Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines COLD PROBLEMS

hI dudes, I have a problem, when the weather its so cold near the 0°C ( 32 °F) I have many problems to start my 292 engine truck, Many explosions, poor performance, when the engine is hot the problem is solved, I have Hei distributor, Monojet carb... If I install the four barrel offy manifold with the 4bbl Holley 390 cfm, will be the problem solved?

thanks a lot for your posts, in the short time I will put a lot of pics.

Hola,

I'm new to working on cars, but I think the problem is probably that you have to heat the intake manifold somehow.. If you don't heat it, the fuel will condense on the walls of the intake insted of going into the cylinders. The stock exhaust manifold has a pipe with a special valve that heats up the bottom of the intake manifold when the engine is cold, if you have headers installed then you don't have this heater anymore and you have to find some other way of heating the intake.

I'm assuming you have the stock intake manifold..
I think langdon's stovebolt sells a kit that you bolt to the bottom of the stock manifold to heat it with the heater water..

Also, I think offy intakes have water heating built in so yeah, the problem probably would be solved with the new manifold, if you install the water heat lines..

Somebody correct me if I'm way off..

Dear Ivan;

Luis is correct.

Internal combustion engines are not designed to operate in that(freezing)climate. To accomidate this, most use engine heaters that keep the oil, coolant & fuel warm when not running. Once started, they often are left running because of this also.

Good luck, John M.....

Does the carb still have a working choke?
Headers and living in Mexico makes me suspect it's not functional anymore.
The intake heat doesn't do any good on initial startup since everything's cold.
Once running, the intake heat helps driveabilty since the gas vaporises better warm than cold.
Is the timing set correctly? Too much initial advance makes them harder to start too.

when you say many explosions i am guessing you mean backfiring thru the carb? if so it sounds like timing too far advanced and no choke.

Not to start any flaming, but any engine should run at freezing temperatures, even race motors. Anyone who has run the Halloween Classic here can verify that. Make sure that the timing is set correctly, no vacumn leaks and the choke works.

It was not uncommon for even new stock 194-292 motors to bang and pop when cold, however they would smooth out once some heat built up in the motor.

PS: Yes engines will run at freezing & below.

However; When you make a "hot Rod" out of one, you lose the 'low end' especially when cold.

If tuned properly(hot)his will be okay cold, if driven accordingly or warmed up first.

You can't have it both ways.

Ivan

If you are going to use an Offy intake manifold,read my post titled "Offy Intake With Water Heat", in the "Tech Tips" forum. It MAY be of some help for you.

Ed Graham

Thanks a lot guys for your time and disponibility...

I'm waiting for my holley 4bbl 390 cfm and offy 4bbl from SUmmit because I check my carb and there is the problem, the choke doesn't work, the timing is correct.... I will read the post of the offy intake with water heat...

GRACIAS CARNALES..

I think I'll add mu $.02 even though it's not really needed....

I think most of have forgotten the need to warm-up a cold engine. With today's computer-controlled, fuel-injected engines, we've become used to firing-up and ice-old engine, dropping the gearshift into 'Drive' and blasting down the road without a bit of hesitation.

In addition to an old in-line Chevy engine, I also fool around with antique farm tractors and fly airplanes. My 1937 Farmall F-20 needs a good 10 minute warm-up on a SUMMER day before it's happy working under a load, and have you ever seen the warm-up time required on a radial aircraft engine?

We're working with old technology here, folks, and, as mentioned, adding a performance cam to a carburatted engine only makes it worse.

Okay I got this one covered. I live in Saskatoon Canada. The tempature gets to -40 below zero. I drive a 1964 pontatic with a 230 single barrel, stock exhast and intake. Everyone can tell you what the problem is and diffrent solutions. All good. Here is the best and cheapest way to have that 292 start like a top all the time. My 230 needs to be warm or she runs like a tractor. I install Circulating water heaters in all my cars. This is a device that one installs at the lowest point in the engine bay. You have to wye into the heater hoses. The circular water heater works like a hot water heater in your house and makes hot water around your engine. The engine is nice and hot (DO NOT TOUCH). This device will melt snow on your hood at -38. NO JOKE... GOOD LUCK.

gracias carnales??? hmmm. no gracias..

Luis BRW, Carnal is Like Brother, DUdes....