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Old 10-11-2018, 02:16 AM
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capnward capnward is offline
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A4s rock!

After a few days not running, engine turned off with gas in carb, with a cold engine, (but not very cold in the summer), choke out, throttle at half, fuel pressurized by mechanical pump bail, 2 seconds. Without priming with bail, 2 or maybe three five-second cranks, five seconds apart. If engine had been running the day before, usually one 4 second crank with choke on but no priming. I push the choke back in after a few seconds. Takes about 15 minutes to get up to 160 degrees. Indigo thermostat, FWC, EI. If engine is warmed up, no choke, starts in 1 second. She's been doing this all summer, running most days, 150 hours since May. After a winter layoff, who knows? Could be three seconds, or three weeks. I didn't run it dry at the end of last season, and had a bad (leaking, with rust around the top rim) coil. After cleaning carb and jets, replacing filters, fuel hose, coil, cap, rotor, plugs, oiling breaker plates, setting initial timing, and priming the fuel line, she still wouldn't start until we put a little gas in the air intake. Then she showed signs of life, and started after further turning of the distributor. Once timing was set under load at speed, she was good all season. Thanks to the old engineers at Universal, the folks at Moyer Marine, and this forum, I made some money and had a lot of fun with my trusty Atomic Four. They really are great engines, if you learn how to handle them. Plus they are quiet, can run at low speeds, and never smell like diesel, which is good for the passengers. Others may call them obsolete, and compared to the mileage diesels obtain, they are. But as long as devoted owners continue to use them and work on them, they will remain gems. Besides, I am obsolete, too.
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