<VV> Maybe the starter.

[Jim Becker]

Vapor lock keeps an engine from starting.  It has no effect on getting the 
engine to turn over.

Jim Becker

-----Original Message----- 
From: James Davis via VirtualVairs
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2020 10:32 AM
To: tony..
Cc: VV List
Subject: Re:  Maybe the starter.

I would suspect vapor lock as a major problem also.  I had my first vapor
lock problem after a ferry trip on the NC coast with the 140 Corsa (May
1965).  Run hard to meet the ferry schedule; then a 10 minute trip on the
ferry to the other shore.  The Corsa started and ran to the ramp where it
died; not to restart.  A couple of people helped push the Corsa out to the
approach to the ramp.  I found an empty coke bottle and filled it with
sound water and poured it on the fuel pump and 5/16" fuel line.  The Corsa
started right up and ran fine for the rest of a trip. I started carrying a
full water bottle in the spare tire center along with a quart of oil for
the rest of the 7,500 mile trip   When I got back to Lubbock, TX, the first
thing I did was instal an electric fuel pump up near the fuel tank with a
switch on the dash.  318,000+ miles later, pump and switch are still there
and I use it to prime the carbs before every trip and turn the pump after
fueling up until I get-up to speed.
Jim Davis.

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 8:45 AM tony.. via VirtualVairs <
virtualvairs at corvair.org> wrote:

>
>
> On 8/8/2020 10:46 PM, FrankDuVal via VirtualVairs wrote:
> >
> > 6. No one said the engine alone got so hot the perfectly fine starter
> > could not turn it over. The starter is bad, the engine is not, just
> > operating normally as a warm engine, needs more umph to turnover when
> warm.
>
>
>
> There's one other point about hard starting that gets overlooked, re" a
> hot engine.
>
> Corvair carbs get hot when you shut off the engine after a long uphill
> pull, like running up the uphill grade on I-81 from outside Roanoke to
> Christiansburg, aka "Christiansburg mountain".  It's not the steepest
> grade in the world but it's a long stretch and it's steep enough to make
> you wanna downshift unless you have some genuine horsepower.
>
> I do not recommend doing it at 70 in a '63 Spyder because the engine
> will try to stay in boost the whole run, NOT a good thing.
>
> Got off the grade at C-burg and into the gas station to refuel.  Tried
> to restart, engine labored with that rump-rump cranking like the timing
> was too far advanced, hot engine and heat soaked carbs that refused to
> meter correctly even after you kinda cleared the massive over-rich
> condition from carb boilover.  This, a '65 Corsa w/140.  I played a
> hunch, poured a couple buckets of water over the carbs and heads or at
> least as much of the heads as I could reach from under the decklid,
> mostly just onto the carbs. Much steam. The car then started right up.
>
> I did the same trick in the driveway with the '62 ragtop (w/'66 110)
> that had been idling too slow and got hot, wouldn't restart, took a hose
> to the carbs and then it started right up.
>
> Modern gasoline just too volatile, boiling out the carbs?
>
>  > I like having discussions.
>
> Me too, it's how I learn stuff.
>
> tony..
>