Need some help. New to this forum and this is my first post. Have a 28 Dodge pickup g***er. Has been a winter project. Grey primer, 10 spokes up front, Mickey thompsons all around, red plexi windows, red glitter vinyl interior, stripped down basic g***er. Just got on the road a few weeks ago and still working bugs out. It has a 383 chevy, aluminum pro comp heads, 510 lift cam, tunnel ram, 2 new Holley 450's, mallory points distributer, turbo 350, 2300 stall, etc, dynoed at 430 hp with a single 750. Starts and runs great. Sounds nasty, runs nasty just as an old school hot rod should. The problem is after driving a few miles and then shutting off, it will not start again. Starts great cold. Sounds like vapor lock to me but not sure. It has happened twice. The first time it finally started after a few minutes of cranking. Today, it took an hour. I ran the battery down, had to call the wife to come jump me, it was frustrating. Here is what I have troubleshot when this happens: 1) I get spark- I now this because I took the coil wire off and touched to the firewall and it lit me up when cranking the engine 2) I have fuel- I know this because I took the fuel line off to the carbs first noticed that fuel pours out, then cranked with the fuel line off and it pumps out. Also, with the breathers off and pumping the carbs the nozzles spray gas What else could it be? I ran my hands along the fuel lines and have no hot spots. I have checked all connections for looseness and found none. My father-in-law suggested pinching the line with a clothes pin and this did not fix it. It does have a mechanical pump. I am going to install a fuel line pressure gage so I can see what the pressure is next time. Any help would be appreciated.
Long-distance troubleshooting is tough, but a couple of thoughts: 1) Even though the coil is firing, you still may not be getting spark to the plugs, or a hot enough spark for some reason. Bad condenser or ballast, possibly. Have you checked for spark at the plug? I mean a snapping, bright, blue-hot spark. Are the plugs burning right, or do they look fouled? 2) It may be flooding over for some reason. Sometimes when you stop and shut off a hot motor, the heat will sink into the carbs and boil them over into the intake and flood the motor. Do you smell raw fuel during your encounters? I'll ***ume you've tried the old 'throttle to the wood while cranking' trick to flow max air/minimum fuel through the cylinders to help clear a possible fuel overdose?
Thanks. Yes I have tried the throttle to the wood trick. No change. Even though I visually know I have fuel I never smell a strong smell of fuel as if it is flooded. You have a good point about the spark. I only know I have spark to the distributer. I dont know beyond that. The distributer would be the most suspect part for me since it is one of the few parts I bought used (the carbs, plugs, wires, fuel lines, filter, etc are all brand new). I am going to install an inline fuel pressure gage at each carb and take a spark tester with me for the next time. Then I will know what my fuel pressure truely is and if I have spark. Thanks again.
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