At 10:22 PM 5/14/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> The car seems to be cold blooded when starting.
Bob, that is sort of normal for 440's. It seems that the way the intake
ports are layed out, they are great for performance, but the fuel
atomization is not too good during cold starts. Both my 440's behave like
that.
>I did discover that the automatic choke linkage was disconnected, and I
>have reconnected that.
I have the choke disconnected on both my 68's (Texas weather allows
that). I 'd rather live with a bit tough cold starting in the winter
rather than rich mixture (excessive rich mixture could lead to fouled
plugs, cylinder deposits and contaminated oil). But that's up to you.
>The first time the car is started each day, I need to pump the accelerator
>pedal about 25 times (yes that many, I have been counting). Later in the
>day, it still takes 6-8 pumps to get it started when the engine is
>slightly warm.
Bob your accelerator pump may not be working. Even my cars with no choke
are not that tough to start. Take the air cleaner off and move the
throttle linkage forwards-backwards. You should see gas sprinkling
out. If not, its the accelerator pump...
>I also notice a fair amount of black specs on the garage floor belo w the
>tail pipe exhaust.
That's probably due to super rich running due to the choke. That's why I
don't like the choke. Of course, one of the reasons I hate this super rich
mixtures is that I run synthetic oil, which I do not change very often, so
I try to avoid oil contamination. If you plan to use a cheaper oil, and
replace it often, then super rich operation for a minute or two is no big
deal (assuming you drive the car super hard every now and then to burn off
deposits).
As a side note, if you plan to keep your car a long-long time, the
synthetic oil with longer drain intervals is a better deal than cheaper oil
with shorter drain intervals. But I would at least re-adjust the choke
till you loose the black smoke.
D^2, 2x68's
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