No start

Try some ether down the carbs. Sometimes the float bowls get dry after sitting for a very long time. Plus gas deteriorates with age. Put some fresh gas in and a few drops down each throat and try it again.

 

If no fire with a few drops of gas or ether, then you have no spark.

 

When the float bowls run dry, it can take a LOT of cranking to get them full again with a mechanical pump.

After putting ether/starting fluid/few drops of gas down carb throats have some standing by with damp towel or fire extinguisher (engine hood open) - JUST IN CASE IT BACKFIRES.

 

Ethanol gas go bad in just a couple months - for all you folks storing over the winter try to get NON-ethanol gas and add STABIL to it.

Art,

Any luck?

Ted

The dirt bikes I ride for our OHV team are carbureted and we have problems all the time with the fuel getting "old" a few weeks after we ride them if fuel is left in the bowl and carburetor. The first step in eliminating our problem was to switch to 91 pump gas since race gas is so expensive here and to clean the bowl and carburetor we use a product called Sea Foam:

 

 http://shop.advanceautoparts.c...-oz.-sf16/6410004-P#

 

Since your car sat for several months there is a very high likelihood that the gas has started to congeal already and has gummed up the carburetor. You can use a syringe  and fill it up with the Sea Foam then pull off the hoses leading into the bowl and the carburetor and fill them up with the Sea Foam.  Let everything sit for about 25 minutes, reattach the lines, and try to start it up. The Sea Foam will eat away all the varnish and should help clear the lines.

Thanks, I'll give these a try tomorrow.

 

Art

If you "Sea Foam" it (and I highly recommend that you do....)  Try to figure out how much fuel is in your tank currently, then read the label on the sea foam can and use 2X - 3x the recommended dosage.  Don't worry, it's a petroleum product and is flammable - nothing bad will happen to your carbs or engine.

 

Sock it to it and then find a way to squirt a few squirts of raw gas down into the carburetor throats and try starting it up without air cleaners on (you just removed them to squirt the gas in the carbs, right?)  I use a squirt oil can filled with gasoline and just squirt right down the throats.

 

It should start right up, but will be coughing and puking for a few seconds until everything gets stabilized and then it should be running fine.  If not, it indicates that carburetor-oriented things have become dry while sitting for 6+ months.  Try just keeping it running for a few minutes to see if it irons itself out.  If not, you may need to have the carbs rebuilt just to get the crystallized crud out of the jets and around the pilot valves.

 

Good luck, and don't be alarmed by any flames shooting up out of the carbs.  You'd puke, too, if you were force-fed after hibernating for six months.

could be a faulty fuel pump - ruptured diaphragm, perhaps.  hate those things.  electric is the only way to go.  would highly recommend that upgrade here. if the car fires after the sea foam thing, and burns up the gas you squirt down its throat, then dies promptly, your carbs are not feeding gas. they could be clogged, as described, or the fuel pump is not working, and six months is not a REALLY long time, all the gloom and doom mentioned here about ethanol notwithstanding. that said, using sea foam, andan additive like stabil, or one of several other like products, is a goodidea.  i assume the car ran well when parked.

 

and the little tubes in the throats are called accellerator jets, and they should squirt a notable stream of gas directly into the throat when the gas pedal is depressed. this hepls the engine accellerate when you want to change speed.  that yours do not squirt or just dribble, means they are clogged, or there is no gas in the carbs for them to use. i suspect the latter.

"i suspect the latter."

 

me too...

Art,

Where is the car? Are you here in the bay area? I'll come over and get it going if you want some.help.

Let me know,
Ted

His profile lists him as being in Felton, CA.

He has two homes. One in Felton and one in Stockton (I think).

Ted;

You'd be correct. The speedster is in Stockton. Which is a  

too long of a drive from Morgan Hill.  Thanks very much for the offer!

Art

let us know how this sorts. we like to kep the data base of experience full of helpful knowledge.

I put 2-3X of Sea Foam into my gas tank, (16oz. for about 5gal. of gas.)

 

I sprayed Sea Foam into the carbs throats.  Several sprays, operating the butterfly valve open/close as I sprayed. Oh, I also tried Carb Cleaner, same results.

 

After each time, the car started for approx. 3 seconds. Then died like it was out of  fuel, which it was.

 

The accelerator jets, now at least put out small bubbles, but not "a notable stream of gas."

 

Is the float located under the butterfly valve? (Solex Brosol 40 / 44 EIS)

 

During these brief starts, car emitted smoke.

 

I have not yet put  "a few squirts of raw gas."  Can the amount be quantified more closely?  1/2 of a teaspoon per carb throat???  I need to wait for the trained firefighter to come home from work, before I take this next step.

 

I guess, if this doesn't work.  Replace the fuel filter and perhaps spray Sea Foam in the hose closest to the fuel pump?  (Oh and by the way, the car was running great, before going on the stands.  And I didn't monkey with any part of the fuel system)

 

Thanks,

 

Art

Time to take hose off the out side of the fuel pump and carefully see if it actually pumping a good stream of fuel to carbs.  My guess is fuel pump diaphragm is perished (per Edd China).  

Take the hose off the input side of the fuel pump and see if fuel is actually getting to the pump. If it is not, apply pressure to the fuel filler neck. ( Get a big mouthed friend to blow into it ) . If no fuel comes to the pump, you'll have isolated the culprit...tank or fuel line. If it does, re-connect that hose and take the hose off the business side of the fuel pump. Crank the engine and see if anything comes out of that side. If nothing comes out....fix or replace the pump.

 

But....if you get gas coming out of the fuel pump to the carbs, start working on the carbs.

 

Forget the sea foam games. Do it right. Go back to basics. The accelerator jets should emit a nice firm squirt with each push of the gas pedal.  ( like you could do it when you were 18 ). Sounds like the carbs are just not getting enough fuel. What is in between the carbs and the gas filler ? Check them first by going back to the start of this post.

No, the float is located under the top of the carb, and is not "under" the butterfly valve, which is the throttle plate. More like "along side of" the carb throat/venturi. It is possiboe the floats (both??) have stuck shut, although this seems unlikely to me.  If, after checking all the fuel supply as Stroud has suggested, and you are sure you are getting fuel to the carbs, then a stuck float would account for the bahavior.  How to un-stick them?  The seafoam business could do it.  Giving the carbs a little knock on the side, like w/ a small hammer, might do it too. Or, lift the carb tops, and R&R the floast, check their level setting, clean all w/ carb cleaner, and if there is any indication whatever that the needle valve that the float pushes on is damaged, replace.  Will need a diagram of how this carb is put together, Google and the web will be your friend. If yu take the carb apart, get a rebuild kit for it first: gaskests, float valve, and other misc. bits needed to refurb the beast.  AND, do not hesitate to use this site to ask questions.

http://www.shop.kaddieshack.co...-Rebuild-Kits_c6.htm

 

this would be a start.