We have to establish what "hard" is.

When you go to start the engine hot, first push the throttle half open before you crank the starter and hold the throttle there as you crank. Release the throttle after it starts. 

They should start in 5 seconds, maybe a little longer if it's a really hot day. That is normal for just about all carbureted engines and that is the normal starting procedure for them. If it's taking much longer than that, we can say it is starting "hard". 

i disagree on that being "normal for a carbureted car". each fall i set the choke one not richer, then leaner in spring. one press of the pedal to set the choke/fast idle, crank, starts in one second. i don't get a lot of cold here, but a lot of hot. no difference in 110F weather.

hot starting shoudl be BETTER than cold start. lubricants are closer to operating viscosity, gas puddles less, etc. spark is spark.

less than that and something is wrong. my partners' 72 258ci hornet with YF, which gets at best an annual tuneup and no more, is the same. ditto all my carb cars back 20 years.

my 63 american did have a "vapor lock" type problem, if it was parked after a very long desert/highway run. it would start fine, but "run dry"  about 20 seconds later, for about 5 seconds. scare the crap out of me after pulling back into the road. solved it by replacing steel line under the hood with rubber (heat soak).

Allow me to be more specific. In my experience on quite a few carbureted cars...

Most will hot start with just a quick flick of the key if they are started within a few minutes of being shut off. Yes.

However, if they sit for more than a few minutes after being shut off hot they will take excessive cranking to restart unless the throttle is held partially open while cranking. Doing so will make them start in less than five seconds in most cases. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. It's caused by heat soak vaporizing the fuel in the carb itself. The vapor partially floods the engine. A few seconds of cranking with the throttle open a little clears out the excess vapor so the engine can start faster than with the throttle closed. 

These are engines that have nothing wrong with them other than being restored to stock. It's just how a lot of them are. Many owner's manuals actually say to hold the throttle partially open for hot starts too. 

I do it so much that it's an ingrained habit. I sometimes mistakenly hold the throttle partially open on an EFI car when I hot start it because I drive carburetors most of the time. 

- can make a weak battery or alternator provide less current, what's the voltage cold, running, hot

- can increase resistance in the starting motor, might want to have it checked if nothing else solves your problems.

Thikstik wrote: tomj, You made the hotrod Power tour I do believe?!!

yup. 6500 miles. drove it hard-ish, 65 - 70 mph (195.6 OHV, remember!), changed jets New Mexico to Oklahoma (continental divide and mountains, 4000 ft and over), three quarts of oil (a quart every 2000). changed when i got home.

a cheap test to see if it's carb heat soak is easy -- if you know the time window where it's hard to start, when you park the car leave the hood open. that'll let it cool much faster.

if that fixes/reduces the problem, there you go. if not...

The other thing that causes hot-start issues in the summertime is ethanol-blended fuels.  Our cars were not designed with that in mind, and these fuels percolate more easily, causing vapor issues.  I've found that just making sure that I only put fuel in my carburetor equipped cars with non-ethanol blended fuels completely solves the problem.

to find places that sell non-blended fuel, I use the 'pure gas' app on my phone.  Works great, especially when traveling.

not a hot start problem, but thought I would ask anyway to keep this tread going on carbuators..

I recently had a heater hose give way and blew antifreeze all over the engine compartment.  I cleaned up all that was visable and noticed that some antifreeze actually got into the air filter housing.  Cleaned that up.  Then I noticed that when cold started I had to give it gas to get it to idle.  No fast idle.  So I opened the choke cover and sure enough there was antifreeze inside the housing.  I cleaned everything with carb cleaner, and it started up like it did before the hose break.  I'm hoping I got the carb outside and inside cleaned up.  I'm guessing the sticky antifreeze was screwing up the linkages and choke spring. 

Anything else I should be looking for that may give me problems, in the future?  I took the PVC valve out and blew carb cleaner through that and it rattled like it's suppose.  Cleaned out the carb vacumn lines, too.

Steve

1971 Javelin AMX

Thikstik wrote: Can you say what mileage you got?  I cant recall T-5's overdrive.

i got 22.7 MPG over the 6500 mile drive! i'm happy with that.  i got the close-ratio T5 from Modern Drivelines. rare for me to buy such a fancy part! totally worth it. 

5th is 0.73, axle is 3.43:1, tires are 24". i drove 65 to 75, 2300 to 2600 rpm.

i generally run the cheapest gas i can find, nearly always with ethanol, and have zero troubles. all hoses are new, so no hose issues.  tank is clean, that helps. on the power tour i ran midgrade, as a sort of magic talisman to ward off pinging (probably a waste of money). not had fuel related problems in many years. compression was raised to 9:1 too. lots of spark timing.

i'm sorry to be argumentative, but all our carb cars are instant start, or two, three seconds cranking after they've sat long enough for fuel to dissipate, multiple days, (is what i assume is happening). hot start, cool start (we don't get cold here), no matter.

carbs require a lot of attention, relative to FI. and its true, as carbs wear and get old they get weird and hard to tune -- the metal wears, surface finishes degrade and emulsions and surface films on old carbs don't work as well as new carbs. sometimes rebuilts are just fine, sometimes they never work out. junk unrebuildable carbs need to be thrown out.

personally, YMMV, etc, i just gave up on old carbs, the castings themselves mysteriously deteriorate. i buy new carbs only. they last "forever" (i did sell my 4, 5 year old Weber 32/36 to buy a Weber 38/38, and i might replace it with the larger IDF 44). that's work and not appropriate for all cars.

my only point is start issues are not simply life with a carb. carbs work great, but they have to be kept in top notch shape, from tank to hose to pump to casting to spark timing.

we have a '72 Hornet with a 258 and a rebuilt Carter YF on it that's now 6? 8? 10? years old. it starts with one flap of the pedal and crank for under 1 second, on fast idle, drive off.

Thats about as good as it gets...great combo.  I always say that my Gremmy would be such a nice long range car if it had one more gear. Of course, same is true for any 1:1 old car. Is your engine aluminum or iron?

Found and fixed the problem yet?

The thread is going sideways.

What engine/tranny? I have a ’68 with 232/1BBL Holley and similar issues. Have you checked vaccuum leaks? I had a slight leak around the throttle shaft. Turned the idle speed up a quarter turn and it solved it, until I can get a better/new carb.

Good luck.