[jrelliott]

When you motored the generator, it should have been enough to get the armature magnetized, probably not as much as shorting across the cutout with piece of wire for a very short time when attached to the battery in the vehicle . How fast did you spin the generator to do your voltage measurement? Did you measure the voltage on the output of the generator instead of the cutout? Have you checked the 3rd brush connection? How clean is the commutator( the copper segments the brushes rub on). The commutator can be polished up with very fine sandpaper or crocus cloth.