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63 Riv Rochester Carb - how to fix empty bowl after sitting for a day or two


Cornpanzers Riv

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I have a friend with a nicely restored 63. It has the stock four-jet carb. When the car sits for more than a day or so, it won’t start without priming. I’m familiar with the typical Q-jet leak, but have never heard of the Carter doing the same thing. 

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?  Thx

Edited by Cornpanzers Riv (see edit history)
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4 hours ago, Cornpanzers Riv said:

I have a friend with a nicely restored 63. It has the stock four-jet carb. When the car sits for more than a day or so, it won’t start without priming. I’m familiar with the typical Q-jet leak, but have never heard of the Carter doing the same thing. 

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?  

Is the carb you're having the problem with a Rochester four-jet or the Carter you mention in the 3rd sentence?  

 

 

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My personal experience with both the Rochester 4GC and the Carter AFB has not indicated a severe short term evaporation problem except in very hot weather, and even then it only took a little cranking to refill the carb and start the car. Now if you are leaving the car sit for weeks between startup that could be an issue. Don't be too quick to add an electric fuel pump until you have at least checked out or rebuilt the carb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Carbking has the correct solution to the hard starting problem.  I have a Quadrajet on my car that's had the epoxy seal upgrade when it was rebuilt.  I have an electric fuel pump on my car and I added an oil pressure safety interlock on it this summer.  I find that, even in cool fall weather, the fuel in carburetor will evaporate after a few days.  I know this because my car will start shortly after the fuel pump kicks it after several seconds of cranking to build 5 psi of oil pressure. I plan to add a second relay so that the fuel pump is energized when the starter is engaged.

 

If you have a mechanical fuel pump, I would add a solenoid-style electric pump that runs with the starter.  This type of pump allows flow-through operation when the electric pump is not running.  A vane-style pump has better lift capability but will not flow-through and requires a bypass if used for priming the carburetor.  See Vapor Lock for suitable fuel pumps.

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I dunno.  I've got a 63 with a 401 and a 4GC that hadn't been run since August.  It was 20° in the garage where it sits when I fired it up last week.  It was running less than 30 seconds after I first turned the key.  Crank it 3-4 seconds, stop for a second.  After the third or fourth repeat, pop the accelerator a couple of times.  A couple more cranks, and it's off and running.

 

That tells me that a mechanical fuel pump isn't the problem.  IOW, fix what ya got.  Cure the disease; don't put a band-aid on the symptom.

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