sadlyno

hello all,

i've been having this problem for a few months now, when you go to start the car in the first place its fine. however after letting it warm up for about 10 minutes or so, or just a small drive, when i turn it off and leave it for more than a minute(less than a minute and it will usually start) it won't start again. i think its flooding but im not sure, so far i have gotten a new carb(a 1901 street demon to be exact) ive jetted it and adjusted the floats, i've got the valley pan that shuts off the exhaust cross over, ive re-routed the fuel line away from the headers or anything like that, and i've got a 1" phenolic carb spacer. i do know that my heat riser seems to be broken seeing how it just flops around but should that really matter with the valley pan? i was thinking electrical but ive but a new coil, distributor cap, ballast resistor, plugs, ecu(or whatever dodge called it back then), and spark plug wires. when it runs it runs really strong and on all cylinders. also i currently have the ignition timing at about 8 degrees at idle and i think about 35 at 3500rpm. over all the motor is stock except for the new electrical components and carb. mechanical fuel pump ect. its a 400 with the 3 speed. i could really use some help with this it's really kicking my a** currently. any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated

Archer

s -

Most likely vapor lock, but make sure your needles and seats are clean new.
Having a clear fuel filter just before the carb may help locate the problem.

Archer

demetri

Every time you hot start it, you will have to depress the accelerator all the way to the floor and crank it. This will let a bunch of air in, and overcome the rich mixture that you get when it sits (the gasoline between the fuel pump and carburetor expands, and the gas in the bowl boils, and all that fills the manifold with fuel fumes that cannot burn). As soon as the engine starts running, barely at first, you release the starter and gradually back off the throttle to avoid over reving. It may continue running rich for a little bit, so the idle may be a bit low, but if you start driving right away, it should eb fine.


This is how Chrysler recommened the hot start, but the problem is now much worse with the ethanol in the gas.


On one of my 440's, which is still under tuning, I have a shut off valve between the pump and carb. If I am in the middle of tuning and test driving and have to shut it off after a hard drive, I shut off the valve just before I turn it off. I let it run for 30 seconds (use up some of the fuel in the bowl) and then turn it off. When I restart it, say 5 minutes later, I turn on the valve again and crank it. It starts instantly and idle remains smooth as if I never turned it off.


I do that sometimes on a freeway trip when I have to refuel the car. After driving fast in hot weather and stop, there is a lot of heat under the hood. Although it is time consuming to open the hood and all to shut off the valve, it is worthwhile in hot weather. May be a soilnoid valve controlled from within the car would be perfect, but I am too busy or lazy right now for that.

Iowan

If you can find reg-unleaded use it with race gas additive if needed for compression. The problem with fuel with alcohol in them is the alcohol boils off faster and easier than gas. It also affects air/fuel mixture.

Iowan

By the way welcome to the forum!

Iowan

Also, Holley style carbs don't have this problem.

Iowan

Check his posts are all BS.

sadlyno

hey, guys thanks for all the feedback! really cool community here however it didn't have to do with fuel at all actually! it was that little star bit in the distributor that tells the coil when to fire that was not adjusted right, i would've never thought, but it fires right up now and runs like a dream

RacerHog

Thanks for the UpDate... Always good to know what the fix was...