Guys, I have a '58 Studebaker with a 185 c.i. L-head six and a Carter BBR1 single barrel carb. I rebuilt the carb using a kit from Mike's Carburetors and lately it's become a breath-holding trick to restart the warmed up engine after a brief stop at a store. A friend suggested a bad coil. I replaced mine with a new one from PerTronix when I replaced the points with an Ignitor module. How can I test it? Any other suggestions on what to look for? Thanks!!
Hot starter could be dragging. I had to carry a pump sprayer with cold water for a BBC pickup that acted like that.
Just had this happen with my sbc Check the ground mine wasn't good needs to be right on the block.. Huge difference
Go backwards to diagnose...what was the last change you made before you started having the issue? Start there and work backwards.
Once it's hot and shut off look down the carb to see if the accelerator pump is working, heat soak may be boiling the fuel out of the float bowl. On mine I floor it when it's hot and it will start within a couple of seconds.
If it’s turning over and not starting you are probably boiling away the fuel in the carb.use a spacer and wrap your fuel line,if that fails get a small electric fuel pump to start it on then turn the pump off. If it is slow tostart with the starter then check your grounds. Also check your timing
I don't know if they still do, but some of the parts stores used to be able to test coils. You might give one of them a call. If it's acting like it's not getting any gas, I had that problem with my '60. I mean, I got away with it using the old "gas pedal a 1/3rd of the way down while starting" trick for a while but... Make sure your fuel lines are well clear of the manifold, I recently read that the newer gasolines are way more volatile than the old stuff and can cook off quicker, at lower temperatures. Heat soak will boil the gas right out of the float bowl. We have a gasoline/ethanol blend here. I dunno what other states are using. I DO know, however, that the gas out here in SoCal evaporates away quick like acetone does if you spill it. I've read that one way to combat it is to adjust the plenum area of the intake or otherwise isolate the carb from the manifold via some sort of heat sink. Either a phenolic gasket or an aluminum spacer between the carb and the manifold seems to be the standard fix they suggest. When I rebuilt my carb, I went ahead and added an Edelbrock 1" aluminum spacer. So far, so good. No more hard hot starts. But now my starter is shitting the bed.
The 460 in my 61 f100 was like that, could barely turn it over when hot. Probably not traditional, but a starter insulating wrap solved the problem.
if it is a slow drag on the starter put a solenoid from a ford on the firewall and put all the wires on it and one to go to the starter solenoid. this will fix a hot starter.
Try this section from my website: http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Troubleshooting.htm#Hardstarthot Jon
Is the Pertronix getting power while the key is on start? Run a wire from the battery positive to the coil positive and try starting it when your having this issue... I'd put the points back in, set the dwell and leave things alone.. If you want to improve your ignition, install a CD box like the Vertex Z6 or an old analog MSD6AL.. Too many issues with the new MSD.. The points will only be triggering and they will last 50,000 mile easy..
After you shut it off look down the throat of the carb and see if it is dripping. Sounds like the float may be a bit to high.
If the coil was going bad, wouldn’t it fail once the engine is warmed up and still running? Had the same problem with 55 F100 and it turned out being my carburetor float level was set too high which caused the gas to flood upon shutdown. Have you tried putting the gas pedal to the floor and holding it when restarting?
I would suggest lowering the float a little. I had hot start problems with my Carter BBD. Lowering the float helped the hot start, but made it not start as well cold - worth the tradeoff.