I'm taking the driveshaft from my Ranger to the driveline shop tomorrow morning. The only vehicle I have that it'll fit in is my Catalina. What is a good procedure to get a carburetor to start in 9 degree temperatures? I got it to start earlier this week when it was 5 degrees out, but it was a bit drawn out, between pumping the pedal, holding it, and cranking. I think it was mainly due to operator error. Once it fired, it started and ran strongly, I must have set my choke in that sweet spot.
It could be challenging to start in cold weather with a carb when they were new. Decades of wear doesn't make it any easier. I deal with this on a regular basis. Although I don't drive my old carbureted vehicles on salted winter roads I do start them up periodically in the winter and let them get up to operating temperature.
If the choke and rest of the carb are working properly and the car has not been sitting too long it should start if you first hit the gas pedal a couple of times to set the choke and have the accelerator pump squirt some gas into the intake. Hold the gas pedal partway down while cranking. However, pumping the gas too much will flood the intake and the mixture will be too rich to ignite. If this happens you'd need to sit there with the choke and accelerator fully open for several minutes while the excess gas evaporates. (Back in the day you'd see people shove a screwdriver down the carb throat to keep it all open.)
It's also important that your ignition system be in good shape. (At least you on your '79 you have GM's high-energy electronic ignition, which is quite good. It's more of a problem with the older points setup.)
If the car has been sitting for a week or more enough gas may have evaporated from the carb's fuel bowl that you don't get any priming effect pumping the gas pedal. In that case you could crank the engine so the mechanical pump can feed in more fuel, but that of course can run down the battery which is already weak due to the cold. I just use some starting fluid instead.
Dealing with a carburetor in cold weather will really give you an appreciation for fuel injection!
Luckily it was 45 degrees today and we had a good inch of rain overnight, so there is no salt on our roads. I'm with you, I don't want a rotted classic. Haha. I drove it a bit this evening after the roads were bone dry. I've been torture testing this carb, trying to start it in the most cold weather we get in Dayton to see how it is doing. It seems healthy, I had to tighten the choke a month ago when it was around 28 degrees because it just limped into a start at that temp. That was a seat of my pants adjustment and it seems to have been right. Should I do a 2 or 3 pump press of the pedal and try after I drove it tonight?
Two or three pumps should be fine on a cold engine.
I have limited experience with carbs but I'll give it a shot ...
pump throttle only a fews of times before cranking. do not hold. Crank, then pump periodically every few seconds.
start with full choke until it fires. If it fires then stalls then you can let off the choke some.
Chuck will probably set you straight.
That's basically what I did. Haha. I don't have a manual choke, I have an automatic choke, I adjusted it tighter when it would stall and it was 28 degrees. I must have nailed the adjustment.
i had a 75 dodge that was a bear to start in really cold Chicago winters. I had a manual choke installed and never had the problem again.
