31 Almost Ready To Go! Priming Question

[midman]

Well, I thought i was far enough along to roll out the old girl and try to fire her up. I've been working on my 96S Country Club Coupe for a couple of years now. It sure looked nice once it was out of the garage bay but my "period correct hose clamps" would not tighten up enough to hold. Two were fine but the rest, junk. Oh well, it's gonna be a driver anyway so I'll put regular worm style hose clamps on.

 

Being my first prewar project and never dealing with up drafts before is there any trick to "priming" the fuel system? I kept the mechanical pump.

 

Thanks

[dibarlaw]

Midman:

 So good to see it out in the light of day again!  We were disappointed it was unable to be at the Mason-Dixon show. Of course I was disappointed that I could not get my 1925 Touring there either. Works in progress....

 As to your priming issue. Characteristic of up drafts they usually need to be choked to get the vertical flow going. Since this does not have a vacuum tank and has a fuel pump make sure you have good pressure. If it was rebuilt years ago it may need the kit for modern fuels. That horrible ethanol! Since the pump is located on the camshaft side, that is a long trip to get fuel to the carb. I know with my 1937 248 with a down draft Marvel as long as I start it every several days it only takes several spins of the flywheel to get thing going. (I do not have an electric pump on it). Leave it a week or more and it does take a lot longer. (Leak down.) That is where an electric fuel pump in line helps out. To keep the wear down on the flywheel ring gear.

 Once you are driving the car more often that should be less noticeable.

[Mark Shaw]

Some Marvel Carbs have a tickler button on the float bowl lid to help get gas into the carb. 

Or, as Larry said, just choke it til it coughs and starts, then reduce the choke to about half until it warms up.

Have fun with it....

[Hubert_25-25]

I work on a friends 1922 Dodge that has an updraft carburetor.  If you drive the car weekly, no problem.  Choke it to start when cold.  If it sits for longer than 4 weeks, I spray a little starting fluid in the intake.  To me it saves a lot of stress on the electrical and starting system, because it starts so much easier.  I am not fond of continual cranking of the engine.   Sometimes it is easier to make this a 2 person job so you can go easier on the amount of starting fluid, rather than fogging it and then running to crank it before it is all evaporated.     Hugh  

[Grimy]

Concerning getting vintage hose clamps to work:  I learned long ago that it is almost impossible to get a good INITIAL seal on a new hose  with vintage or repro hose clamps.  This is my work-around:  Put the pair of vintage/repro clamps on the center of the hose and use worm (modern) clamps on the ends for the initial seal.  After 20 or 30 heating and cooling cycles which cause some bonding of the hose to the metal neck, remove the worm clamps one at a time and slide each vintage clamp to the correct position.  By having the old-style clamps on the hose (just tight enough to keep them from moving), you don't have to break the hose-to-neck connection.

[Larry Schramm]

22 hours ago, Mark Shaw said:

Some Marvel Carbs have a tickler button on the float bowl lid to help get gas into the carb. 

Or, as Larry said, just choke it til it coughs and starts, then reduce the choke to about half until it warms up.

Have fun with it....

 

For my '15 truck, I give it full choke, crank it by hand two times for the fuel to get to the cylinders, and it will start on the third crank.  Like Mark said, put it at 1/2 choke for a couple of minutes and it runs fine.

Edited June 12, 2016 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)