I have not driven a carberated car is years and forget the recommended starting procedures What is the best way to start a cold 250 six with a carberater? What is the best way to restart the engine if it is warm or hot?
Does the chock work? How's the tune? All this plays a part. But, generally in my experience. A couple pumps get it started cold. One might be necessary even hot. Try it first.
Cold, pump a couple times. If engine doesn't start in 3-4 seconds, pump a couple more times. Each can be different. Cold my 428 ignores less than 5-6 pumps. Hot can be tricky, modern fuel often perks causing a flooded condition. Try without opening throttle, if doesn't start in 4-5 seconds, open throttle slightly and try again.
Thanks folks. I have decided that when my baby comes out of winter storage she will get a complete carb rebuilt to see if this corrects the starting issues. She now has new coil, new plugs and correct timing. With only 28,000 miles I am sure the carb has had gas sitting too much and needs a rebuild. I have found a local person who does rebuilds on 60's and 70's muscle cars and he figures he can do the Maverick six cylinder with his eyes closed.
Keep in mind that cars with mechanical fuel pumps only move fuel when the engine is cranking, so the float bowl has to be filled before the engine will start. To avoid a frustrating bout of spitting and sputtering you can fill the bowl by using a squirt bottle to feed gasoline through the bowl vent so it will be full when you first hit the key. Brand new gas will also give you a little more oomph out of the gate than stabilized gas pumped up from the tank. A bit of tap dancing on the gas pedal to keep it from dying can also be in order until you start to feel it start to smooth out and run right. What you're doing is giving it extra squirts of gas from the accelerator pump. Then you can just rev it gently and try to get a feel for when it starts to idle properly.
It's so funny to see a question like this being asked (and that's not a criticism of anyone), because I come from a generation when electronic fuel-injected cars did not exist. Today's generation has never known anything other than turn the key and the engine starts. They are oblivious to carburetors with accelerator pumps & chokes. It's not something that needs to be taught, as it doesn't take long to "figure out". Pump the pedal a couple times and turn the key. If the engine is in good condition and has a proper tune, it should fire right up...
