A generic (sort of) Cummins Big Cam question

No glow plugs.
But you could add an engine block heater that plugs in to an ac outlet.

 

I pulled the compression release, turn the engine over until it got oil pressure and spray a very small amount of ether. The is an after market setup that you can push a button on the dash to spray the ether. Very small amount of ether is enough.

 

No glow plugs on a Cummins. Best starting aid is a shot of "nitro" ( ether) as close to the turbo as you can get. Matter of fact, many older trucks had a screw in ether bottle, and a cable, and a line that went right into the intake manifold. Worked pretty good, but many would stick, and suck the ether bottle dry, and you wouldn't really know it ( with the trucks I drove) until you went to try it, and it was empty.

 

What year is your 359? Describe the front engine mount please
Cold weather start depends on your batteries. 12 volt system or 12/24 volt ( will have a series/parallel switch)?
With a 10 ton load, your 290 will do fine.

 

Some had the cable hook up like my pete.
It had a chrome t handle to the left of the steering colum.
Now my white with the 335 had no cable so you had to jack up the cab and grab a friend and take an engine belt and hook it over the lever on the side of the head and have him pull on it while you would crank it.

 

Mine always started well down to about 20 degrees or so but would rattle and smoke a bit till it got a little heat in it.
The other option that was used a lot in the old days was either but you had to use your head and not over do it.

 

With it plugged in, it should start like it's 75 degrees out with no ether. When I had my trucks, I had to drop my wagon at the local truck stop and bobtail home ( about 4 miles) to plug it in. If you are stuck in the wild, a generator for about an hour ( with the hot exhaust pointed at the engine) should do it too. Oh, yeah, I don't miss those days at all. Getting it going was always half the battle. Then there's water in the fuel on a Cummins, and brakes not letting go, oh yeah, did that for 35 years.

 

It's sounds like they hooked up the compression release to
the left over throttle cable from the Detroit.
My Pete also had a hand throttle on it.
It was to the right of the steering wheel.
I used it a lot on sub zero nights to keep the engine rpms up for engine temp for heat while sleeping.
The hand throttle cable hooks to the same arm on the injection pump as your foot throttle does so you can look at that and know quickly if it's a hand throttle or not.