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J

Joe Smith

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" Croozertoo, Yep I saw a 251

" Croozertoo, Yep I saw a 251 Catalina that apparently the skipper just could'nt take it any more. He cut the molded stairs, hinged them with a piano hinge, and cut a BIG hole in the plywood bulkhead. I refuse to do it. Afraid of destroying the structural integrity of the old girl. Just a thought about the original hard start problem, My buddy has an old CC Lancer inboard. The gas tank's suction tube has a small hole in it with a threaded brass orifice at the top just before the outside pipe fitting. It is identified as an anti siphon valve. It allows the suction of the fuel pump to draw fuel, but prevents a lot of gas in the bilge should a line bust below tank level. In theory I think thats how its supposed to work. Could it be possible that the hard start is caused by that tiny orifice being blocked an some kind of suction back to the tank occuring? I guess I am really reaching here!! "
 
" Sorry about the slow reply,

" Sorry about the slow reply, Joe. Been out of touch the last few days. I'm with you on the stairs/engine access deal. I just can't bring myself to punch that large a hole in a bulkhead, structural or not.

On hard-start issue, I tend to not think it's siphoning back to the tank. The main clue is that the engine cold starts immediately and runs consistently with only a 1/2 ounce of fuel down the carb. That means the fuel pump doesn't have to fill the float bowl or fuel filter very much, which means there's fuel in the lines, filter and probably some in the bowl - just not enough. So I'm focusing on my carb, which I rebuilt last spring. The rebuild solved all my runability problems except this one.

I may go to an electric fuel pump, which will serve as both pump and primer, but for now a quick shot of fuel down the carb is not that much of a problem to do.

Happy turkey day! "
 
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