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1950 216 very much all original. 6 volt gmc. Canadian. The truck idles and runs fine once started. When cold starting the truck at room temperature it is hard to start. What it does: step on the floor starter it turns over nicely but will not fire until I pump the gas peddle repededly. Now it fires but will have fuel running down the outside of the carb. I can either leave it idle or nurse it up to a faster rpm until the excess fuel is used up. At that point it runs fine. Not flooding at this point. Now if I turn the ignition off . I can restart it with just a touch of the foot starter and no throttle needed. How do I get her to start with out flooding at first start up? Thanks

All cold engines need to be choked. Doing a Jose' Greco flamenco dance on the gas pedal is not a substitute for pulling the choke all the way out, cranking until the engine fires, and releasing the choke about halfway to let the engine warm up without stalling.
Jerry

Guilty as charged on the Flamenco action. I know many of you or working the choke with your right hand, stomp starter with your right foot and full on flamenco with your left foot. I need to find a much more cool way to start a cold truck when I train my boys on the steps. The restart after warm up is much cooler, turns over once and fires right up.

That I can try. But seems like a shame cause I'm such a darn good dancer. Lol. Thanks. Next question is why does it start so easily the second time. Even if it was only running 30 seconds on the initial start up . The engine would still be cold but the fuel obviously would be at the carb. Thanks

Carb King has some great tips for cold starting and other issues on his website.
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Troubleshooting.htm

Mark

The choke is where the magic is. I start my truck the same way every morning whether it's 80° or 20° below. I turn the key on, pull the choke out, and hit the starter. It starts right up, maybe two revolutions on the coldest days, and I NEVER touch the gas.

A crappy replacement choke cable was mounted to the bottom lip of the dash when I bought mine from the previous owner. He showed me the starting process- one or two pumps of the gas, pull the choke, foot start... Problem was the crappy choke cable wouldn't pull out all the way, and it was getting worse as time went on, so the pumping the gas was necessary, but not reliable.

Best thing I did was buy/install a brand new original style choke cable mounted in the stock location (so it's easier to operate than the other one was). Truck starts just like twotone describes. I occasionally have momentary trouble starting it when it's already warm and I've over-choked it when I shouldn't have.

Thanks interesting. I've been experimenting starting it a few different ways lately. I have noticed full choke turn it over a bit then a couple pumps and she starts. Now I'm think I may need to check my choke cable . I may not be getting full on choke.

Update... well I was snooping around my carb and found that the choke spring was not hooked on the tab. So when I had the cable pulled out all the way the choke would barely move. So I hooked it as it should be. Now I pull the choke step on the starter and I can't even get my foot off the start button fast enough before it starts. And as stated in the above posts reduce the choke to half and let it warm up. It is absolutely amazing how fast it starts. Thanks for all the help guys . This fix makes this truck just that much cooler and the only dance I will be doing is the happy dance from here on in. Thanks again

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