Starting after winter.

[Jepe]

Hello.

Guess you know the problem of trying to start a V8 that stood for a few weeks, and thus has empty fuel bowls, and has a mechanical fuelpump instead of an electric one. What you in fact do is using a small battery-powered electric motor to turn a huge engine which in turn operates a tiny fuelpump. In the end, your bowls are full, or the battery is empty, whatever comes first.
My question: my opinion is that the only thing you need is to be able to fill up the fuelbowls before you start, in which case the engine will start and run on the contents of the fuelbowl, meanwhile pumping fuel from the tank to the carb by the mechanical fuelpump, saving the battery. So, is it possible to fill a Holley-bowl in some easy manual way, other than by the fuelpump?

Regards, John.

[Rick Parker]

Through the vent tubes.

PS: After setting for a few months (if it hasn't been started regularly) I like to pull the distributor an prelube the system. I use the shaft out of an old distributor or remove the gear from an old distributor and the upper part that the rotor attaches to and attach a reversable drill. Be sure to not pull the oil pump drive shaft out of the pump when removing the drill motor & shaft. Spin it for about 20-30 seconds counter clockwise.

[PeteF]

After long storage, I put a small funnel in the bowl vent tubes. Remove the sight plugs, (if you have a Holley) and slowly pour gas from a small cup into each vent tube. When you see the level rise to the sight plug, reinstall plugs and start engine. I have also seen people use a syringe that measures the right amount of gas for each bowl, injected into each vent tube.

[patrickt]

My car sits untouched, in a hermetically sealed bag that is bone dry, from before Thanksgiving until after Easter (a good five months). When I pull it out, I crank it a couple of times, for five or so seconds, until the oil pressure gauge blips up. That fills the Holley up (mechanical fuel pump), I enable the ignition, pump the throttle twice, and she fires pretty much right up. I've done it this way for years.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

I use a quart bottle like the ones you buy for rear end oil, they usually have the "cone" top on them that you snip the end off of....I take about 8 to 10 inches of small clear tubing,stick on the snipped off end and fill the carb bowls thru the vent tubes, little to no spillage.....
work the throttle linkage a time or two till you see the squirters shooting gas down the carb and then fire it up, should start right up.......

David

[Dangerous Doug]

Any reason why you guys don't give it a shot of ignition spray? Fires right up, runs the mech fuel pump, and keeps on going.

DD

[Ron61]

I have used the ignition spray or starter fluid with good results in the past. By the time it burns that out the pump has started putting gas into the bowls. But I normally start my car and run it for a few minutes every two or three weeks.

Ron

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Doug

Any reason why you guys don't give it a shot of ignition spray? Fires right up, runs the mech fuel pump, and keeps on going.

Only because I don't keep that stuff around. Now I have vague, vague, vague recollections of threads on other forums where starter fluid somehow got between the rings and cylinder walls, or something else happened, and it ended up doing more harm than good. Don't quote me on that. If I was ridiculously fanatical about it, I would pull the distributor, spin the pump counter-clockwise with my drill, put the distributor back in, fill the bowls up through the vents with a measured amount of fresh gas, and then spritz a bit down the top before I fired it up... but I don't. C'mon, FEs are really "war horses" in disguise. My FE will still be pulling out stumps long after I'm pushing them up.

[vector1]

i would not recommend starter fluid, especially with some of the higher compression engines, if it doesn't fire on gasoline vapors something is usually off.

i find that a couple dribbles of gasoline into the carb and a couple attempts at starting usually works fine, pumping the pedal to get the engine to run off the accelerator pump initially.

[Jepe]

Originally Posted by Ron61

But I normally start my car and run it for a few minutes every two or three weeks.

Isn't that the best way to get your engine wet (with water) on the inside?

Regards, John.

[RET_COP]

Another vent tube guy. I use a squirt bottle with the inside tube that goes to the bottom and the top squirter is on a down angle. A few long squirts in each tube always does the trick.
I think the bottle is called a "Vent Tube Fuel Bowl Filler"
Lou

[DanMartin]

I just use one of those dental irrigators (large syringe with a plastic tip) to fill the bowls through the vent tubes. You can get them from your dentist for free if you ask. Just be sure to clean up the gas after so it does not get eaten up. Been using the same one for years....

$8 for 2 of them at amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-Syringe-...uct/B002OXEURA

[RET_COP]

LMAO, Nice Dan, I can see it now-- Dan getting ready to fill the bowls and the wife walks in the garage. Dan: " now this won't hurt a bit"
I'm gonna try this, she already saw me with the stethoscope on the valve cover and about died.
Lou

[Luce]

EFI is so nice.

[mreid]

Through the vent tubes as stated. The other thing you need to watch out for is how quickly modern fuels degrade. A fuel stabilizer is a must and fresh gas should be used if it is sitting for more than a couple of months.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by mreid

Through the vent tubes as stated. The other thing you need to watch out for is how quickly modern fuels degrade. A fuel stabilizer is a must and fresh gas should be used if it is sitting for more than a couple of months.

Correctamundo... StaBil does me just fine, but by the time I'm on my second tankful of the spring, my air bleeds clog up and I have to clean them out. After that I'm good for the remainder of the driving season. But that dance is now almost like clockwork for me and I've written about the ethanol/air bleed clog subject a zillion times here. I still think doing it my way is better than periodically starting it up and just running it in the garage.

[mreid]

I made the mistake of letting my almost complete 66 Mustang with a 347 boss engine and Holley 650 DP sit for two years (dealing with some pretty heavy family issues). I pulled the carb a couple of months ago and it was full of what I can best describe as pancake syrup.