Is there a trick to starting 122s' when their cold? The 1960 that I got Monday cranks great first thing in the morning, but will not start. A half second of starter fluid sprayed on each carb. and it starts right up. The rest of the day, it starts fine. I have tried the choke out all the way, part way, not pumping the gas, puumping the gas, holding the pedal to the floor.

When this car...my wife named her "Belle"...came Monday afternoon,I drove it about 2 miles. That is the first time I have driven a 122 in 29 years, so I am having to learn about these from the beginning.

Thank you again for your help.

Jim

The manual states that it should be choke out, accelerator right down and crank until it starts, but in practice this doesn't work much better, at least for me. My trick is to give the car a good 20-minute drive the night before, and I don't have any start problems the next morning, but your carbs may drain quicker than my one.

All the best, Tom

"The manual states that it should be choke out, accelerator right down and crank until it starts,"

Not quite right, it actually says "Depress the clutch pedal, pull out the choke control fully and turn the ignition key to the starting position. Release the key as soon as the engine has started.
As soon as the engine begins to run, the choke control should be pushed in until the most suitable idle is obtained."

Sorry, my bad, I should have said the "clutch" pedal, not the gas.

Thanks for the clarification Derek.

Tom

Thank you all for your help. I will try your suggestions and see if I can figure it out.

Jim

If you haven't already done it, you might try some new spark plugs, properly gapped of course. I had cold start problems for years, and replaced just about every ignition component, to no avail. Then I changed the plugs and boom - fires right up on the coldest, dampest days.

floyd r.

If you look at your (glass bowl) fuel pump you will find that it has a lever that you can use to manually pump fuel into the carbs (it is under the casting and sticks out a bit, its close by the steering column). If you use the lever in the morning before attempting a start and the car starts up without a lot of cranking then George is right and you float bowls are draining overnight.
You can find more information on this here...
http://www.su-filters.com/fuelkits.html

Cheers!
OK

This is a B16, right?
The old H4 carbs have the bowls mounted on rubber bushings that also seal the fuel into the float chamber.
If they are going bad your carbs will drain overnight. Before you start you might want to pop the lids
of your float chambers to make sure they are full. If so then the next thing to check is the choke.
Make sure that it works on BOTH ends of the travel on both carbs. They are bad about sticking and if the
carbs were adjused with the choke applied, then the choke is nonfunctional.
Make sure your spark plugs are clean.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Thank you....I will try that.

Jim

SU's don't have an accelerator pump so there is no benefit to pumping the pedal. Sounds like a good check over of all settings and a good service will probably bring it all together again.