Battery not strong enough for new engine

[82 GT]

The time finally came today to fire up the engine I put together over the summer(see signature below).
The engine barely turned at all with a 700 cca battery. I thought maybe the battery was low or bad so I borrowed the one out of the "88GT which is a 750 cca and got the same thing.

Is it because a new engine is a little tighter or am I going to need a bigger battery?

When I put the battery out of the '88 in it.....it acted like it was low on power but I know it wasn''t.
Any ideas?

[QuantumMotorsports]

Have you grounded the motor well? You need to be sure that you have adaquate ground straps. One to the block and one to each head is what my machine shop told me. I would sand the paint off where the ground strap contacts the engine as well. Other than that, try priming the oil pump. Find a socket that will fit the oil pump shaft, then chuck up a ratchet extension in a variable speed drill and put the socket on the extension (I would tape it on also just in case) then use that to turn the oil pump and get some oil flowing. That might help. A new engine should not be very difficult to turn. Is the starter good?

[crazypete]

Such problems are (well almost) always ground issues. I replaced a battery and went through a starter and a relay with what you described. Does it feel like the starter is fighting like: struuuuugle turn! struggle turn turn struggle spin spin spin. This turned out for me to be the attachment point from the cable to the starter. A bit of grunge had gotten on the terminal. Thats all it took. Sand the cables on boths side till they gleam then sand the terminals til they gleam. Use fast orange (the hand cleaner): it will take off grease like you wouldnt believe. Do the same to the relay-to-battery cables.

The reason I say is that I used the flimsy flimsy battery from the corolla to boost my stang on multiple occasions. If you think it IS the battery, then you can resolve the problem like this. Connect 2 batteries IN PARRALLEL using jumpers then jumper this setup to the terminals. This will start anything. If still no dice, it's the connection. WARNING. If there is a short, after like 5-6 seconds, the cables will start to smoke!!

[LX5liter]

I agree with the other guys, Probably a bad connection or a faulty starter. Try puting a ratchet on the front of the engine and tuning it over by hand to see if maybe something in the engine is to tight though.

[82 GT]

One thing that I did not do was ground the engine. The strap is still there but I didn't think it was that important.
I'm going to ground the engine and buy new battery terminals and see what I get then.
The battery I used was good because it came right out of the '88GT I drive everyday.
Someone told me to remove all the spark plugs to reduce some of the compression and crank it over that way until oil flows.

I awas always under the impression that it's very important to get a new engine to fire up immediatly without excessive cranking.

[82 GT]

Tonight I atrtached the ground strap from the firewall to the engine and still nothing but slow cranking.
I called my buddy on the phone and explained how I had things grounded and he quickly told me the problem.
I have the negative battery cable going to the frame of the car and he said that's not a good enough ground because itmust be grounded to the engine block.
I was too late for me to go back out and try it but I'm going to do that first thing after work tomorrow.
He said I need that grounding strap from the firewall to the engine and also the negative terminal to the engine as well.
Do you think that's what my whole problem is?
I'm hoping it is.

[Fox Body]

Well, if that's how you had it grounded in the first place, this would definitely be my first troubleshooter! The negative battery cable goes DIRECTLY to the block and you can bolt it on where (I don't know if there's a name for it) there is a bolt going into the engine (at the front of the block, kinda on the lower "V" part of it-- one of the bolts you would use to bolt a chain on if you had the engine suspended by an engine lift). Also, the one where I have a ground going to the firewall is a thinner (flat) gauge cable bolted directly to the firewall from one of the transmission bolts.

As mentioned b4, make sure all surfaces are clean and free from paint so you get a good ground. Let us know what happens.

[82 GT]

Ok, today I hooked the negative battery cable directly to the engine block and attached the grounding strap from the back of one of the heads to the firewall and I still get the engine barely to turn once and then I get that familiar clicking sound.
I was using the '88 to jump start it and got that result.

If the battery in the '82 is dead or shot, will it be almost impossible to jump start it?
I'm seriously considering going to Wal-Mart tonight and get a 1000 cca battery.
I'm at the point where I'm ready to just throw new parts at it and resolve the problem that way.
I'm really frustrated righ now.......
All this time building this thing and now I can't even get the bastard to barely spin!!!!
I have to go cool off now!!!!!

[Fox Body]

Hey 82GT, going back to the starter....... you said (in your other thread) you got it from a '92 mustang? Had you ever used that starter b4 with this current setup, ie, has that starter ever cranked that engine b4? What year vehicle is the C4 from and do you know what starter you have in comparo to the flywheel? If you're running a C4 the starter has to be a starter that matches up to your flywheel. There are the 57 and 64 tooth flywheels. A diff would cause binding in the teeth. If your C4's from an older vehicle (say, pre-87) and your starter is from the '92, they could be mismatched. Just wondering.....

[82 GT]

Yeah Fox, I used that starter before with the old setup.
Those '92-up mustang starters also work with the 351w.
I don't think it's ever a question of if a particuliar starter will work with given flywheel because, remember, the flywheel has to fit inside the bellhousing first.
Come to think of it, I think I actually have the 164 tooth flywheel(flexplate).
Anyhow, the problem was a bad positive battery terminal.
I going to post another thread with the details.
Thanks for your help.