Cold starting.

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Mopower71

Mopower71

Speed Demon
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Anybody else have a hard time getting the cold engine to start and stay running until it's got some heat in it?
My 440 drives me nuts until it's hot. Pump pedal , start, stall, repeat, repeat, repeat. Get it going and have to keep pumping, then it will stall. Repeat again until it's finally got enough heat in the engine for it to stay running.
440
590 solid cam
11.5 -1 compression.
850 holley dp, with no choke
Anybody have any suggestions on how to make this process easier?
 
I forget what the jets in the carb are, it had 80 somethings in it when I got it, and I put ones that were close to originals in it, 70 somethings. Has a 5.5 power valve.
Timing at 36. But I should recheck
 
No choke makes it harder to start. Keep your foot on the gas just enough to keep it running for the first minute or two. Or Add fuel injection
 
Maybe closing your secondary plates a little will help. Have you verified how far open they are at idle?
 
if the tune is right or very close shouldn't need a choke.. my car started right up in the middle of winter with no choke and it isn't perfectly tuned yet
 
That's something I should look at. Maybe they are open to far. I think they were opened up a little to keep the primary side on the idle circuit.
73Swinger18 said:
Maybe closing your secondary plates a little will help. Have you verified how far open they are at idle?
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It's been a while since I have had the carb off, or looked at it that close.
 
Mopower71 said:
That's something I should look at. Maybe they a r e open to far. I think they were op need up a little to keep the primary side on the idle circuit.

It's been a while since I have had the carb off, or looked at it that close.
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I had to open mine a bit too. I also ran a PCV valve to get a little extra air in there. If you're not running a PCV, maybe you could add one to make up for the secondaries being closed some more.
 
manual choke to start and hold at 2500 rpm for a full minute.
after a minute or so most engines with large cams should carry themselves.
 
Mopower71 said:
There is no choke. Top of carb is milled off
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Mine has a milled airhorn. It starts easy. couple pumps, fire, stay on high idle maybe 30 sec and then it will idle. That cam if I remember correctly is all kinds of nasty though. Might be causing some of the issue.
 
roccodart440 said:
Mine has a milled airhorn. It starts easy. couple pumps, fire, stay on high idle maybe 30 sec and then it will idle. That cam if I remember correctly is all kinds of nasty though. Might be causing some of the issue.
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My small block did not want to idle for a while also. I locked my MSD distributor out at 35* and it idles great now.
 
I think the first thing would be to get it hot, so it will idle, then go searching for a vac leak. That would be step #1 for me!
 
Runs exactly how it should when cold with a decent tune up.

The only alternative is to fatten up the idle mixture screws, then it's really fat at idle when warm.

Which is the better alternative, the current set up or a fat when hot situation. It's not the second one...
 
crackedback said:
Runs exactly how it should when cold with a decent tune up.

The only alternative is to fatten up the idle mixture screws, then it's really fat at idle when warm.

Which is the better alternative, the current set up or a fat when hot situation. It's not the second one...
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This. Fatten up the idle mixture, not the main jets. I have had good success with this, provided you dont have too much mechanical advance, have sufficient initial timing and the throttle plates are closed enough at idle so that it is actually idling on the idle circuit.
 
same exact to the 'T' problem as the original poster with mine! I have a TQ built buy Demonsizzler with the choke tower milled off. It is jetted fat and done right but still is hell to start and keep going for the first minute. On our dirt track car with 440 and holley, we dont run a choke either but it will fire right off and idle..
 
mopower440 said:
same exact to the 'T' problem as the original poster with mine! I have a TQ built buy Demonsizzler with the choke tower milled off. It is jetted fat and done right but still is hell to start and keep going for the first minute. On our dirt track car with 440 and holley, we dont run a choke either but it will fire right off and idle..
Click to expand...
Is your idle mixture (not main jetting) on the fat side?
 
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