Just Bought A Bucket With A Flathead And Can't Get It To Run . Will Start And Idle But Won't Take Any Throttle. Am Very Frustrated And Ready To Pay A Pro.
Jesus..I know a cool old fart in the Kannapolis area, been hot rodding for about 60 years. I'll look up his info and IM it to ya. He builds all the hot rod flathead stuff for the NASCAR museums, has a shitload of stuff in his shop. He's also a big Olds guy.
Send a PM to "reese" on the HAMB - he used to live out your way, but is now closer to Garner. Great guy and talented mechanic. He'll take your money like a pro. -murph
i believe is a 59a flathead that is bored and stroked (previous owner says) with edelbrock heads and evans 2-2 intake with stromburg 81's and a mallory distributor. I have good fuel pressure at the carbs but engine will start and idle but after initial fuel burns out of cylinders it stalls. ran good one time about 5 minutes until coil wire got chewed up. Hasn't ran good after i replaced the coil wire.
Do you know Dirty Doug at Krazy Kat Tattoo? He's right there in Clayton and is a wiz with flatheads. If you don't and need an intro let me know and I can meet you out there and introduce you to him.... Reece might be able to help as Murph mentioned.... There are quite a few of us that are close... I'm near Garner in Wake County... Let me know...
Sorry to bump an old post but are any of these people still in NC? i live in Raleigh, and am new to the Hobby, ive got an old 47 i inherited from my dad. just getting around to fixing it. Ive got 59am rebuilt 5 years ago and never driven 59ab, i converted it to 12v, added a holly electric fuel pump and low presure regulator set to 3psi . the car will somewhat idle but if i try to hit the gas it dies right away. It has the same distributer it had when it drove a few years back, and i have not messed with the timing. Im looking for someone to take a look at it. and i dont want some hotrod shop that doesnt know what they are looking at charging me 90 bucks an hour. any suggestions?
Hit the gas, and quits.... I'd have a good look at the carb....a gummed up fuel passage can starve it out. 4TTRUK
karasmatic444, Also a vaccum leak in the carb could be causing you some issues. Try a different carb.
well thanks, for the advice guys. This is a new Carb from Dennis Carpenter. I also thought vacuum leak so i closed off the line to the windshield washer. Im not sure how to tell if it has any others. i know on this model the vacuum to the distributor is in the manifold, so that the only other one i know of. I know it smells flooded even though i have the regulator set to 2 and a half to 3 psi. and adjusting the fuel air mixture screws don't seem to change anything much. again thanks for the help guys, i read the HAMB for allot of my problems, i just don't post any.
It's the carb that has the leak I bet, not the manifold, if you can screw one or both of the idle screws all the way in and it doesn't kill the engine. You could spray some starter fluid around the base of the carb when it is idling to see if there is a change. Also, just because the carb is new, doesn't mean it doesn't have issues. I do think it's the carb, but what regulator are you using? What Carb, strom97 or Holley94?
ok, ill try that when i get home from work. I have a holly low pressure regulator and a holly electric fuel pump. The Carb is a Holly 94
So , I tried spraying starter fluid around the carb, while it idled. No luck. I turned he fuel/air screw all the way in, and sprayed around the base, no change i could notice. I decided to take and put the old carb i had back on. the only reason i replaced it was because i thought it was bad, but im thinking it might have been the fuel pressure causing the old carb issues. So after i swapped the old new one with the old one, it ran a little better, but now it is backfirring like a sun of a gun. Any ideas? im going to return the new carb to Dennis Carpenter and get them to send me another one to use, but im wondering what the backfirring is all about.
The Jalopy Journal
