Iffy Starting after a week?

[ChasR]

I think I know the answer to this and the thread may be pointless but it is good to get other people's take on the situation .

Basically, my now gone MG Midget 1500 was not a great starter. I changed the pitted points for an electronic ignition kit, reset the timing which was way way way too advanced (24 degrees @tdc back to 10 degrees at 900rpm), which improved the smoothness of the car and idle, in addition to resetting the tappets and carbs back to spec.

If I drove the car daily, it would start first time with the choke all of the way out ; it was dependable.

However, if left for more than a week the car become a royal pain to start. It would attempt to start, but as the engine presumably began to catch, the inertia starter motor would throw itself out and spin aimlessly without turning over the engine. I would end up repeating this for quite some time until the engine flooded sometimes, where after it would run horrible for around a minute with my foot flat to the floor. My MGBs (both on HS4s and HIFs) were fine, and had electric fuel pumps. The same could be said for the Stag, which oddly started better on the Holley carb over the Strombergs, even though it had been left a week, as long as I let the fuel pump prime itself before firing it up.

My question is, what do you think could have improved the Midget's starting? The solenoid has been mentioned a few times but I fail to see how it would have improved matters (if the engine didn't catch the starter on the car would just keep on turning and turning). I put it down possibly to a few things

1) No solenoid actuated (well, modern) starter motor to keep the engine turning when it most needed it.
2) Fuel draining back over time, giving the engine driven fuel pump a harder time once the car was left a while.
3) Maybe more fuel required for the choke?

Discuss .

[taurus]

I've known several do the same, always with mechanical fuel pumps. If left to stand for a while the fuel drains back and the mechanical pump struggles to prime properly.

If it's a hassle I find fitting an electric pump usually sorts it as the carb is primed before cranking begins.

When it needs to be kept original (ie mechanical fuel pump) my usual trick is to crank for about 4-5 second with no choke. Then use a bit of choke but get it fired up by using the throttle pedal - they don't flood that way and at the point when it nearly fires and the starter kicks out then the blip on the throttle either gets it going - or - if it doesn't fire that time it will always fire the next turn of the key.

Cranking relying on choke along means you don't get much of a line between not starting or flooding.

Back in the '70's I drove all sorts of things and every single one needed a different technique to fire up first thing in the morning. These days we're so used to the ECU doing it all for us that we've lost the knack of feeling what's going on.