Thread: Fuel or Fire?

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I have a 327 in my 1935 Coupe. It starts well cold and runs well. When it gets driven a few miles and the engine gets good and warm, it does not want to crank very easily when it is still hot. The temp runs about 160 or 170. The alternator shows to be charging and is new. The battery remains fully charged. The engine seems to turn over easily but it is difficult to crank until it cools down sufficiently. What are my options and where would you suggest I begin to resolve this problem?

Originally posted by Thomas Harper
I have a 327 in my 1935 Coupe. It starts well cold and runs well. When it gets driven a few miles and the engine gets good and warm, it does not want to crank very easily when it is still hot. The temp runs about 160 or 170. The alternator shows to be charging and is new. The battery remains fully charged. The engine seems to turn over easily but it is difficult to crank until it cools down sufficiently. What are my options and where would you suggest I begin to resolve this problem?

carb. may be leaking down, after you cut it off look down into the carb. and see if its dripping gas sitting still.

If you have to wait until it cools down before it will crank easily,,,then i'd guess the windings in your starter motor are over heating,,,if you could put a battery draw tester on it you would catch it right away, as soon as you cranked it over.

I'd have to second that, my firebird did the exact thing and I replaced the starter and that took care of it

definitely agree with bad starter , still check for fuel washdown

Thunderbucket and Firebird, I was thinking the same thing as the two of you but I went back and read it again. He says it is turning over easily. That puzzles me. Although it might still be the starter,It might possibly be that his headers or exhaust are running too close to the starter,cooking it. If thats the case if he puts a new starter on ,he may need to rerun the exhaust or at least put a starter heat shield on it.
Then again ,Mike might be right on.
Thomas, are you using any spacer between the intake and carb?If not You might consider that, plus make sure the fuel line itself is not getting too hot.Just a couple more things to consider. Good Luck!

One more thought! How about the timing????

I was wandering about that and my firebird's issues. I had a "friend" with an 85 chevy 1/2 ton and someone told him that the fuel would get hot and cause it to run poorly so he ran the fuel lines up from the fuel pump way outside almost to the fender and then across to carb. Think that's what would cause my problems? This guy is kinda different and I don't know if I'd trust anything he'd do, but it kinda made sense.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have a heat shield protecting the starter but it is still fairly close to the exhaust system. I thought it might be the fuel line being too close to the exhaust so I insulated it with some rubber tubing. I have a new Edelbrock carb but the float has stuck open at least once so there may be some drip, I will check that out. I will try and make sure it is not fuel before I go out and buy a new starter. I will also test to see if there is a draw on the starter. I do know that if I leave the battery hooked up for a week or so without running the engine, the battery goes dead so there is a draw somewhere but I have pulled every fuse and tested all circuits and still not have found that problem. It may sound like a real dud but it is a really cool ride and seems to perform well except for its little idiosecricies. Again, thanks for the help and I will try all the suggestions and let you know what the result is. If you have any more ideas, please feel free to write.

ONE MORE THING TO CHECK IS CRANKING AMPS IN BATTERY , HOT AND COLD SINCE YOU SAY DRAWS DOWN WHILE SITTING FOR A WHILE AND YOU TESTED CIRCUITS AND CANT LOCATE -MAY HAVE A CELL ON ITS WAY OUT-------IT COULD STILL HAVE GREAT VOLTAGE BUT NO AMPERAGE AND A HOT ENGINE TAKES MORE AMPS TO TURN OVER HOPE IT HELPS

Hi Thomas, I wonder if your battery has enoughcold cranking amps. Since 170 degrees could hardly be a heat soak condition. Ii it has a cell going bad it will easily lose amperage. Some guys decide their cca by doubling the cubic inch of the engine, which I have found to be a pretty good rule of thumb. Especially if u dont want to do an equasion to get the answer.