Some of you may remember me posting about my V8 Lark that had sat for over sixteen years. That was last year before my shoulder surgery. I put in a new battery, got it running, patched up the brakes, and once again parked it deep in the man cave a few days before the surgery. What they say about time going faster as you get older is true. Seems like my life is now traveling at "Warp Speed!"
I needed to get to a push mower blocked in by the Lark. That is when I realized that it has now been over a year and a half since the poor little Lark has fired...again. So I hooked the battery cables back up, put a charger on it, and after a little charge time, attempted to start it. No fire. I popped the air cleaner off, poured a little gas in and it fired right up...and died. You gotta realize that it is about 100% humidity and 90+ degrees under this old metal roof pole building. I repeated the process of charging the battery, priming the carb, temporary ignition, draining the battery, etc. All the while, I was doing other chores and coming back to the car. Meanwhile, I started reorganizing the adjacent stall, and making a path through all the clutter to pull the mower out as an alternate plan to getting the Lark started.
I hate to tell on myself this way, but late in the day, I finally realized that the gas tank was empty. By that time, the daily thunderstorms were fast approaching and I had to hastily put all the stuff back under cover, close the doors and get inside before the daily deluge began.
This morning I went back out, and started the process again. I poured enough gas in the tank to get the gauge registering nearly a quarter tank. Still no luck getting the engine to sustain running without pouring gas in the carb. I even took the line loose at the carb and cranked the engine over and no gas from the pump. So, I got to thinking about that little rubber diaphragm in the fuel pump, how long the car had sat with the back lower than the front, and having sat empty with air (not fluid) in the lines.
I grabbed my small shop vac and put the hose on the exhaust side so that it would blow instead of suck. Stuck it in the gas hole and gave it a couple of burst of low pressure high volume air to positively pressurize the tank and hopefully prime the fuel line and pump. Instant success! This time...after sitting a little over a year and a half...the resilient little 259 came to life and is purring like a kitty again. I would always recommend being very careful using this method for pressurized priming...gasoline...electrical appliance...safety first. Just make sure you are in a rather open environment and there is not a concentration of gas fumes hanging around looking for an ignition source. However, remember that those little fuel pumps have rather primitive valves that will merely flap away in air with out pumping anything. Once primed, they will take over and work as intended.
I needed to get to a push mower blocked in by the Lark. That is when I realized that it has now been over a year and a half since the poor little Lark has fired...again. So I hooked the battery cables back up, put a charger on it, and after a little charge time, attempted to start it. No fire. I popped the air cleaner off, poured a little gas in and it fired right up...and died. You gotta realize that it is about 100% humidity and 90+ degrees under this old metal roof pole building. I repeated the process of charging the battery, priming the carb, temporary ignition, draining the battery, etc. All the while, I was doing other chores and coming back to the car. Meanwhile, I started reorganizing the adjacent stall, and making a path through all the clutter to pull the mower out as an alternate plan to getting the Lark started.
I hate to tell on myself this way, but late in the day, I finally realized that the gas tank was empty. By that time, the daily thunderstorms were fast approaching and I had to hastily put all the stuff back under cover, close the doors and get inside before the daily deluge began.
This morning I went back out, and started the process again. I poured enough gas in the tank to get the gauge registering nearly a quarter tank. Still no luck getting the engine to sustain running without pouring gas in the carb. I even took the line loose at the carb and cranked the engine over and no gas from the pump. So, I got to thinking about that little rubber diaphragm in the fuel pump, how long the car had sat with the back lower than the front, and having sat empty with air (not fluid) in the lines.
I grabbed my small shop vac and put the hose on the exhaust side so that it would blow instead of suck. Stuck it in the gas hole and gave it a couple of burst of low pressure high volume air to positively pressurize the tank and hopefully prime the fuel line and pump. Instant success! This time...after sitting a little over a year and a half...the resilient little 259 came to life and is purring like a kitty again. I would always recommend being very careful using this method for pressurized priming...gasoline...electrical appliance...safety first. Just make sure you are in a rather open environment and there is not a concentration of gas fumes hanging around looking for an ignition source. However, remember that those little fuel pumps have rather primitive valves that will merely flap away in air with out pumping anything. Once primed, they will take over and work as intended.
Comment