[DeTomaso] RV: A question I'm hoping you can answer

[Sean Korb]

It's not the same in every market of the country, but I simply never
had a problem on my cars.  That's because none of them have working
heat, if that makes any sense.

I only gas up using "summer gas" which in my market (southern east
coast) has low alcohol and few additives required in winter.  I've had
cars sit for years and start right up with a little prime of the
carburetor.

The exception was my brothers Harley.  It was his only means of
transport, so it had winter gas when we rolled it into the living room
for its 5 year stay.

It's still not 100%.  I'm going to have to take the carburetor off and
give it a good soak.

sean

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 2:51 PM, Charles McCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com> wrote:
> The good news is that I don't have to buy that sh*t for gas that they are
> selling in the US these days.
>
> The bad news is that I pay $8 a gallon for what they sell over here.
>
> I've never really given it much thought to be honest. I don't really know
> when the last ride of the season will be. I am often travelling during the
> week, and I come home to find that it has snow, or frozen, and they've
> covered the roads in salt and my season has ended. But I don't necessarily
> know that the previous weekend. (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)
>
> I suppose the next question is if it hurts anything if your plugs get gunked
> up and the gunk burns off? It doesn't sound like something you would
> intentionally do, but does it do any long-term harm?
>
> Charles McCall
> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: Dave McManus [mailto:dave at damardirect.com]
> Enviado el: jueves, 17 de febrero de 2011 20:41
> Para: 'Charles McCall'; 'Asa Jay Laughton'; detomaso at realbig.com
> Asunto: RE: [DeTomaso] RV: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>
> I'm not a chemist & I have no experience in the petroleum industry. I sell
> plastic and paper.
>
> I've read that our gas today can turn in a period as short as 30 days. I
> don't understand why anyone would not use a fuel stabilizer.
>
> http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_engine_precautions.html
>
> Indy(I put that sh**t on everything)Dave
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles McCall [mailto:charlesmccall at gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 2:30 PM
> To: Dave; 'Asa Jay Laughton'; detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: RE: [DeTomaso] RV: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>
> I don't use Sta-bil.
>
> I do have that problem. Do you think we may be on to something?
>
> Charles McCall
> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
> nombre de Dave McManus
> Enviado el: jueves, 17 de febrero de 2011 20:11
> Para: 'Asa Jay Laughton'; detomaso at realbig.com
> Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] RV: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>
> Mine has been under the blankets for 3 months. I always use Sta-Bil.
> Saturday I will fire it up for the first time. I have never had the problem
> Charles has experienced. I will let you know after Saturday.
> IndyDave
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Asa Jay Laughton [mailto:asajay at asajay.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 4:33 PM
> To: detomaso at list.realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] RV: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>
> Interesting.  So we have a hypothesis we need to test to.  Time to
> break out the scientific method tools.
>
> I'd recommend the next time you let the engine sit for the month,
> prior to starting it up you pull all the plugs and replace them with
> brand new.  If the problem is not there, we can surmise the hypothesis
> is true and the problem has been identified albeit not resolved.
>
> Asa Jay
>
> Pantera Technical Research Institute, Pacific Northwest - Inland Empire
>
> Quoting Charles McCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com>:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>>
>> A few weeks ago we debated on the Forum what happens when you let your
>> engine sit for months at a time without starting it. In my case, the
> engine
>> came to life cylinder-by-cylinder, and it literally took about 4-5 minutes
>> before the engine was firing on all 8 cylinders.
>>
>>
>>
>> Starting the engine the following day it fired up immediately on all 8.
>>
>>
>>
>> Chuck Engels and I both have Chuck Nuytten carburetors on our cars (how
> many
>> Charles can we fit in one sentence?) and Chuck suggested that I write
> Chuck
>> to ask a carb expert what he thought.
>>
>> www.chucknuytten.com <http://www.chucknuytten.com/> . Both Chuck and I are
>> very happy with their work.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here’s his reply. Sounds like the plug gets covered in dry gas-goo, and it
>> takes a while to burn this gunk off.
>>
>>
>>
>> This also answers the hidden question of if my engine was telling me
>> something by taking so long to wake up. Doesn’t sound like a weak spark,
>> sounds like a gunked up spark plug that eventually burns clean…
>>
>>
>>
>> Charles McCall
>>
>> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
>>
>> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
>>
>>  <http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323>
>> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
>>
>>   _____
>>
>> De: Chuck Nuytten Carburetors - Tech [mailto:tech at chucknuytten.com]
>> Enviado el: miércoles, 16 de febrero de 2011 21:10
>> Para: Charles McCall
>> Asunto: Re: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>>
>>
>>
>> Any car that is left unused for any length of time experiences drying up
> of
>> the fuel leaving a heavy slug or gunk.  This gets loosened up and flushed
>> through the carburetor into the motor.  It is thick and nasty like old
> oil.
>> The missing you have recognized is the spark plug covered with this nasty
>> stuff causing the spark plugs to miss-fire until it gets washed off and
>> finally starts to ignite the cylinder once again.
>>
>>
>>
>> Fresh spark plugs installed once the motor has been started and allowed to
>> run long enough to pass the gunk through the motor should clear up the
> miss.
>> The cylinder still has to be ignited to get the rings functioning properly
>> to dry the inside of a missing cylinder.  Some times rust is formed above
>> the top ring that needs to be passed out the exhaust port too.
>>
>>
>>
>> Let us know if you have any other questions.
>>
>>
>>
>> -Tech Dept.
>>
>> Chuck Nuytten Carburetors
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: Charles <mailto:charlesmccall at gmail.com>  McCall
>>
>> To: tech at chucknuytten.com
>>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 9:41 AM
>>
>> Subject: A question I'm hoping you can answer
>>
>>
>>
>> Good afternoon Chuck
>>
>>
>>
>> I am a very satisfied customer of yours from several years ago and I have
> a
>> question that I’m hoping you can answer.
>>
>>
>>
>> A few weeks ago I started the engine of my Pantera (A Ford 351C) after not
>> having started it for 3 or 4 months.
>>
>>
>>
>> It took a bit of cranking to get the engine to fire, which I perfectly
>> understand. Over the months that it hasn’t been used, fuel evaporates from
>> the carb bowls, the fuel line, and who knows where else so I can
> understand
>> that it may take a while for the mechanical fuel pump to fill the system.
>>
>>
>>
>> When you rebuilt my carb you milled off the choke, so my car has no choke.
>> This is not a problem.
>>
>>
>>
>> When the engine finally fires, it ran on perhaps 5 cylinders for perhaps
> 60
>> seconds, when a 6th cylinder joined the party. It ran very rugged for
>> probably 2 minutes (real minutes) before another cylinder started to
>> function properly. And it was probably 4-5 minutes before all cylinders
> were
>> contributing.
>>
>>
>>
>> In the meantime, the garage filled with exhaust fumes until the engine
> began
>> running on all 8 cylinders. My intake is a Weiand Xcelerator.
>>
>>
>>
>> I don’t believe that I have any problem with the engine or with my carb.
> IF
>> the engine is warm or has been used regularly, it starts immediately and
>> runs on all 8 cylinders.
>>
>> Starting the engine the following day for example, it fired up
> immediately.
>> If I let it sit for 3 months, then it wakes slowly again.
>>
>>
>>
>> My question is more a philosophical question than anything else. What is
>> happening that causes an engine that has not been started in 3 or 4 months
>> to not fire on all cylinders until it warms up? With a common intake
> plenum
>> and a common carb, fuel should be reaching all cylinders. The whole root
> of
>> this question was that I was wondering if my engine was trying to tell me
>> something – for example I have a weak spark in certain cylinders or ???
>>
>>
>>
>> If you could shed any light on this question I would be quite grateful.
> And
>> the DeTomaso forum would be grateful as well.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>>
>>
>> Charles McCall
>>
>> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
>>
>> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
>>
>>
>
>
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-- 
Sean Korb spkorb at spkorb.org http://www.spkorb.org
'65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71 Pantera #1382
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso