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Carb not getting gas. Car will not start.

Discussion in '1965-1970 Shelby Mustang GT350 & GT500' started by Edward66GT350, Jan 6, 2008.

  1. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    I parked the shelby(66 gt350) about 6mos ago. fuel tank was low. now it will not start. fuel is coming out of the hose connected to the carb filter. therefore, gas is not flowing into the carb. what seems to be the problem/solution?
    tia,
    ed
     
  2. steveshelbymustang

    steveshelbymustang Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like you need to prime the carburetor before starting the car. You should always prime the fuel bowls before cranking or starting the motor. Reason is todays gas evaporates and causes the fuel to gum up and stick the inlet valve. Allowing the motor to draw the fuel to the carburetor after priming will prevent blowing the power valve in the carb as well. This is somewhat old school with carburetor cars. If you store your car for a length of time normally you should put fuel stabalizer in the system but always prime the carburetor if you take it out of storage to allow the fuel system to draw fuel from the tank. As a precaution don't crank the motor while pumping the gas waiting for the fuel pump to draw the fuel to the carburetor as this is called dry pumping and will blow the power valve in the carburetor. The motor won't idle or accelerate properly if the power valve is blown.
     
  3. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    who do i prime the carb?
    how will i know if i've blown the valve?
    thanks,
    ed
     
  4. steveshelbymustang

    steveshelbymustang Well-Known Member

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    Take a small amount of gas and pour it down the air tube. It will travel to the front fuel bowl and if its only been 6 months since you have run the car it won't take too much to return to normal operation. You should look at the accelerator pump and make sure its not leaking gas as sometimes the diaphrams will shrink and leak gas onto the manifold. "FIre hazzard" So be careful when starting a motor and don't let the leaking gas get to a spark. Make sure you place your air cleaner lid back on before cranking the motor in case of backfire. Keep a extinguisher close by also. If the power valve is blown you will notice the motor will idle low and when you try and rev it up it wll run wild and not idle. My guess the inlet valve in your carb is stuck holding the front float bowl up closing the fuel off from comming in. Once you have fuel back in the bowl it will probably loosen the gum from the valve. Wouldn't hurt to spray a little carb cleaner down the air tube where you prime it also. Let the car run at idle at first so the fuel will catch up to normal pressure. In past times I have found a dry rotten hose that connects the tank to the line near the axle housing allowing air in to the line preventing pressure and gas flow. Check this before you go to the trouble of priming the carb. It may be all thats wrong. Not enough pressure to maintain flow.
     
  5. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    steve,
    very good advice! car is running. i first sprayed carb cleaner in the air tube and let it sit awhile. then i used an eye dropper to put gas in boyh the front and rear airtubes. again, let car sit awhile. car fired right up. i spoke w/ a couple expert mustang people, but they were at a loss of how to solve my starting problem. again, thanks for the help steve.
    now, car idles fine but seems rough at about 2500 rpm. fouled plug?
    thanks,
    ed
     
  6. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    Tried to start car today. It fired up, then died as if it was not getting fuel.
    Placed gas in the air tubes again, but it starts then just dies. Need suggestions.
    Thank you,
    Ed
     
  7. steveshelbymustang

    steveshelbymustang Well-Known Member

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    Ed
    What carb do you have? May be a bad diaphram on the acceleterator pump. Are you running the stock camshaft? If not there could be a low vacuum however if the car was running fine before you parked it, that would not be my guess at this point. If you still have the old gas from when you parked it there could be the thought of gum clogging the passage. I have cork gaskets that have shrunk causing problems like this also. May just be easier to remove the carb and do a cleaning and rebuild. If you do make sure you use fuel stabilizer before you park the car for long periods. Hope this helps
     
  8. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    steve,
    i have the stock carb for a shelby. it ran fine 1 month ago after i filled the air tubes w/ gas.
    pumping the gas peddle doesn't seem to add fuel.
    ed
     
  9. steveshelbymustang

    steveshelbymustang Well-Known Member

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    I am guessing Holley!! Not Autolite!! Center pivot floats on the 715 Holley may stick preventing the inlet valve to open and allow gas into the fuel bowl. You need to check this first. If the fuel bowl is full then the inlet valve is not stuck. The next thing would be the accelerator pump that may have a bad diaphram. You can manually move the lever to pump a little gas into the ventura. If you don't see a spray of fuel then the diaphram is bad or a block is in the passage from the pump to the ventura. Sometimes a little gummout spray will clean any gum from the small passages in the metering block. Spray a little down the air tube enough to prime before going to the trouble of disasembly. Holleys are pretty simple carbs so if nothing works after you try this I believe it may be less time if you just remove the carb and tear it down for a cleaning. I'll try to locate a few diagrams to assist you if this dosen't fix it.
     
  10. rsimkins

    rsimkins Well-Known Member

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    Ed,

    Try changing the filter. Whether the carb is a Holley or an Autolite, I believe that both carbs in stock configuration are supposed to have a filter directly attached to the carb. The Holley filter screws into the fuel bowl and the Autolite filter into the carb body itself.
     
  11. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    car started and ran fine today. thanks for all the great suggestions.
    now, if i could just get it to go into gear easier.............
    ed
     
  12. steveshelbymustang

    steveshelbymustang Well-Known Member

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  13. Edward66GT350

    Edward66GT350 Well-Known Member

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    Steve,
    I just resurrected my old thread re the shifting problem.
    hope you can give some insight. Go to the separate thread re this.
    Ed
     

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