The next source of frustration - starting 'er up

[retroboy]

Man what next. The story so far ... been nearly 30 years since I ran a FED with a single 4 barrel carb 302 Ford and clutch-flite. Three years ago I bought a basket case FED and front halved it, up graded the cage and fitted a Chrysler small block and torque flight. Went out last October and killed the engine straight away. I rebuilt and initially ran the engine with a carb to run it in a bit (flat tappet engine) then decided to run a meth carb but got stiched up by a speedway guy so have re fitted my injection.  Have a vertex. These old ideas were great in thd old days of push starts but short of going to two batteries how do I get an easy start from this thing. I' m too old for all these "challenges " this car is throwing up. Lol. I want a simple set up hence the mechanical injection and magneto.
Cheers
Tony with the hair pulled out.

[Supercat]

 We us an XS power 16+ battery. We ran the car for 1 season without recharging the battery. I could not afford the battery charger for this battery at first but had been sponsored the battery.
Not cheap but I haven't had any regrets and the 13.5 -1 engine with mag and 4 port spins right up..

I can get you the info if you want to look into it?

[Paul New]

A vertex and alky injection should just have to squirt a little gas and it should start on 12v easy

[hotrod316]

we have used 2 x 12 v = 24 volts
maybe your vertex needs a little tune up

[Paul New]

we have used 2 x 12 v = 24 volts
maybe your vertex needs a little tune up

We switched to 2-12v in series when we went from a vertex to a MSD Pro Mag. I know several cars that also switched to 24v just because it starts so much quicker. But not necessary with a Vertex unless it is a little weak like is said above

[dreracecar]

Are you spinning the motor first and then flipping the mag switch??

[retroboy]

I ran the guy who serviced the Mag today. He's been in the biz for a lifetime so I take what he says as the word. Bottom line it should go easy. Some where deep down inside I don't think it's spinnin' over fast enough (New gear reduction starter).  I'm trying to keep it simple and looking to fit an onboard battery rather than have my mate (also an old coot like me) or my wife dragging a pair batteries around (for a plug in 24 volts) so if I can't get it sorted quickly I'm going to try a conventional ignition.
Cheers

[dreracecar]

Again---are you spinning the engine first and then hitting the switch??
what are the plugs gaped at??

[retroboy]

Yes I'm hitting the switch after a second or so. The fuel pump  (80A-1) is flooded, the line from the pump up is full of fuel and I have given it squirt of petrol. I squirt petrol because it has a lower flash point. Plugs are NGK either BP5ES or BP6ES at .018"
Cheers

 

[wideopen231]

NGK  8 or 9 plugs work with alky/I like 9's may try changing plugs.Have you pulled a plug and spun it to see if it has fire? Omly 2 things to make a motor fire.Fuel and spark at correct time.Sometimes we over look the simplest things,been there done that.

[JrFuel Hayden]

All of the Heritage Jrfuelers use two 12 volt battery in series to start their cars. With just a good Hi-Torque flywheel starter.
We run 15.5 to 16 compression and a 20 amp MSD mag. Now you may get by with a single 12 volt battery with lower compression and your vertex. I have found some great, but not cheap supper light weight batteries, like less than 10 lbs for both batteries. Hayden Wheels sells a remote battery pack, and I could sell just the batteries if you are interested in mounting the batteries in the car. It helps if you should ever kill the motor on the burn-out and no crew member has to haul the battery or cables back to your tow car. We use the remote BatteryPak, because JF is very weight aware. 3.5 lbs per CI with driver. I switched to the Hayden BatteryPak when I found the light batteries because all of our team is over 70. We don't need to charge the battery all week-end, just before we leave for the races, and we have been using the same batterypak for 4 years. I also use a one pound 14 amp battery in the car to power the transbrake and RacePak. 
One other thing that might help you, we spin the motor over with out plugs when we 1'st start the car in the morning, that gets our fuel system bled, and oil pressure up. We look for fuel coming out the plug holes.

Jon, 800-624-3803

[retroboy]

A vertex and alky injection should just have to squirt a little gas and it should start on 12v easy

  Thanks for the 16v idea. I'll look into that a bit further. One battery instead of two. Sounds good.

[retroboy]

Thanks everybody for your ideas. I like the idea of spinin' her over with the plugs out to get the fuel up. I'm going to borrow a guys standard Chrysler magnetic dist and MSD6a on the weekend just to see if it helps.  Failing that I'll try increased battery voltage. I'm in Australia so Jon's set up might be tricky but I know I can get the 16 volt jobbie mentioned. Maybe I can find someone locally who can lend me one to try. I'll post next week after I try the ignition change.

[PSweeney]

you don't say what CR you're running but if I were you, stick to 12v, lose the mag and get an MSD pro-billet dizzy. Either the mags bad, starters on it's way out or you have another issued building compression when cranking, ie tight lash, leaky seats, head gasket or rings.

[retroboy]

Well I'd like to say yep that's it as simple as that but the Mag has just been serviced and magnets recharged, the starter is a new gear reduction job that has maybe six starts plus a bit of tryin' ! And the engine has 15 mins running time here in my shed. Going to try a conventional ignition and will report back.