Engine Starting Trouble

dammstrate

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I drive my 65 Sport Fury only about once very few weeks. Over time, it takes longer and longer amount of cranking to get it fired up. Like it has to pull gas all the way from the tank. No leaks that I can find. Worried about frying the starter. What can I look for to try to understand what is happening?
 
Most of the fuel pumps have a check valve in them to keep the fuel from draining back to the tank. If it is an older fuel pump. It may have some leak back due to the check valve not seating all the way. Another culprit could be, and easier to check is you plunger valve in your carburetor. If the leather is dried up (ethanol gas can do that). When you press the pedal to get a shot of gas when starting cold, and it’s dried up you will not get much help starting.
Engine cool, but within an hour or so of running, Engine off, air cleaner off, look down the carburetor and give your throttle mechanism a full stroke. You should see two good streams of gas shooting out. If not pull your accelerator plunger out of the top of the carburetor and check to see if the leather has shrunk or hard.
If you have full streams, check it again after setting a week or so. (Your normal times between drives). If no streams or week streams, your fuel pump is likely draining back.
Original rubber fuel lines that are hard and brittle will also usually have small leaks that could allow drain down.
 
I drive my 65 Sport Fury only about once very few weeks. Over time, it takes longer and longer amount of cranking to get it fired up. Like it has to pull gas all the way from the tank. No leaks that I can find. Worried about frying the starter. What can I look for to try to understand what is happening?

That is a pretty normal condition. Not only does the fuel pump hafta pull fuel all the way from the tank, but it also needs to fill the float bowls, because the crappy ethanol gas evaporates so fast. If you start the car every couple of days, you won't have the problem. Some people install an electric fuel pump back at the tank, which they turn on briefly to get fuel to the carburetor.
 
For general principles, every piece of rubber fuel line in the system needs to be upgraded to the current ethanol-resistant rubber. The short piece back at the fuel sender (re-installing the "bridge" clamp so the gauge works, the short piece at the end of the rh stub frame, and the piece going to the fuel pump. I suspect the fuel filter lines are newer than the car is?

Do check the pump shot after various intervals from when the car was last parked. As the accel pump feeds from the bottom of the float bowl, that can be a good indicator of if there's still fuel in the bowl.

The mechanical fuel pumps have two valves in them. One opens under suction to the fuel tank, then closes when the pump moves into the pressurized stage. It might have a slight seep in it, but if the tank is reasonably full of fuel, it should pull reasonably quickly. Mechanical pumps are supposed to be more efficient at slower rpm levels.

What starting procedure are you using? Just curious.

Take care,
CBODY67
 
Careful, it "may" be nothing to do with fuel delivery.
Easiest way to check if its fuel, remove the air filter before you try to start it and just crack the throttle a little to see if the accelerator jets pass fuel instantly, that tells you if fuel is there.
Then get back to me with the result.
 
If the car has sat for a while, I take a turkey baster with fuel in it and fill the bowls through the vent tubes in the carb. This saves the starter and battery. One pump on the accelerator pedal to set the choke and it starts with a single bump of the key.
 
Maybe it is not bad for the engine to get a certain time of cranking before it fires up, because that also allows the oil pressure to build up a bit and delivers oil to the main bearings and valve train after sitting for a longer periode of time.
When I do the first start in spring time, I removed the ignition wire from the coil, just to crank it as long as it needs until the idiot oil lamp is out.
I will not start the engine before that has happened.
Usually this will not take longer than 5 seconds of cranking.
 
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