Alcohol 565 carb used to have no problem starting it. Now its a problem. 7al black box tried different start retard chips and 0 degree no real difference.
Cranks good pretty fast. Used to give it a pump wait couple seconds turn it over with ignition off flip it on and fire right up. Now it backfires at least once then it will fire up. Wants to blow the air filter out of the airpan.Any tips don't know what changed. No crank trigger has Msd dist. Rotor phase I have not checked. Car runs great

sounds like a lean condition or to much retard causing a cross fire do you have the small cap or larger cap adapt maybe your squirters arnt working correctly

carb is all good. Large cap. Tried more fuel . Like a pump and a half on the pedal and its a bigger backfire

Change pick up in dist. Had the same problem

check squirters for operation .lol give more pumps its lean.

some thoughts;

*carefully look at the distributor cap, rotor, and secondary coil terminals and coil wire, checking closely for a crack or corrosion.

*Also, if you have rust/corrosion on the pickup coil and reluctor wheel that is a potential problem.

*For a test, using the MSD spark testing plug or a very wide gapped spare spark plug, test each wire of a strong, steady spark. [do this test without fuel pumped into the engine, that is to say, run the carb dry or drain fuel so the engine can not start. You are just looking at spark.]

*I have seen a corroded coil wire or terminals do such antics.

*If you have not done so, check, clean, gap or replace spark plugs

*You said the starter spins normally. But just as to be sure, clean/check battery cable connections, plus connections at the starter.

*I suggest checking the rotor phasing by installing a "test" cap with a H O L E drilled at one of the spark plug wire terminals [it does not matter which wire, choose one that is easy to see. Drill a large enough hole to see the full rotor blade and full cap terminal, 1/2" of larger. Then with the engine running, you can see where the spark is landing on the cap terminal.] [MSD has some tech tip photos of doing this and it is important]


All food for though.

Remove rotor and turn over. Make sure it doesn’t look like this.

Ohm the distributor pick up. Should measure 500 – 700 ohms.

Make sure your battery is maintaining at least 10v WHILE cranking, check your MSD voltage supply and GROUNDS.

Check rotor phasing

I've had this same issue this year out of the blue after years of zero issues.

Hurt some starters (drives) and just this past weekend had it again. I had replaced 2 starter drives and my spare starter is not good anymore. Turns over weak and slow......5-6 years old on both.

Starter builder was at the race I was at and installed a new drive and solenoid.

I experimented a lot with engine hot and cold.

It starts best with no retard and I have not used that for years anyway.

It fires right up with ignition and starter turned on at the same time.....starts immediately...

Spinning it over with ignition off and than turning it on was more likely to sneeze back....

I also tried various techniques.....no pump works best once the engine is warm..

Cold a couple light pumps....

You do need good cranking voltage....I have 2 12 volt batteries and the remote solenoid and have had 2 of the plastic ones fail. The remote solenoid is going to be pulled out in favor of std. type starter wiring.......I've been using metal HD continuous duty rated Cole-Hersee remote solinoids with no failures there but its another set of contacts that can go bad....

I also need to look over my ignition parts carefully....

Great things to check Thanks. Pick up and reluctor wheel were rusted bad and I replaced them 2 years ago not for this problem. Will start no problem with a shot of gas. I replaced my old red 7al3 for the black one and cant remember if the starting problem started then. Both my kids are in jr dragsters and I don't race much at all

Swing,

your comment about easy starting with Gasoline points to an ignition problem. Gasoline will light off easier, thus, possible cover up a weak ignition.

And one other thought, do you have clean, fresh Methanol?

quote:

Originally posted by diceman1530:
Check rotor phasing

This


Also if you are running an advance curve in a small cap distributor it may cause a kickback on the starter. The advance being slight, the rotor is beyond optimum and near the next cylinder in order. A drilled cap and timing light are your friend.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bubbletop409,

Absolutely on the rotor phasing....

Takes very little misalignment even with a big cap to possibly cause severe kickbacks....

Been there and wrecked a pile of stuff...

My 565 is on gas.....

When it was a Terminator I had a primer plus and it started very easy.

I did retard the timing anytime the gas primer pump was powered.

I experimented with various amounts of retard and did not use a lot...…

That setup/system worked very well once I sorted it all out.

When I ran an alky carb.....I primed it with gas first start of the day only. Always started after that with no problem....

Finally checked ignition over and checked the rotor phase with a hole in the cap running. Its off. Anyone had to use the adjustable rotor for this with a MSD dist no crank trigger?

Yes, that's what I use.....

Large pro cap, adjustable rotor...no crank trigger.

Rotor should be set so its at the leading edge of the distributer post at idle rpm...as per MSD Tech info....

Mine is past the #1 post going towards # 8. Hope this helps Thanks

My car started doing the same thing last year. No matter what I tried it still popped through the carb.. Eventually, it got to the point I didn't want to start the car the first time. Checked everything and the batteries all showed good. This year I replace the batteries, and the problem went away.

I had a bad ignition box cause this. Had issues for years and tried just about everything mentioned above. The car was aactually running slower than I thought it should run the last couple years then it did some really weird things last race of the year and I sent box back to MSD. Well you know the story nothing wrong with it but car runs tenth and half faster the following year nothing else change.