The "hard to start when cold" situation was getting out of hand lately so I decided to have a good go at it today. I think I've had some success.
First, some background notes..
If the timing is advanced then it's a bit easier to start when cold, still struggles but it's noticeably easier. The downside is it pings quite bad under load.
If I get the timing right to make the pinging go away then it's near impossible to start when cold. Today I simply could not get it to start. The plunger piston was not stuck either.
What I did today..
I thought about the spare and new looking warm up regulator Wilbur, the previous owner, left in the parts pile. Why did he have one of these? He obviously knew a lot about the car and had one spare for a reason. Perhaps the current one was on its way out. I decided to wack it in.
Well, after cracking the line from the fuel distributor to the WUR it was quite evident that this line had been affected by the old varnished fuel. Take a look..
And here is the spare WUR connected up.. it's not an exact like-for-like but all the connections fit. Unfortunately the allan key bolts aren't long enough to secure it down but I at least made the electrical (grounding?) connection work until some longer bolts are sourced tomorrow.
After a small cough, splurt and a helpful squirt of fuel by lifting the plunger plate it fired up. Turn it off and back on and it starts fine. I can't fault it now.
Will see how it starts tomorrow morning when it's very cold.
