holley 94

demingboy

demingboy

Member
Hi.
I searched the forum but did not find a similiar situation. So another carb question please.
Have a 1951 ford flathead in my 41 ford. Has a Holley 94 on it. Darn thing starts and runs fine. Untill I let it sit for a week. Then it refuses to start unless I prime it with some gas down the throat. After that life is good.
My question is whatta ya think this is? Float sticking? Power valve gone dry?
Car came to me with a rebuilt carb so they said. And it does ok untill it does not.
Fuel pump is new.
 
The 8ba in my '39 p/u had a similar problem which from what I gather is not all that uncommon to flatheads. My solution was an electric fuel pump mounted just in front of the rear gas tank. Wired to a toggle switch under the dash. When ever the truck sits for a while I hit the switch until the carb fills up, turn it off and crank it over. Starts just fine. Others use a momentary toggle switch so as not to leave the pump running. Choice is yours if you go the electric pump route. I'm sure others will have other thoughts but this works for me.
 
My ‘50 used to do that. I would take the air filter off, hold my hand over the carb and jump the solenoid to turn it over till I saw fuel in the clear filter. Then it would start right up. I ended up changing the fuel pump and that fixed the issue. You want to use one of the flexible fuel lines with the check valve.......Mark
 
Whenever I do any work on a 94, one of the last things I do is to leave the top off and fill the bowl with gas. I have a special metal pan I put it in and loosely cover it. I let it sit over night and check the next morning. If the fuel level in the float bowl has gone down a detectable amount, there is usually a problem with the power valve (a leak in the valve itself, or a poor-fitting valve). There are some with enough experience and skill to install power valves without checking them this way, but I'm not one of them. There's always a small chance of a leak in the base to body gasket, or a porous or cracked body.
 
Charlie Price has some real good videos on YouTube in regards to rebuilding the 94 and 97. His kits also have the correct power valve.
 
51504bat said:
The 8ba in my '39 p/u had a similar problem which from what I gather is not all that uncommon to flatheads. My solution was an electric fuel pump mounted just in front of the rear gas tank. Wired to a toggle switch under the dash. When ever the truck sits for a while I hit the switch until the carb fills up, turn it off and crank it over. Starts just fine. Others use a momentary toggle switch so as not to leave the pump running. Choice is yours if you go the electric pump route. I'm sure others will have other thoughts but this works for me.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. I did the same and it works perfectly.

This is the one:
https://www.amazon.com/Airtex-E8902-Universal-Electric-Fuel/dp/B005E9DKWW
 
My memory's not too sharp but didn't I build you a carb and/or pump lately ? Regard-
less if the car fires up real nice after sitting just one or two nights then most likely the
carb is good and most likely the pump has trouble self priming. A tiny air leak somewhere
on the suction side can cause this to happen. It is a fact the some of the early flex
hoses connecting the hard line from the tank to the pump can draw air in but not show an external leak. Addtionally the valves in the pump might not be sealing effectively or the bowl gasket could have shrunk.
Charlie ny
 
Now that Charlie mentioned it, I had this happen to me once a long time ago. I found that for some reason, a cork bowl gasket seals better than a neoprene one. It would seem it would be the other way, but I found it was not.
 
tubman said:
Whenever I do any work on a 94, one of the last things I do is to leave the top off and fill the bowl with gas. I have a special metal pan I put it in and loosely cover it. I let it sit over night and check the next morning. If the fuel level in the float bowl has gone down a detectable amount, there is usually a problem with the power valve (a leak in the valve itself, or a poor-fitting valve). There are some with enough experience and skill to install power valves without checking them this way, but I'm not one of them. There's always a small chance of a leak in the base to body gasket, or a porous or cracked body.
Click to expand...

Yup. You should try the “gas” out here in California.....
Completely sealed carb with no issues.... 3/8” loss to evaporation in two days on my workbench. That’s some crappy petrol.
 
We are really lucky here in Minnesota. Because of the efforts of the Minnesota Street Rod Association (and living up in "lake country"), every station has at least one pump of non-oxygenated (no alcohol) premium, even the ones at the supermarket.

If that's not enough, there is a station across from BIR (Brainerd International Raceway) that has genuine race gas available (not the high alcohol stuff some others sell). The last time I bought some it was over $8 a gallon.
 
I think that’s why the previous owner of my ‘41 installed an electric pump between the tank and original fuel pump, it’s on a spring switch.
 
The elec pump seems more and more like the fix du'jour. so far I have resisted. If
either my '32 or '41 p'up sit for 3 or 4 days I have to 'crank' a few times before the
mech pump does it's job.
Charlie ny
 
The same with my '51. I had an electric fuel pump on it years ago, but I'm a stickler for "if it worked well from the factory, it should for me". I tinkered with the carb to make sure it didn't leak down, and then made sure the fuel supply system was in top shape. The final step was replacing a slightly leaking neoprene bowl gasket with a new cork one and I finally had it.

The electric pump went the way of all things a month or two later.
 
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