Cold hard starting

Timsnewporttwin

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Hello all

I have a 65 Newport with a 2 barrel Bendix Stromberg carb. It's been rebuilt by a very good carb guy. Since the rebuild it's been fine but lately having trouble starting after sitting. Don't drive the car everyday but it hasn't given me trouble before.

Once warmed up it's fine, choke plate is closing. Any thoughts? I've been told the Stromberg carbs weren't the best, but it's what came with the car
 
lately having trouble starting after sitting
How long is it sitting?

The reason I ask is simple... If it's just overnight, it might be a choke setting or something like that. If it's a few days, it could be the gas evaporating out of the carb. When it does that, you have to crank it more to fill the carb with gas.
 
A few days, sometimes a week at most I found that a few pumps of the pedal, cranking and waiting then trying again gets it going. The car has been at a friend's body shop for a couple weeks (door dings...)and he's been having trouble with it. Might be loading up too just moving it around and parking. I do drive it regularly during summer season, I live in MA.
 
The issue with fuel evaporation (due to ethanol in the fuel) is worse than it used to be (like when the car was newer). I'm not sure if there are any "ethanol shield" additives which might help this issue.

Our '66 Newport 383 came with a Stromberg WWC3 carb and I liked the general design of the carb compared to the Carter BBD (larger version) that was used interchangeably with the WWC3 carb, back then.

A few things to look for. Due to the "top hat" aire cleaner design, people tended to tork-down on the air cleaner wing nut. That extra tork resultingly pulled up on the center of the air horn where the carb stud was screwed in. It looks substantial enough, but after several years, CAN deform that area upward. Might not sound like a "big deal", BUT that area is also where the back of the float bowl seals AND carries the vac signal to the power valve (which is part of the air horn assy). So, first thing that is lost is fuel economy as the power valve is always open (getting no vac to close it when not needed). So ours got 12 mpg, no matter what.

The second area is the sealing of the rear of the float bowl. In some choke plate angles, during warm-up, raw fuel can actually be pulled out of the float bowl into the venturi area, which can really make for rich mixtures. I experienced that one winter in 1973. Once the engine was warm and the choke was more open, no issues.

Other than these two things, to me, the Stromberg was a fully-modern design carb. Everything looked good to me and it operated well. Even better after I got the choke pull-off to open things up a bit quicker. But, alas, I upgraded it to a Holley 2210 to get away from the warped air horn issues (Chrysler did issue a "fix kit" for the same issueson the Holley, though). Plus the Holley got better fuel economy on the highway with better off-idle throttle response. BTAIM

The "archaic-looking" BBD 1.5 looked more "out of the 1950s", to me. Being a metering rod carb, it can have more flexibility in turning, BUT the parts to do so were only in the Chrysler parts dept, with no guidance of what was what from Chrysler or Carter.

As it's history was "from the 1950s", when air cleaners were held on by band clamps around the air horn, they adapted to the later-style air cleaner by drilling a few holes in the band clamp area, then bending up some large diameter "wire"/rod to go in holes in the band clamp area, and then curve upward to hold the air cleaner stud in it. So THAT kept the forces from the center of the air horn.

ONE other thing to look at can be . . . in some carb designs from the 1950s, there were some fuel-carrying passages in the float bowl housings which were drilled and then plugged with ball bearings and a sealing solder, before surrounding metal was peened to keep them in place. Ethanol can erode the solder and let the ball-plugs fall out, which will quickly empty the float bowl. Inspect the carb float bowl section for any such plugs, which usually are on the front side of the casting. IF you notice any seeps, get them plugged up with a gasoline-resistant sealer quickly.

For the ultimate test, after the car has been sitting, remove the air cleaner and manually work the accel linkage to check for accel pump shot. Might be one shot, but if any ones to follow it spurt air, that's an empty float bowl. But as I recall, the hoe the accel pump feeds from is below the level of the main jets? Just some thing to consider.

Just some thoughts and experiences,
CBODY67
 
Wow, great info I will check out the air cleaner for sure. The carb guy is a specialist and knew about the warping. He used 2 gaskets to compensate and really made a huge difference, although I occasionally snug the screws. Don't know why they seem to back off but they do. Overall the carb works fine, new choke thermostat, etc. Never checked fuel mileage but I'd say not bad considering economy wasn't really a concern when built. Right now anxious to get it back from body shop, I and it needs a ride !
Thanks for the helpful information !
 
starting it to move it around a shop with the choke on and never getting it warmed up is a great way to gas foul the plugs...once you get it back you may want to throw a new set in...also make sure the wiring that bypasses the ballast resistor for a hotter spark during cranking is functional
 
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