I posted this in another thread but I figured if I created its own thread it would get more exposure. The purpose of this video is to illustrate the point that when everything is working properly you do NOT have to crank and crank on an engine, you don't have to pump the gas while cranking, etc. All you have to do is set the choke and turn the key.

I'm sure you can all hear the audio, but just in case you can't, this video was taken this morning at a temperature of 5 degrees Fahrenheit and the truck had been sitting overnight. The battery is an Advance Auto Parts "Economy" battery that was rated at 420 cold cranking amps when it was new 5 years ago. This is my 1974 F-100 302. Everything on the engine is mechanically sound, the carb has been rebuilt by myself and thanks to FMC400's instructions, the choke is properly adjusted.

Now before anybody says "well a 302 is different than a 360, 390, or 460," I ask you to tell me why? What is so different about the bigger displacement engines that they somehow can't have the same result? Anyway, enough of my rambling, here is the video.

YouTube - 302 Cold Start.wmv

 

Thank you for posting this Nathan. The fast idle sounds great. Hopefully this will clear up a lot of misconceptions. Many times you see people slam the pedal 8 or 9 times, only to create a flooding problem on top of a problem that may or may not have existed in the first place.

 

You are welcome. I certainly hope it will help somebody. Since the weather has turned cold there have been several threads regarding problems with cold starting. It seems like most of the problems stem from a mechanical problem or a mis-adjustment. In many cases people have never dealt with one that was properly adjusted or in sound working order so they just accept it as "normal."

That is simply due to your fantastic instructions on rebuilding and setting the choke properly on the carb. Thank you for taking the time to do such an excellent write-up.

On a note related to the sound, I had a thought. I'm sure that 90% of the people here will believe me that this was a true cold start. In the back of my mind though it is possible that SOMEBODY will think that I'm lying and that I had fought with the engine before hand and got it running, THEN made the video. I suppose that's a possibility, but I ask the question, what good would that do and what would I have to gain? Secondly, listen carefully. When the engine first fires you can hear the rockers ticking because the lifters aren't pumped up. If the engine had been run at all prior to this video, you would not have heard this because the lifters would have already been pumped up.

 

Hey, I got no problem believin ya. Mine starts that good or better everytime no matter how cold. You're right, when everything is set to what it should be and functioning as designed, these trucks will start everytime, with no trouble in my experience.

 

When this battery finally dies I will be replacing it with one that's around 750 cold cranking amps. I am sure that will help it start even better although it really isn't necessary.

 

That was a good video, Nathan. Thanks!

You touched on something most people seem to have forgotten over the years. A carbureted vehicle can run just as good as any modern fuel injected engine, so long as everything is adjusted correctly. That means a properly set choke is absolutely necessary for cold starts and overall driveability!

I finally got my own carbureted 302 dialed in just right and it starts much the same as yours. Two pumps, (only one in the summer) although it is a bit slower cranking in this cold weather, but my truck starts right up and stays running without messing with the gas, even though it is close to zero degrees outside.

I would like to add the importance of the stock thermostatic air cleaner as well in these colder temperatures. The factory hooked the vacuum operated thermostatic air cleaner the way they did for a reason, and that reason is to help provide warm air to the carburetor when it is needed to keep it from freezing, which would result in a stalled vehicle.

 

Well the ducting and such for all of the air cleaner stuff was damaged and / or missing when I got my truck. A friend gave me a regular old 14x3 air cleaner setup so I put it on my truck and removed the rest of the factory stuff to obtain a much cleaner engine bay.

When the temps are really cold I can have the ever so slightest bit of a hesitation under certain conditions after the engine has been running just a few minutes. I have tried fiddling with the choke to get rid of it but it's a no go. I think it is due to the fact that the intake air is not being pre-heated as it is supposed to be because all of that factory stuff is gone. Even with that I can't complain at how it starts and runs.

 

I was in the parking lot in college and saw somebody trying to jump start their car. The chinsy cables they were using weren't enough in the bitter cold. I pulled the Explorer up and used some good cables and they started cranking but it wouldn't start. I glanced at their throttle body and sure enough the person in the other car was pumping the gas on an EFI car. I had them hold the pedal down and it started right up (turned off the injectors). It amazes me how many people think they need to pump the gas to start a vehicle in the cold -- carbed or EFI.

 

Nathan, thanks for the video, stupid question, is that a clutch pedal I see next to the brake? looks like it is in the video, hard for me to see. If it started that easy being in neutral and that cold, I am impressed! It must be tuned perfectly.

Jeff

 

Yes it's a 3-spd manual, column shift.

 

My 77 3-speed 302 starts the same way after rebuilding the carb and getting everything set right. Sure is different than when I bought it a year and a half ago. After sitting for over 15 years, there were more than a few bugs to work out. Thanks for posting.

 

Nathan, what RPM is your fast idle typically set?

Also, what is the setting on your choke cap?

 

are you running a Electric choke then?

 

I honestly don't know. What speed the idle is. I had set the curb idle and tinkered with the fast idle a lot previously. Once I got the choke adjusted properly the fast idle seemed to work very well right where it was so I never actually went back and checked it.

I believe the choke is on 2 lean currently.

Not exactly. It is the factory electrically assisted hot air choke.

 

It's getting cold outside again, and I decided to bring this video back up to illustrate how an older carbureted engine is supposed to start. As you can see, with the choke hooked up and working correctly, and assuming everything else is set right, there is no reason why an older carbureted vehicle should be hard to start, even when the weather is in the single digits.

Thanks again for the video, Nathan!