jump leads, so i swapped it for a 2 week old battery that i had in my other nova and it turned over slowly but again fired up with a boost from another running car..

the starter worked 2 weeks ago before i stripped the engine.. i have also added a huge big earth cable from gearbox to chassis when i put the engine in so it cant be that. i also put a seartn strap from te negative terminal to the bulkhead..

could it be too much compression with the 1300 head? i am going to try a brand new transit van battery in it tonight to see if that will start her..