Shutting my Roadster off.

Back in 1966 I was working at a freezing works and using my 1929 Phaeton for daily transport. It had no ignition key and just a simple on/off switch, consequently I always turned the petrol off.
Workers at freezing works tended to be rugged characters and inevitably I finished work one day to find my car gone.
The works were down a very long drive, and after reporting it stolen to the police, I found it at the end of the drive with a flat battery.
The thief had got only as far as a bowl of petrol and then flattened the battery trying to restart it.
Keith
 
wensum said:
Back in 1966 I was working at a freezing works and using my 1929 Phaeton for daily transport. It had no ignition key and just a simple on/off switch, consequently I always turned the petrol off.
Workers at freezing works tended to be rugged characters and inevitably I finished work one day to find my car gone.
The works were down a very long drive, and after reporting it stolen to the police, I found it at the end of the drive with a flat battery.
The thief had got only as far as a bowl of petrol and then flattened the battery trying to restart it.
Keith
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Fuel off, battery disconnected is the BEST security.
 
You are the one doing the right thing. Fuels these days are a mix of many hydrocarbons with varying boiling points. In your situation over there, ethanol as well. The more volatile ones evaporate quickly, especially in the warm environment of the engine. Only the thick, heavy hydrocarbons are left. When you come to restart it, those heavy hydrocarbons don't atomise/vaporise nearly as well as the more volatile ones so starting is more difficult.
Keep doing what you are now.
 
Here is how I look at it:

I turn off gas valve when I am away from the car has worked since 1962.

When I stored car over winter in a garage with a heater / water heater or without for that matter...
(A Pilot light and or Burner will ignite any spilled gas).

remove the gas line from carb,

loosen the gas line at sediment bowl.

turn gas line up 180 degrees so that outlet is ABOVE the level of gas in tank.

Tighten fitting on sediment bowl gas line.

That way there will be no leaks from carb and if someone turns the gas valve on while you are gone there will be no leaks.


OR remove both ends of fuel line

make a 4 inch fuel line with the end crimped and soldered shut.

Install this line in sediment bowl fitting to prevent any leaks while in storage.

Or empty gas tank.
 
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At the Niagara Falls MARC national meet, there was a Mode A with a down draft card set up. He was parked in the parking deck and forgot to shut off his fuel tank. The gas filled the cylinders of the engine and ran out the bottom of the car down the floor of the parking deck. I decided to park on another level of the parking deck that day.
 
Ed Saniewski said:
At the Niagara Falls MARC national meet, there was a Mode A with a down draft card set up. He was parked in the parking deck and forgot to shut off his fuel tank. The gas filled the cylinders of the engine and ran out the bottom of the car down the floor of the parking deck. I decided to park on another level of the parking deck that day.
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I've seen a newly rebuilt engine ruined by fuel getting into the cylinders. The PO had put a fuel pump on the car to feed the downdraught carby but no pressure regulator. The float valve couldn't handle the pressure so it kept running through the carby till it filled a couple of cylinders. Quite some time passed before the pressure issue was fixed but the fuel had been turned off at the tank. The fuel in the cylinders drained past the rings but washed the cylinder walls dry of oil. When the engine was started, the pistons grabbed on the bores. It has rattled ever since.:eek:
 
i turn off the battery disconnect then the fuel , let the car run out of gas then everything is dead! i have a up draft and the fuel will get into the motor if i don,t shut it off
__________________Brenden in post 11
I don't understand. How does it run out of fuel when the battery disconnect is off. No power, no ignition! Must be in the reverse order...disconnect after the carb runs out of fuel.
 
cpf240 said:
Ok, I have to ask... what is a 'freezing works' ?
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Its the factorys scattered all across the states above the 42nd parallel that gets turned on every nov/december to create winter!

Google says its a New Zeland term for a meat packing plant but ill let you choose:rolleyes:
 
midgetracer said:
i turn off the battery disconnect then the fuel , let the car run out of gas then everything is dead! i have a up draft and the fuel will get into the motor if i don,t shut it off
__________________Brenden in post 11
I don't understand. How does it run out of fuel when the battery disconnect is off. No power, no ignition! Must be in the reverse order...disconnect after the carb runs out of fuel.
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Probably the same way fuel flows up an up draft carb into the motor???
 
midgetracer said:
i turn off the battery disconnect then the fuel , let the car run out of gas then everything is dead! i have a up draft and the fuel will get into the motor if i don,t shut it off
__________________Brenden in post 11
I don't understand. How does it run out of fuel when the battery disconnect is off. No power, no ignition! Must be in the reverse order...disconnect after the carb runs out of fuel.
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I would assume that the ignition is being powered by the generator once the battery is disconnected.
 
BILL WILLIAMSON said:
Ford-m,
There should be a book written, "OLD STUPID FOLKS SAY THE DAMNDEST THINGS"---
When some folks speak, you just consider the "SOURCE"--LOL
Even my Dog is smarter than that! (He's SMILIN')
Bill W.
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People tell you these things for a couple of reasons.
1) Friendly, mean well people that just want to start a conversation and don't know how to start it.
2) Know it alls that just have to tell others what to do.

Either case when I'm told such things I answer with a smile "Thanks, I did not know that".
 
cpf240 said:
Ok, I have to ask... what is a 'freezing works' ?
Click to expand...


A place where animals are slaughtered and processed into meat. In New Zealand we grow great grass and hence great meat. Because we are so far away from most of our markets our meat has traditionally (for the last 150 years) been exported frozen -Hence Freezing works . Try some New Zealand lamb you won't be disappointed! -Karl
 
Trying to buy lamb in the US is like looking for the winning lottery ticket. If it isn't beef, it isn't meat over there! We finally found some but it wasn't like the stuff we get at home.:(
 
I have run into 'experts' at car shows and such, I just let them wind down and move on. There is someone who always knows just a bit more than you do. I listen and then check their street creds later. Your sequence in shutting down is the best way in my opinion. No 'engine harm' can come out of that.
 
A car with gravity feed fuel is a car with a perpetually running fuel pump. Henry didn't add parts just "for the heck of it," we know that.

And to add: I always run carbs dry, works great.
 
I switch off the fuel and the battery kill switch every time I leave my car for more than a few minutes. It's just a routine that I've got into. I've never drained (run) the fuel out of the carburettor and have never experienced any problems from not doing so. My routine on my boat is different, there when I've returned to the marina part of my routine is to disconnect the fuel line and wait for the motor to stop. Thinking about it I probably do it for a couple of reasons:
1. I might not be using it for a few weeks.
2. I used to have two stroke outboards and with them there can be real advantages of leaving the carburettor dry.
Running the car until it stops from fuel starvation may not be necessary but it certainly won't do any harm.
 
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