Engine starts fine, then dies

[Anonymous]

I have a 223 in my 1930 Model A that was donated by a 56 ford F-100. It ran awesome for a year, but I have now run into a funny quirk. It will start up fine, but when you drive it about a block or two and let off the gas, press in the clutch, it dies. I checked and played with the timing, checked the fuel bowl, even jiggled some wires. I am going nuts and am soooo close to just ripping out all the electrical and starting from scratch!!! Does anyone have any ideas where I could start?

 

[Anonymous]

does it start back up right away?
howe long is it running before it shuts off. i mena do you start it up and drive out the drive and go a block and then it dies? or does it idle for a bit then ya drive it and it dies?

 

[Anonymous]

It always starts up fine and will idle as I open the gate and get back inside. I can drive it a 1/4 mile or 5 miles, but at some point it will almost definitely start this problem: when i come to a stop and press in the clutch and let it idle, it will die. BUT if i keep giving it some throttle blips, it will stop it from dying. If it does die, it will re-start right away. Otherwise, it drives like normal- no power loss or problems under load.

Could this be a carb problem? Maybe somehow there is something in the carb that gets jostled when driving and doesnt let it idle.

What is peculiar is that if I keep driving it, it often "fixes" itself. It is definitely an intermittent problem, but almost guaranteed to happen EVERY time i take it out.

 

[addo]

Blown coil? Fuel delivery problems? They're two things I'd suspect straight up.

 

[62uni]

Strange, That is exactly what happened to me today, also on another occasion, Mine started after going highway speed and when I came up to a red light it would die, did it all day, ran fine at highway speed, I had to increase my idle speed just to keep it running somewhat, then when I got a couple miles from home it started acting fine. Of course it was idleing fast, after I backed down the idle it purred like a kitten again. I think I must have had a piece of crap lodged in the idle circuit of the carb. It's not fun not knowing if your going to make it through a intersection.
Charlie

 

[Anonymous]

Try retuning the fuel mixture... It might have something to do with mixture that is too lean and a hot engine. I had that problem before with too lean of a mixture, but it was constant.
-Evan

 

[Fred]

What carb do you have? This sounds a lot like the infamous carb flooding problem that a lot of the glass bowl holley carbs have.

 

[62uni]

For me, I have a holley 2043, no glass bowl, here's a pic, pre-rebuild o

 

[Anonymous]

Its a holley 1904 type (non-glass bowl), but as far as exact model, Ill have to pull the number off later. Its had 3 rebuilds in less than 2 years and still LOVES to flood through the vent tube.

It has a new (4 months old) pertronix ignition and flamethrower coil. Coil never gets hot and always starts right up.

I guess im going to tackle it this way: drain the tank of all gas and flush it, change all fuel filters (again), then clean out the needle/seat (possibly another rebuild?). Fuel delivery is a much more appealing solution than electrical. Im assuming I should also throw up a fuel pressure regulator. Cant hurt.

 

[Daves55Courier]

before I installed my fuel pressure regulator ahead of my holley 1904 it would do that same thing due to too much fuel pressure flooding the engine after warming up, and it would restart right away but you had to set up the idle to keep it running. After I got the regulator installed, adjusted and installed 6 gaskets under the carb to keep heat from boiling the idle-fuel mix, that problem was solved. My regulator is set to about 1.5 lbs at idle (abouit 450 rpm) and the fuel bowl stays half full all the time.
Dont ask me why a stock 223 would suddenly need a regulator and six gasket under the carb when it never needed it during the decades of leaded gasoline. Must be some drastic differences in the mechanical properties of modern unleaded reformulated gas.

Hope that helps. Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip. Im definitely going to try that first. I dont know why I thought I was immune to the over pressure'd carb syndrome. Off I go!!!

 

[Daves55Courier]

Here is my regulator installation. I made the bracket out of heavy guage metal and discarded the bracket that came with the regulator. My bracket mounts off two intake mounting bolts and has a clamp to hold the vacuum line to the distributor. The first thing you see when you open the hood is the fuel pressure guage. I fitted my holley 1904 with a glass float chamber bowl in aiding my pressure regulator setting. Without being able to see the float level, It would have been total guesswork. I also adjusted my float way down below the factory setting. It runs with the fuel level half full in the float chamber and keeps up even at maximum rpm.

Hope that helps. Good luck

 

[Fred]

The specific gravity of gasoline has changed. This affects displacement of things suspended in it, like floats for needle and seat. If the needle and seat were marginal to begin with by design, it will now fail.

The Holley 2043 looks just like the 1904 but with a metal bowl. Does anyone know if the needle / seat / float is the same? If not, is it better? If so, can it be retrofitted into the 1904s?

 

[Daves55Courier]

The Holley 2043 looks just like the 1904 but with a metal bowl. Does anyone know if the needle / seat / float is the same? If not, is it better? If so, can it be retrofitted into the 1904s?

The whole guts of the float chamber are identical and interchangeable. ou can use a 1904 rebuild kit to rebuild a dozen different old model holley 1bbls.

 

[Daves55Courier]

The specific gravity of gasoline has changed. This affects displacement of things suspended in it, like floats for needle and seat. If the needle and seat were marginal to begin with by design, it will now fail.

Perhaps these rebuild kits should have lighter floats and needles that will seat properly with this modern gas. I have three freshly rebuilt holley 1904's on the workbench that will not work wothout a regulator ahead of the inlet. One of these freshly rebuilt carbs had a 1/4" long gaping crack in the brand new float when I opened it up to see what was wrong with it. Those new needles they put in those kits are scary. There seems to be a lot of slop in the bore so it could bind on the way up before the point can close the hole. Talk about pulling your hair out for a while. Its upwards of $140 for each of those.
Installing the regulator and cutting the pressure way down was just what it needed to make it all work.
Point I am trying to make is, you shouldnt get MARGINAL when your spending $140 for a rebuild. The first one ought to work. Out of four, I got one with a bad float and one with a blocked vacuum port. Two sitting on the bench might work with a reg ahead of the inlet. But you shouldnt need the regulator. They didnt have it originally.

 

[Anonymous]

I have nothing technical to add really. Its being covered really well. Pretty much all I have to say is I am soooo glad to be rid of that POS 1904 1-barrel...Rebuild after rebuild it never worked right...THANK YOU Edelbrock.


Brad