Seadog

I have to pump the accelerator quite a bit to start it when it's cold.

After driving it awhile, then shut it down, if I try to restart it within 10 minutes it starts easily. But, if I wait 30 minutes then it requires a lot of pumping the accelerator, etc.

Is the fuel draining out of the carb? Is the fuel pump at fault?

Thanks for your help!

88 orangepeel notch

It's been a long time since I've had to tinker with carbs. But to answer your questions, yes and yes. Just to verify, you can pull air cleaner assembly off after the car sat for a hour, then just open the throttle a couple times while looking down the carb. The accelerater pump should be squirting gas every time you open the throttle.

The diaghram may be bad in your pump allowing gas to drain back like you said.

Good luck, but an easy fix.

Seadog

Thanks for the help. Does sound easy.........wish the other issues were like this!

bop11

Electric choke or heat riser choke? If you pull the air cleaner is the choke closed when cold? This sounds like a bad choke spring. If the cab had drained down, no amount of pumping the accelerator is going to put gas in the carb. Since pumping works, problem is your mixture is not rich enough. With the choke open, the you have too much air so pumping the accelerator pump, puts a lot of gas in the manifold along with the air.
One pump of the accelerator should, set the choke, set the fast idle and squirt some gas into the manifold. A second pump should add a little more and that should be enough to start the engine.
Very hard to start a cold engine with no choke! Check out that choke spring and its setting.

Seadog

It's the stock choke, so heat riser. I will check it out. Thanks for the advice, makes perfect sense!

Seadog

Checked the choke this morning - pressed the accelerator one time, all the way to the floor, and this caused the choke to snap the choke butterfly shut. So that seems to be working just fine. I noted that the tube from the choke to the exhaust manifold is in place and presumably gets heat up to the mechanism.

Also noted that pressing the accelerator squirts a nice stream of fuel into both sides (2 barrel) of the carb.

I see a puddle on the manifold of what I think in gas, directly under the front of the carb which is where I think the bowl (is that the right term?) is located. Maybe I have a leak and that is my problem. I mopped up the gas buy didn't see any more after the car sat and cooled.

Maybe a carb rebuild is the thing to do next??

bop11

If you are in Texas where it is hot, could be that the choke is over set. Try rotating the plastic case so that the choke comes on with less force or almost doesn't set all the way closed. With that symptom, it sounds as if the car is flooded. After the 30 minute cool down is the choke full on again? Probably should not be full on, after only 30 minutes with the hood closed.
Rotating the housing clockwise will reduce the amount of choke. In the 2100 2 barrel there is a vacuum piston that pulls the choke open against the spring. However, since your vehicle starts when hot, I do not think this is a problem. This piston also has slots in it which are used to suck in warm air off the manifold around the choke spring and into the intake. But again, since the car starts easily when hot, this seems to be working.

bop11

Another thought, do you still have the original resistor wire in the circuit to the coil? Is the coil original? Coils are made to run at 6-8 volts and straight 12 volts will overheat them causing poor starts and possibly bad running. The Accel coil requires a secondary resistor to keep it from overheating as do some others. On the other hand, the resistor is jumped by the starter solenoid during starting to give a hotter spark. Posibly the jumper circuit is not functioning properly.

Seadog

When you say "resistor wire" I don't know the answer. I will have to research that. Is there a resistor "in line" on the circuit?

I don't know if the coil is original or not. I will do a little research on that too.

This car needs a bunch of little things, and some of those don't turn out to be so little. I am starting the process of rewiring. Someone before me did some really creative wiring related to the horn, taillights, and the after market radio. Those are just the problems I know about so far in addition to the wiring appearing to be original - very brittle, some places have insulation missing too.

Thanks for your input!