Sunshine & $hit

[GeorgiaSnake]

Well the sun came out this weekend and I decided to button up the car and go visit Chill. Little did I know the day would turn to $hit less than a mile from the house.

Cranked the car - let it get to temp and eased out of the driveway. Everything was nornal and the sun was shinning on my face. What a glorious day and the motor is strong.

Head south down 140 - turn left onto Green road - feed it a little throttle and enjoy the rush. Get to Crabapple Rd. and make a left - drive about a half mile and encounter traffic - no big deal I'll enjoy the lumpy idle and sunshine. Poof without a hicuup the motor dies. I roll into the parking lot and try a quick jump start - it fires and dies. $hit ! Give Chill a call and ask him to call a wrecker. Chill calls me back and said the wrecker is on the way and should arrive in 15 minutes. Thirty minutes later my cell rings - it is the dispatcher - the driver is lost. I give new directions - walk back to the car and give it another try - poof it starts and runs. I decide to wait for the wrecker and not take a chance being stranded in another location while the wrecker driver traverses North Fulton.

I also notice green fluid dripping into the passenger side footbox. This is not a good sign from where I sit. The wrecker shows up and we load the car. The driver is a nice guy and asked a ton of questions - then tells me the car looks like a catfish in the front. $hit - a freakin catfish? Must have been the green fluid that provoked the remark.

I get the car home and drive it off the trailer - it is running great. I pull into the garage and decide to locate the source of the green stuff. Looks like the heater I just installed is leaking. No big deal - take a few hose clamps loose - move a few hoses and I'm back in business. Wrong !

The car fires up and settles into a nice idle - but I'm a bit leary and decide to sit in the driveway and let it run. Good idea - it dies after getting back up to temp.

I think the Holley is the problem but I'm not sure what is wrong. I removed the heater and took it apart. Lo and behold the nit-whit that assmbled it ran a screw into the core. I noticed a sticker on the bottom - it read "Made in Mexico".

Cracker has offered to drop a carb off so I can see if that is the problem.

Bottom line - the Atlanta bunch is GREAT. Without Chill I would still be sitting and without Cracker I would have to trouble shoot without a gun. Thanks guys! Hope it rains until I get the car sorted

Randy

[DavidH]

Randy,
Nice to meet you today. Sorry about all this misfortune. Something tells me you will have it worked out in just a couple days. Good Luck.

[casaleenie]

[quote]Originally posted by GeorgiaSnake

The driver is a nice guy and asked a ton of questions - then tells me the car looks like a catfish in the front. $hit - a freakin catfish? Must have been the green fluid that provoked the remark.



Randy,

The wrecker driver probably drinks "the green stuff".

Did he think those louvres on the side of the car were gills?

[Bruce Edwards]

Ok dumb question time. Why do you think it is the Holley?? If it dies when it gets hot it sounds more like a vapor lock or ignition failure. Are you running an electric on mechanical pump? When the car dies does the tach move when you try to start it? If it is an electric tach it should bounce with every turn of the engine. If the Holley is out of fuel you can kick it a time or two to shoot the last of the fuel out of the pump. The car should start and then die again if the ignition is working. If it is not you should be able to see fuel spray down the carb as you open the throttle but the car will still not start.
Since the you did not say you ever say the temp get in to the red I can not see it being a head gasket type problem.
Can you give us all a bit more to go on??

[Dwight]

TRASH IN THE FILTER? TRASH IN THE TANK THAT HAS MOVED TO THE PICK UP POINT? WE FOUND SOME OLD RTV IN A TANK THAT WAS BLOCKING THE FLOW.

[hcollado]

Randy, this may be a lot simpler than you think. Last fall Tony and I went up to the Dillard house for lunch and on the way back, the little red car started stalling and doing the same things you described, minus the green stuff leaking into the footbox.

I replaced the whole fuel system, electric pump, new filter, new line and new regulator.

But I think what was causing the problem was the gas cap. It was pressurizing the system and causing a vapor lock. Try a new one before you go thru a lot of work.

Good luck

[rdorman]

That stinks about the heater. I know many of us install them in the engine compartment for that very reason. What if it let go in a big way all over the passenger? In may car it tucks up nicely under the body work on the passenger side footbox. Don't really even notice it until you look for it. Just a thought!
Rick

[Art Burtt]

I had a similar problem with a master cylnder re-built in Mexico!
The damn piston was in backwards. Thanks NAFTA!

[GeorgiaSnake]

Bruce I'm running a carter high volumn mechanical pump and an MSD ignition. I have repalced the fuel filter twice and cut one of the old ones in half to check for debris (found nothing). The MSD is mounted in the cockpit and should not be effected by the temperature which was 180 (water) the ambient air temp was around 55. The car seems to be on the rich side at idle (no choke).
Does the Holley have a seperate idle circuit? I ask this because the car can be jump started (rolling down a moderate hill) after it dies which indicates to me that something is hay-wire with the carb, it will run at higher RPM. It also seems to be flooded after it dies.
I have another MSD box I'm going to try and another carb. I'm kinda at a loss and welcome any suggestions.

Randy

Hector I don't have a gas cap, it is the Lemans style quick filler.

[Bruce Edwards]

Randy,

Could be you have a bad power valve. If the car floods out after you turn it off for a few minutes, blows black smoke when it starts back up, the power valve could be bad. If the car sits for a long time with out running it the rubber on the valve can get hard and break. This lets fuel into the carb and will drain the carb after it is shut off. I have never seen one cause a engine to stop and then not start back up.
Try to start the car and let it run till it dies. Pull the plug on the side of the bowl and look for fuel. If you do not see any, bounce the car to help see if you see it move, you have a fuel flow problem. If you are running the feed line to the pump to close to the exhaust you will vapor lock the system.
Is the filter on the feed or pressure side of the pump? If it is the kind I use, clear with a replacement filter inside, you can check for fuel in the line. If you are using the old steel type of filter you may want to go to the clear type so you can see when the filter is getting dirty as well as check it for fuel.
Let me kow what you find out.
Yes the Holley does have an idle system. you can adjust it on each side with a small screw driver.
If this is a new problem I would not mess with the settings.

[Chaplin]

Randy-
Two thoughts: First, with respect to running rich at idle, have you ever checked your vacuum reading at idle and which power valve you have in the carb? Your power valve should be 2 numbers below your vacuum reading, i.e., if you have 8"/hg of vacuum at idle, your powervalve should be a 6. If you have a very lumpy cam, chances are you are not developing a lot of vacuum and if you have the stock power valve in the carb (which is likely a 6.5), the power valve could be opening at idle and dumping excess fuel into the idle circuit. I had this same problem with my carb. Once I measured the vacuum and found that I only had about 5.5" of vacuum, I dropped the power valve to a 3.5, the idle cleaned up immediately. I'd check your vacuum and power valve.

As to being able to start the car by popping the clutch, does the car not turn over when you turn the key or does it turn over with the key but not start? If it won't turn over with the key, I'd bet that you are having a problem with heat soke on the starter. If you had a problem with the carb, I don't think it would start regardless of whether you turned the key or popped the clutch.

[ToyCollector]

Randy,

Sorry to hear about this misadventure. Did you do anything to your carb while you had the car laid up? Seems strange the car would run fine before it went into it's mini hibernation for the winter, and does do well a few miles down the road. Have you checked/changed the fuel filter? Was your tank full before you laid up the car? Water in the tank?

[chill]

..... hmmmm bad power valve. That was my problem recently. car would idle fine, then if you hit the gas it would sputter and die... Let it sit, it would refire and do the same thing... Hey, drive it by the house and we can look at it on Saturday...

... wait, we tried that LAST Saturday.....

[ToyCollector]

EDIT: Randy, I corrected the thread title for you.

[GeorgiaSnake]

TC - What ? (public schooling)

Chill - Mine runs great at wide open throttle - it's the idle that is giving me fits You had a malfuction on your BG ? Do you still have your Holley?

To the rest of you - Thanks for the tips. I'm going to get a vacuum gauge and start trouble shooting.

Is it time for Webers or possibly a Stack EFI? Either way I will have J.O. to help map the FI and Cracker (rubber hammer / anvil guy) to fine tune the Webers

Randy (Holley Expert )

[ToyCollector]

Randy, I have a vacuum guage, but it is meant for Webers. Welcome to use it.

[jwinkler]

If your car just dies, and you've got a Mallory ignition, especially if you've just installed heater hoses and they run anywhere near the ignition box, then you've got the same problem I had.

My heater hoses were routed right over the HyFire, and once I connected them and let water run through the system, I had the same symptoms you've described. Car would run like a champ for anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, and then just flat DIE. After sitting long enough for the box to cool, it would fire right up again.

My "I'm not proud but it works" solution was to disconnect the heater hoses. I also have the HyFire bypass plug on my keychain!

Good luck - I hate mysteries like this, but one way or another, you'll find and fix it, even if it means a whole new ignition, and by the way, a new FI system so that you've got better diagnostics since you were changing things anyway, and everything will make the car more reliable and better to drive, so it would be silly not to do it, right? (If the preceeding sounds even remotely plausible, let me know and I'll run it by the boss!)

JLW

JLW

[GeorgiaSnake]

TC I'll swing by and pick up the gauge - the Webbers are included right No need to waste them on a Mustang right

Randy

[Dave Crace]

Randy,
Call me next time if you need a trailer. I promise not to make any catfish remarks. Also, I still have the holley fuel injection (for sale) if you want to go that route.

DC