The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Hey Carbking?

I have a 66 Ford with a stock 300 six cylinder. When the engine is hot and the pickup sits a while, it floods severely. It has a Carter YF that I have kitted, making sure the float level is correct. Once you get the engine 'de-flooded' it runs perfectly.

Is there supposed to be some sort of insulating spacer between the manifold and carb? And if so, where can I get one? I think the heat from the manifolds is boiling the gas out of the float bowl into the intake and floods the engine out.

Any other theories or suggestions?? I'm going to burn up a starter cranking this thing, plus shortening the life of my overhauled engine.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Try this link:

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Troubleshooting.htm#Hardstarthot

Jon.

Thanks, I'll give it a try:)

Most of the old stovebolt engines used a plastic spacer under the carb. One of those would probably fit.

I asked my friendly local parts man (not NAPA) seeking such a spacer and we could not find one. We could find new gaskets for either side of the spacer but not the spacer itself.

I have another local source that may have such a spacer sitting around.

I tried Carbking's starting method linked in his reply to my initial query and it did help. I would still like to keep all that gas from getting down into the engine unburned.

Carl, the spacer is NOT the answer to stopping the raw fuel from going into the engine. If this is your goal, then you need to install a "return line" for the fuel.

In a nutshell, this would be one size smaller (if your fuel line is 5/16, then this one would be 1/4) line that "tees" off of the existing fuel line right where the fuel line enters the carburetor and runs ALL THE WAY BACK TO AND DUMPS INTO THE TOP OF THE FUEL TANK.

Adding such a line will not permit the line pressure to overdrive the carburetor fuel valve, thus the extra fuel is not dumped into the carburetor.

Jon.

I have been thinking about this a little more, and I wondered about a return setup. My 70 Chevy Impala had such a setup and it seemed to work good. The fuel filter had a small line leaving the filter which returned to the tank.

Another idea I had would be to place a normally open solenoid vavle in a fuel line running from the carb inlet to the inlet of the fuel pump. When the ignition is switched on, the solenoid closes and the fuel pump pressurizes the line to the carburetor inlet. When the ignition is shut off, the solenoid valve opens and allows the pressure in the line from the fuel pump oulet to the carburetor inlet to pass into the fuel pump inlet line. Two problems came to light with this--I haven't found a 12 volt normally open solenoid valve and the fuel bled off has to go to into the bottom of the tank, which would not relieve as much pressure as dumping into the top of the tank.

Another thought was to install an electric fuel pump, which would be shut off before shutting the engine off. The electric fuel pump would be controlled by the ignition switch, while the ignition coil would be fed from a 117 Murphy engine protection switch. To start the pickup, turn on the key (which starts the fuel pump filling the carb), hold the Murphy button in (which feeds the ignition coil), and start the engine. To shut down the pickup, turn off the ignition, which kills the fuel pump. When the engine dies from lack of fuel, the Murphy switch will detect that the engine has lost oil pressure and will kill the ignition circuit. Again two downfalls to this plan--cost of a Murphy 117 switch and a murphy gauge or low oil pressure switch and wasting gas idling to empty the fuel bowl every time.

On a side note, would it be a good idea to run the bypassed fuel through a cooler so the fuel in the tank will not get too hot?

Carl - never tried the cooler, but the tank vent should take care of expansion of fuel in the tank. The temperature of the return line will cool the fuel before it gets back to the tank.

Often, a relatively easy way to dump the fuel into the top of the tank is to remove one of the screws holding the tank sending unit, bore a hole, through the screw, sweat in a piece of copper pipe, and use this as a spot for the return.

Jon.