37 not starting

mark180

mark180

Member
I thought I had trouble with my coil a while ago. The car would run for a bit, then seem like it was starving for fuel. I looked it up here on The Barn, it seemed like a bad coil. I replaced the coil, condenser and the 2 wires back to the distributor. I have a “modern” style detached coil. It has been a really long time since I tried to fire her up. She won’t fire up. I pulled off the air filter and put some True Fuel in the carb. I’m wondering if it has been so long that the fuel line has lost prime. What does anyone think?
 

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6V (stock + ground)? OR 12V?? Need more back ground on it. Have you checked the voltage at the distributor while cranking?? Did you pull your fuel line and check to see IF there was fuel at the fuel pump?? OR squirting at the carburetor?? Do you have spark at the spark plugs??
 
12V. I’m a total newcomer to this V8 thing. No mechanical experience, so I don’t know where to start. This car was my father’s first car. He keep ahold of it. He gave it to me, but I never learned how to work on cars. My first car was EFI, so no working on that yourself (in my world). I’m going to also reach out to the Cape Cod V8 group as well.
 
It can be challenging getting use to the sequence needed to start the old ones . If you can post a picture of the engine , it could help . Lets start with , what is a long time ? Did you turn the ignition switch on , pull choke out and crank ? How much fuel in the tank ? Can you see fuel in the fuel pump assembly? Did your dad have an electric fuel pump wired in for when it sat long ?
If your battery is fully charged and it cranks , the next srep would be to remove a plug wire and hold about 1/8” away from the block and have someone crank the motor. Be CAREFUL, DO NOT have any fuel nearby, be careful near the fan and hold the wire with insulated pliers . You should have a strong blue spark . If not we need to check some other ignition related tests
 
I would check the plugs and see IF you have spark at the plugs??? IF you have spark at the plugs, have you tried pouring some fuel into the carburetor and see IF she fires?? IF she does, you might have to do that a couple of times to see IF the fuel pump will pull/prime itself with fuel. IF it won't stay running after a couple few times of pouring fuel into the carburetor...... THEN Look back to your "fuel supply" as the most "likely" culprit!!! Let us know what happens and we can better direct you from there. YOU might wanna get some Marvel Mystery oil and go ahead and pour a decent amount down the carburetor and let that sit for a bit as well as pull the plugs and pour some in all the cylinders and let that sit too. That will help lube and free things up from sitting!!!!!
 
Since it is a '37, it should have a Holley 94 type carburetor. I have found that using one of those condiment squeeze bottles from the Dollar Store to squirt gasoline into the vent on top of the carb MUCH more effective than just dumping it down the carb. It's pretty easy to pour too much in and actually flood the car.
 
I don't know if OP confirmed fuel and spark. When my good starting 37 stopped starting , I found the rubber fuel line from firewall to fuel bowl was filled with pinholes from ethanol gas. I confirmed by wrapping electrical tape around it. I ordered a new line that was ok with ethanol.
 
37slantback said:
I don't know if OP confirmed fuel and spark. When my good starting 37 stopped starting , I found the rubber fuel line from firewall to fuel bowl was filled with pinholes from ethanol gas. I confirmed by wrapping electrical tape around it. I ordered a new line that was ok with ethanol.
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You took one of my main suspitions right from my "next" list of things to possibly look at.....IF he was not getting fuel to OR out of the fuel pump, this was going to be my first point of attack, judging from the above posted picture, I would suggest going ahead and replacing it NOW with 100% assurance that it is an "ethanol" rated line!!!!
 
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An odd question. When I was helping my friend get his father’s 1917 REO we used an air hose with an air gun stuck through a tennis ball with a hole drilled all the way through it (to form a seal at the fill tube) and we re-prime the fuel line. Can you use a similar technique on an engine like mine, or will the fuel pump be “in the way?”
 
You need "spark", "Fuel" and "Compression" for it to run.....Pick which you want to attack first!!! You know it was running in the past, or when it was parked SO that "kinda" takes care of the "compression" aspect......SO we are left with "spark" & "Gas", "spark" is pretty quick and easy to determine......my thought IS....IF you have spark and from the spinning of the motor & you don't have gas at the fuel pump?? Its easy to pour a shot of fuel in the carburetor and verify it will start and run from that.....THEN we can look at all the options on "why" you have NO fuel supply IF it doesn't pull prime while its starts and runs off a shot of fuel down the carburetor. The 'tennis" ball trick might work....I would also check all the fuel line junctions from the carburetor to copper fuel line at the firewall at the other end of your rubber supply line and make sure they are ALL tight and not loosing suction or pressure from not being tight before you try any pressure techniques!!!
 
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