Bob Fisher

My '76 L48 always needs a good cranking to start after being left for more than a couple of days. is this normal? or could it be the hydraulic lifters not working until oil pressure has built up, or evaporated fuel needing to be replaced? or a combination of both??
Oil pressure is very good for an 80,000 mile plus engine.
Bob

Eddie 70

Sounds like your carb may be leaking down. A lot of people experience this, I did too. After the rebuild no more problems. Maybe someone else will chime in and second me.

gmcclurg

I have to pump the pedal quite a bit before cranking, on my 77, if it sits for awhile. Not like a fuel injected "modern" car.

Smokehouse69

I agree with Eddie, it is probably from the fuel draining back out of the carb or the Q-jet fuel bowls leaking from the bottom plugs. A lot of people seal these plugs over with JB Weld when they rebuild the carb.

Binnie77

I too experience the same problem. I have a carburetor rebuilt by Lars so I am discounting that as the culprit. Lars suggested that I replace the fuel pump and did replace it with a new GM pump but the problem did not go away. One of the things to check is to make sure your fuel filter in the carb has the check valve built in to avoid fuel siphoning back out of the carb.

Stewart's74

I had a similar problem and it WAS the Accelerator pump in the carb. Turns out it wasnt compatible with the alcohol in modern fuels.
With that fixed it cranks right up, even in below freezing weather.

Jvette73

Even with a good carb, a cold start will be much faster if you give it 5 full throttle pumps and wait a few seconds befor cranking it. This lets the gas soak down into the engine a bit. But like the others have said, if the carb is leaking down then you would first need to crank untill the fuel pump fills the carb back up.

Rich80

My crank time is around 5 seconds when shes been sitting for a week. I pump the gas pedal 3 or 4 times let it sit for 10 seconds then turn the key... :cheers:

Makonut

I pump the gas about 8 times on my 70 and it fires right up. Not bad considering I haven`t found a choke rod yet so it starts with no choke.

LiveandLetDrive

A pump of the gas or two and mine usually fires right up. Takes a little more throttle input to KEEP it going though!

-CHris

73 LS-4

Lars, rebuilt mine last year. I don't even have to pump the gas I just tap the accelerator enough to hear the choke click closed and turn the key for about 4 seconds and she springs to life, normally dies once after about another 5 seconds of running if it's been sitting for more then a week probably becouse of evaporation out of the bowl but then starts immediatly afterwards and no probs. If it's been run in the last couple of days it stays running no problem. I put a new 110gph fuel pump on it last year and it's dying after starting after it set for a few weeks is less common then it was, but as I said it will only die once if it does and only if it sat for a long time, One of the best starting carbs I've been around. Now cold driveabilty is a little different story, it does have to warm up a bit before it's pleasant to drive (no heat crossover).

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

SanDiegoPaul

A pump of the gas or two and mine usually fires right up

That worked fine on the OEM 350 (which I'm trying to sell BTW) and Rochester Q-Jet. The new stroker however, with an Edlebrock Q-Jet seems a bit more tempermental :mad and I'm glad I don't live in a cold climate.

I need to pump it a couple of times and crank longer than I would like to get it fired up. Once it is running though it stays going and the choke does in fact work fine. I'm thinking this carb is not quite perfect.