Will It Start?

[ATC King]

First off, just about anything will start with enough work. If a crashed WWII bomber can be resurrected and flown nearly half a century later, just about anything can run again. It's a matter of cost and labor schedule.


My gripe is with the 'will it start/run' videos. It's not a legitimate question, it's clickbait.


This video takes the cake though. It's Richard Hammond, a guy who should know a thing or two about older cars, and a group of other guys who probably could'nt screw a light bulb in if they wrote out a group plan.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm0zrWCSSuU


Not a single one among them even tried to pour some fuel into the carb float bowls and intake. That car may have an electric fuel pump, regardless, any carbureted vehicle that's been sitting a while still needs primed with fuel, not sprayed with starting fluid and nearly burning up the starter from excessive cranking with a low battery.

Especially new gasoline, evaporates out of carburetors when they sit. The float bowls usually have a vent in the airhorn which fuel can be poured into to fill the carb up. Then drop a little into the intake with the butterflies open and it's an immediate start if everything else is functioning properly.

This is what anyone who owns/owned a carbureted vehicle should know. If it sits a month or more at a time, don't punish the starter, lift the air cleaner and freaking prime everything.


Even worse is not figuring out it ain't got no gas in it after pumping the pedal like a methed up pogo stick rider.

Maybe Hammond ain't right in the head after he dang near wrote himself off in that airborne, fiery, electric super car crash. Or, maybe, he was just a spectator that knew the group trying to start the car wouldn't take kindly to constructive criticism.


Ugh.


In reality, this thread is a lighthearted jest, but I do feel bad for that starter.

[ironchop]

This dude is up from your neck of the woods, Clint

https://youtu.be/arxOB5u9kaE

Sent from my motorola one 5G ace using Tapatalk

[ATC King]

I've actually seen that one before during a late night YT crawl.

While it's cool that it ran, the reality is he could have done more damage by not disassembling the engine for an inspection. On something that old and hard to get parts for, that could be a good bit of moola to fix. Babbit bearings? Not a whole lot of people who do those anymore.

At a minimum, pull the tins and clean the crud out. Those pre PCV engines, running early oil formulations (non detergent), and at cold water temps, are quarantined to be full of crud.