Technical Need some help getting my banger started

try to locate your fuel lines further away from exhaust manifold and pipes- with gravity feed they can vapor lock causing lack off or no fuel.

 

If you have to have the choke partially closed for it to run look for leaks in your intake manifold installation. My guess is you're pulling air through at the flange, or you may find that the manifold is cracked at the flange. Easy to check.

 

A freshly rebuilt engine will be tight and needs to run a while to wear things in a bit. Run it at a fast idle of a bit faster for 30 minutes. It should crank easier afterward. Let it cool completely. Re-torque the heads in proper sequence. After driving it a hundred miles or so, re-torque again while hot. Use a tach or vacuum gauge to set the idle mixture screws for fastest and smoothest idle. Then check idle speed and adjust to suit. You may want to reduce jet sizes after it wears in a while. Pretty easy to over carb a 200 inch engine. Use ZDDP zinc additive in the oil to prevent ruining the cam. I run oil made for high mileage engines (Quaker State) in my flatheads. It has the zinc additive in it. Those are some beautiful engines in your pictures. Nice work!

 

I had a similar issue with the carb I have an 81 Stromberg and when I hooked up the line there was an air bubble issue so I hand pumped the line with my fingers and got the bubbles out. And then I could see the carb spraying fuel.

 

Any problems with that pump getting hot using a regulator? Or do you have some type of return line?

 

I've only had my roadster pickup for two months. When I got it, it had a rebuilt engine, 6V ignition and the stock carb. Trying to start it with 6V was a nightmare. I converted to 12V and immediately life was good. The next thing was the spark advance, so I got rid of the stock distributor and installed an FS centrifugal distributor. The change to 12V required a new alternator but I am still running the original starter. I have a new bendix to install, but not yet. I have installed a choke cable on the 97 but have not had to use it since the upgrades. I also installed a K&N 1-2psi inline fuel pump. It starts and drives like a dream. The split headers give a sound like no other.

 

I hope this guy's got it started. He asked for help over 3 years ago.

 

I tried to get involved in this conversation but in my ignorance I didn't and still don't fully understand how to use the hamb. I did see you have a fuel pump setup which is what I'm trying to do since I can't get enough fuel from gravity in my coupe in third gear. As a beginner I have a lot to learn. Do you have a return line on your pump does it get hot?