Gas pedal starter button...

[SoCalCoupe]

Had my '41 Ford for over a year and for the first time discovered that if I floor the accelerator when the engine's off, a starter button cranks the engine. Is that stock?


I don't like it. What if I'm going up a hill and floor it? Will the starter crash into the flywheel?


Short list of things to do is crawl under the car for maintenance. While I'm at it I'll find that accelerator button and disconnect the wires.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by SoCalCoupe

Had my '41 Ford for over a year and for the first time discovered that if I floor the accelerator when the engine's off, a starter button cranks the engine. Is that stock?


I don't like it. What if I'm going up a hill and floor it? Will the starter crash into the flywheel?


Short list of things to do is crawl under the car for maintenance. While I'm at it I'll find that accelerator button and disconnect the wires.

I forget what car had that feature from the factory but it was called the "starterator". The button is disconnected if the engine is running.

[1952henry]

I think the 40-41 Buicks had this. WW2 Studebaker 6x6s had button under footfeed as well, iirc.

[DavidG]

Post WWII straight 8 Buicks also had it.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by DavidG

Post WWII straight 8 Buicks also had it.

I remember Dad's '46 & '53 Buicks both had it like that.

Coop

.

[mfirth]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

40s Packards also had that feature. "Ask the man who owns one".

[Terry,OH]

Not correct for a 41 Ford. The starter should only be controlled by the dash board start button.

[40cpe]

I would expect the wire from the dash start button is grounded by the accelerator linkage. Look first in the area on the firewall where the linkage pulls the carb open.

[JayChicago]

Originally Posted by 40cpe

I would expect the wire from the dash start button is grounded by the accelerator linkage. Look first in the area on the firewall where the linkage pulls the carb open.

Good catch! Seems to me to be the simplest explanation.

[mcgarrett]

To my knowledge it was never a factory installed item on any Ford product.

[highbeams]

Pre '40, floor starter was thee starter. So handy. Like anything, when there's a good idea, it becomes history. Anything! . . . . . To . . . this . . .day!

BACK IN THE DAY:

"Step on the starter", an everyday idiom, millions of times a day coast to coast!

I grin when I step on the starter of my '33.

[highbeams]

Isn't that odd! All these Ford engineers, and a common-sense idea 'slipped their minds'.

My father's '41 Chev half-ton pickup had an inch+ diameter grip-surface floor 'button' about touching the accelerator. Why not? Henry&everyone else there!!!(in Edsel's Design Department) for 40 years. Edsel, top design engineer Eugene Gregorie . . . shees!

[38 coupe]

Ford went to push button operated starter in 1937 (first used to the best of my knowledge in 1936 on the Zephyr).
The solenoid on the fire wall is much easier to change that repairing a worn out contract buried under the floor. One of the few maintenance improvements in the 1937 Fords...

[SoCalCoupe]

Originally Posted by 40cpe

I would expect the wire from the dash start button is grounded by the accelerator linkage. Look first in the area on the firewall where the linkage pulls the carb open.

Wow, great call. That was it. Glad I posted. Very simple to fix; here's my before and after pictures. The cotter pin on the throttle rod was stabbing the wires.


BEFORE...





AFTER...

[rotorwrench]

Cars that had in line engines where there was starter access near the floor board were easy to set up with a simple foot operated linkage to a heavy contact switch on the starter. Ford's V8 had the starter down under where there was difficult access so they used heavy contactor switches on floor or near the steering column until they started using the remote contactor relay set up.

Some of the older helicopters with Franklin engines used a mechanical switch starter that was operated by cable pull. I think the starter was from a Studebaker application on those old Hiller model 12B & C helicopters.

A person wouldn't think about a cotter pin doing that until it does.

[al's28/33]

Hey SoCal ….. where did you get that linkage rod with the detachable threaded end for the connection to your throttle ball ????

[SoCalCoupe]

Originally Posted by al's28/33

Hey SoCal ….. where did you get that linkage rod with the detachable threaded end for the connection to your throttle ball ????

Got the ends from Speedway motors, part #5600098. They make two, a RH thread and a left hand thread. This is the RH thread. I got the rod from Home Depot, cut it to length, and threaded it with my tap and die set. I only have a RH set so of course both ends are RH. Works great.

[Mart]

Good sleuthing and problem solving. Obviously the stock Ford rod end wouldn't have caused that problem.
In your case it might be an idea to turn the pin 90 degrees and bend the ends up the side of the body of the rod end. No chance of stabbing a wire like that.

My 57 Buick had a switch on the carb to pull in the starter when you mashed the pedal. I think it might have had a function where the switch was immobilised when the engine was running, by vacuum or something like that.