tapio

I´m having troubles cold starting my 64 vette. The engine will crank at least 15 to 30 secs then start with difficulties. I have new Carter 600 AFB carb, new plug wires, new Pertronix Ignitor distributor, new battery and still having difficulties starting. This occurs only when engine is cold. When hot, no problems at all. The engine (327) is otherwise in great shape, pulls very strongly and behaves very nicely.

Can anybody help me with this? I´m really frustrated.

JohnZ

Sounds like a choke adjustment issue; what kind of choke arrangement do you have?

8notenough

I have a similar problem with my 64 327 engine. It has the original Carter. I've decided to live with it because it runs so good after a little warming up time.

Mag Red Man

My 65 396 choke is inoperative, so I pump about 5 times when cold to get it fired. I've learned to live with it.

I believe the 64s used the choke stove where hot air is circulated to a bimetallic spring that as it expands opens the choke. These systems are suseptable to air leaks.

62fuelie

Prior to starting, pump the throttle 4-5 times to prime the engine. Then crank the engine with the throttle closed. If it doesn't start, try pumping a couple of more times and open the throttle half way. Before trying this method, open and close the throttle a few times with the air cleaner off so you can see whether or not the accelerator pump is squirting fuel in the venturi. It may be that your carb is leaking or percolating on shutdown and it's possible you have little or no fuel in the float bowl when you first try to start the car. You may be cranking for a few seconds because you are temporarily "out of gas".

tapio

I have manual choke. I tried to adjust it, but with no success. There´s also gas in the bowls, because pumping the accelerator squirts gas into the carburator.

ARed64

How long has the car been sitting when you experience these problems?

I have a 64 with the original carb. After the car has sit for a while (more than a week), it will also take 15 to 30 seconds of cranking to start. Pumping the pedal will sometimes help. I attribute the hard cold starting as being the nature of cars with carbs. It seems to me this was the situation years ago when this is all there was.

If I drive the car every few days, no problem, starts right up.

tapio

The car has been sitting for few days, when difficulties occur. Funny, with my previous vette (63 convertible) I didn´t have any of these problems. The car had really old and dirty looking Rochester with automatic choke, but the car started right away, no matter how long it was sitting. I guess that my new carb needs adjustments after all - no out-of-the-box functionality here...

68shark

Depending which Pertronix you have, you may have to wait 5 seconds or so from turning the key to "on", to turning it to "start". My '68 is very hard to start if I forget to do this which then causes the engine to flood. I don't forget often, but when I do, it's a bear to get started. If I do give it the 5 second delay, it fires up immediately. May well be a choke issue, per the other replies, but you may want to check this also. Good luck!

JohnZ

Doug makes a good point - if the Pertronix unit you have is the "LSC" (lobe-sensor) model without the magnet ring that goes under the rotor, it has to be "charged" for 4-5 seconds with the ignition "on" before you turn it to "start" (use the "charge" time to buckle up). With a manual choke, you'll have to experiment to find out how far to pull it out at cold start.

Vetterodder

With a manual choke it's important that it isn't closed all the way when it's on. Adjust it so that there is a small opening in the plate to allow some air in. Auto chokes are designed to crack open a little as soon as it senses vacuum but a manual choke stays in whatever position you put it in. The purpose of the choke is to restrict air flow, not to completely block it.

tapio

The Pertronix unit I have has the magnet ring below rotor.

I guess that I have to check the choke opening more closely, so that the mixture is not too lean or rich.

Thanks all for comments.