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6volt starters are not terribly fast but should spin the engine decently. If the starter is not dragging for some reason, I would be curious about something else. Is there enough compression. If you remove the plugs and crank the engine is it noticeably faster or the same speed. If faster then at least you know there is some compression but if the same as when plugs are in then I'd wonder about the possibility of stuck valves -- a not uncommon problem in long sitting engines.

Without going back and rereading your previous thread, am assuming you do have fresh gasoline and a decent spark getting to the plugs. To check spark at the plug you can remove a plug or two and keeping them connected, lay them on the head away from the hole. Make sure the shell has made good contact with the grounded head and crank the engine. There should be a visible spark at the gaps. Also how about the condition of the plugs. I ran into a situation when first starting my long sitting engine where even new plugs became moist and fouled from too much cranking with nothing burning off the gas. The plugs became so moist the spark was shorting or disappearing before it even reached the gap. If you remove the plugs and find they have an oily film covering the electrodes that could be part of the problem.

Thanks Don. We can turn the motor by hand. The starter and solenoid were taken to shop and the starter spun like crazy.

New plugs and we did clean them. No change in speed when plugs are out. Would you be able to turn engine by hand if valves stuck? Sorry if that's a dumb question. I keep thinking voltage drop but wouldn't we be able to jump the car with 12 volt if it was the battery? Nothing we do makes a difference. If valves are stuck can we put something in or is it necessary to pull the engine apart?

Sorry, yes fresh gas. Tested fuel pump. It's getting gas but like everything a bit sluggish. The battery dies after 10 seconds of trying to start so it's hard to test in a way. We bought a multimeter and tested wires for continuity and voltage. Seems ok.

Are you saying a good and fully-charged battery goes dead in 10 seconds? If so there must be a TON of heat being created somewhere. I suspect that can't be a correct observation.

Owen, sorry I should say that car stops trying to start after 10 seconds. The battery seems to still have charge.

When we crank the car by hand it is not easy. My hubbie has to put some muscle in it. Should it be easy? Does that mean stuck valves?

Turning the engine over by hand, for example by pulling on the fan, should take quite a bit of force as long as the spark plugs are installed. If the plugs are removed it should be much easier. Have you removed the spark plugs and observed what happens when you engage the starter? It should spin very freely and a reasonably high speed - if it doesn't and the starter motor and battery are up to snuff, then you have to begin to suspect something internal to the engine.

Depending on how or where valves were stuck, you could still move the engine by hand.

I would do a compression test if you did not see a noticeable difference in speed with and without plugs. With plugs and good sealing valves, the engine would be having to move the pistons in a compression stroke. There would be a load on the starter slowing it down as the piston moves up and compresses the fuel mixture. Without plugs there is no compression so starter can spin engine considerably faster as the mixture air is just pushed in and out the hole. If some of the valves are stuck and even slightly open the mixture air will move in the manifold the same as if the plugs were out so there would again be no load on the starter.

If you don't have tools or are able to do that test another thing would be to pull the valve covers off and check the valves visually. They should all be able to move as you crank the engine. If you can see any springs that do not appear to be moving up and down at all or at least the same amount as another then it would require farther checking.

The battery should not be going flat after 10 seconds so I would really wonder about the capacity or the condition. Is it a new battery and if so, what is the CCA rating at 32 degrees? An 8 needs a fair amount of capacity so if it is much less than 700 it could be too small to crank the engine at speed. On the bigger engines most are getting batteries capable of at least 750 CCA and sometimes more for the really big engines.

I think we will have a look at the valves. The last compression test was lower than the previous one. Would you be able to tell us what the compression should be? We will check the CCA amps on the battery as well.

Thank you all again for your help and patience.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you symptom but if the engine won't crank for more than 10 seconds I don't see how you can get accurate compression values. But if it does rotate freely for at least 3 cycles, 100 psi and even within 10 percent across all cylinders would be good.