Nasty 81 fails!

GT6Steve

GT6Steve

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
751
Location
Las Vegas Nevada
OK, the nasty 81 came back on a tow truck again today after a trip to a seminar in Primm Nevada. About 53 miles or 300 Dollars for the trip home.

The car starts and runs sweetly from cold but would not restart last night. That's happened one other time at work but it started then.

First suspicion was the fuel pump (I had NO tools as I was in a suit) but I can't see where a fuel pump would be temperature sensitive.

Now I'm wondering about the choke circuit.

I have the choke wire unplugged because the choke light and buzzer are on whenever the wire is connected. This is on the freshly rebuilt carb.

Can anyone explain that circuit, why it's always on and if it could be preventing my start during warm ambient conditions?
 
Never mind, I found my answer on the Corvette Forum...

"Follow the direction in the shop Manual for adjusting the electric choke. It may not be closing all the way when cold. Check the linkage and make sure the choke is snapping closed when cold and depressing the gas pedal.
If your Choke light is on all the time then the fuse is blown for the choke heater and its getting no power which means your probably running rich when it warms up with partial choke."
 
GT6Steve said:
Never mind, I found my answer on the Corvette Forum...

"Follow the direction in the shop Manual for adjusting the electric choke. It may not be closing all the way when cold. Check the linkage and make sure the choke is snapping closed when cold and depressing the gas pedal.
If your Choke light is on all the time then the fuse is blown for the choke heater and its getting no power which means your probably running rich when it warms up with partial choke."
Click to expand...

AUHH....I thought the choke heater was hooked to the IGN.hot circuit.....

NO???
AND I have never understood the term...DEpressing the gas/brake/clutch pedal.....

sure maybe the clutch is DEpressed in it action when we push the pedal to the floor, if we underatnd the function well enough....


but to DEpress the GAS?? or BRAKES???

who in hell comes up with this terminology....????

DEpress, we set in the car and press the pedal, how in hell that translate into DEpress..???


damn tomfoolery.....:lol::rofl:
 
Thanx Gary, that's a very generous offer.

I'm going to be looking into the choke setup today. Ole's rebuilt the carb, the original, but warned it would need adjusting. I guess I'm where the learning curve starts getting steep because I've never dealt with four barrel carbs. Now give me a Weber side draft and we're moving forward:cool:

I'm gonna attach a couple of before and after pics. I'm still calling it Nasty 81 because the first thread when I started the body work was labelled as such. Look at the passenger door in the gallery and the whole car looked like that. That door is the last major paint work before we go back around on the details. It IS looking way better than before...:friends:

DSC00073.jpg

DSC01541.jpg

Full gallery here:
http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb46/GT6Steve/Corvette/#!cpZZ9QQtppZZ24


OH MY, I just watched the whole gallery and I'm amazed/horrified by what I've done. There's a massive load of work, most of it done twice cuz I'm an idiot, but still. What have I labored on, how much have I sweated to build a nice looking $5000 car? Sure glad I don't do this for a living!!
 
Last edited:
I remember back in the days of my carbed 82&84 trans ams there choke lights would come on when their alternators were dying or before they did. Also had American problem with cheap rebuilt alternators .... not sure why a alternator would trigger the choke light but when the light was on I still had power at the choke wire
 
Finally found the choke fuse and twisted and contorted myself into unnatural positions to change it. Choke light and buzzer are out now and choke plate is slowly opening as I type this. Perhaps this will prove to be the root cause.

I wonder how many engineers worked on making the fuse block so ridicuolously inaccessible. One more SOB and they could've made it impossibe!!!:clobbered:
 
GT6Steve said:
Finally found the choke fuse and twisted and contorted myself into unnatural positions to change it. Choke light and buzzer are out now and choke plate is slowly opening as I type this. Perhaps this will prove to be the root cause.

I wonder how many engineers worked on making the fuse block so ridicuolously inaccessible. One more SOB and they could've made it impossibe!!!:clobbered:
Click to expand...

AND if there are any leaks in the firewall/cowling areas in any of the old GM cars with similar locations, it promotes RUST in the fuse block, as the assy is stamped together with steel spring clips to hold the fuse, and copper/brass on the backside without any soldered connections.....so the fuse can actually get HOT enough from corrosion on the steel to melt the internal connection from the fuse material/wire to the little silver caps on the end....BTDT several times.....

Course there is that other great location for the main fuse panel, like in the C4, just behind the failing weatherstrip on the pass/right side door....where it gets wet, and catches fire....BTDT about 3X on that one....

:clobbered::cussing:
 
JPhil said:
GT6Steve said:
What have I labored on, how much have I sweated to build a nice looking $5000 car?
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: Jeesh,yes. And spent so much money on.
And yet, I keep going.....Just a little more, just this, just that.....
Click to expand...

I seriously want to strangle anyone who calls a car an investment. Even the highest-resale old cars can't match a simple investment in the stock market - worse, it rarely even keeps pace with inflation.
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
JPhil said:
GT6Steve said:
What have I labored on, how much have I sweated to build a nice looking $5000 car?
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: Jeesh,yes. And spent so much money on.
And yet, I keep going.....Just a little more, just this, just that.....
Click to expand...

I seriously want to strangle anyone who calls a car an investment. Even the highest-resale old cars can't match a simple investment in the stock market - worse, it rarely even keeps pace with inflation.
Click to expand...

Depends on HOW you tag/title/INSURE it.....besides the hobby craft ASSpect of it, you can't beat it for a DD or what ever type car.....

own any car for 100 bux/month over some 18 years......

not counting gasoline, obviously, or normal maintenance, just mechanical and repairs/mods....MY tires are C4+ size, easy and cheep.....

bought for 8 grand have maybe another ten into it, over nearly 18 years....
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
JPhil said:
GT6Steve said:
What have I labored on, how much have I sweated to build a nice looking $5000 car?
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: Jeesh,yes. And spent so much money on.
And yet, I keep going.....Just a little more, just this, just that.....
Click to expand...

I seriously want to strangle anyone who calls a car an investment. Even the highest-resale old cars can't match a simple investment in the stock market - worse, it rarely even keeps pace with inflation.
Click to expand...


I call my car, "The Boat"... which stands for "Break out another thousand".
 
pancake said:
SuperBuickGuy said:
JPhil said:
GT6Steve said:
What have I labored on, how much have I sweated to build a nice looking $5000 car?
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: Jeesh,yes. And spent so much money on.
And yet, I keep going.....Just a little more, just this, just that.....
Click to expand...

I seriously want to strangle anyone who calls a car an investment. Even the highest-resale old cars can't match a simple investment in the stock market - worse, it rarely even keeps pace with inflation.
Click to expand...


I call my car, "The Boat"... which stands for "Break out another thousand".
Click to expand...


I B cheep, and my shark is snake related...BOAH....and it constricts my wallet enough already.....Break out another Hundred.....

:censored::hissyfit:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top