Gentlemen, (how do you) start your engines

[fastfredracing]

I delivered pizzas for 2 semesters in college in a 1983 Honda Civic without a starter . Even road tripped it to Daytona and back like that .
That thing was so easy to start. There was rarely a time where I could not do it by myself, of course, you always tried to park facing downhill .

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I delivered pizzas for 2 semesters in college in a 1983 Honda Civic without a starter . Even road tripped it to Daytona and back like that .
That thing was so easy to start. There was rarely a time where I could not do it by myself, of course, you always tried to park facing downhill .

OK, where did you find a hill in Florida?
Is there more than one hill in Florida?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

OK, where did you find a hill in Florida?
Is there more than one hill in Florida?

^^^^ beat me to it....in Daytona?

Lots of hills in FL....they call 'em bridges though

[GH85Carrera]

The police don't like it when you park on a bridge.

Dave Berry has a great article on the highest point in Florida. It is the trash dump. He actually got the son of Sir Edmond Hillary to go with him as they scaled the highest point. They drove to the top in a 4x4 of some sort.

[looneybin]

if you can't get the car in neutral if it's not running, what happens if you need to get it on a flatbed for a tow?
do you just drag the rear wheels all the way up?

[daepp]

Originally Posted by looneybin

if you can't get the car in neutral if it's not running, what happens if you need to get it on a flatbed for a tow?
do you just drag the rear wheels all the way up?

Yeah - that's my concern. There must be a way to get it in neutral but I'd be damned if I can find it. Spent last night surfing tow-truck-driver forums - again to no avail.

Mind you, the Exploder is fine. It just bugs me that I don't know how to get it into neutral.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by oldE

Big marine 2 stroke diesels start with compressed air.

Best
Les

HEY!!! There's one I didn't think of. Right on!

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Starter button the floor.......Beside the Dimmer switch...........OR:

1960's Brit bike in the winter:

Put on a ton of clothes.....Kick, Kick, Kick ..........30 times......Take off jacket........Kick 30 more times, take off sweater.....Adjust advance lever.......Kick 30 more times......Take off sweat shirt........30 more times..........hold down plunger till it's flooded..........Kick 20 times and it starts. Hope it doesn't die while you get dressed again............College days.......Happy times......

Rule of thumb: If it doesn't start in 100 kicks, do a tune up...........Also, Always rent a flat on the top of a hill so you can bump start going down - I always considered location based on this.......

(*****This story had been modified to not offend fans of old Kick Start Harley's****)

sounds like a page outta my life

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Hand cranking a distributor engine is a pain in the butt. A magneto engine with an impulse drive will send some serious volts to the spark plug. It makes starting way easier.

[fastfredracing]

I had a friend with a 928, that had direct starting fluid injection.
He could never get the thing to start when cold, and this was long before the internet, and easy access to parts and information.
Instead of getting up every morning and opening the hood to fog it with ether, he rigged up some steel brake line through the firewall, and could shoot ether into it right from the drivers seat .
Surprising enough, it ran for a long time like that

[GH85Carrera]

My dad talked about a harrowing mission in a C-124 back when I was just a infant.

We lived in Dover Delaware and he was an Air Force pilot. They regularly flew missions out to Thule Air Force Base. The rumor was there was a naked woman behind every tree. Of course there were no trees.

Anyway, he said on one mission they had to spend the night and the airplane had no hangar. It was brutal cold. The plugs fouled on the engine and the mechanics had to replace all the plugs in the brutal cold. They went through three sets of plugs and it was all they had. If it did not start they were going to have to stay another night.

I think the engine used the Coffman engine starter system.

Anyway has this one more way to start an engine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffman_engine_starter

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I had a friend with a 928, that had direct starting fluid injection.
He could never get the thing to start when cold, and this was long before the internet, and easy access to parts and information.
Instead of getting up every morning and opening the hood to fog it with ether, he rigged up some steel brake line through the firewall, and could shoot ether into it right from the drivers seat .
Surprising enough, it ran for a long time like that

I ran my 924 for 2-3 years with the cold start injector hotwired to the rear wiper button in the center console..easier then ether

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Instead of getting up every morning and opening the hood to fog it with ether, he rigged up some steel brake line through the firewall, and could shoot ether into it right from the drivers seat .
Surprising enough, it ran for a long time like that

My dad had a John Deere R tractor (early 50s) that had a fixture on the dash where you could unscrew a cover and take a can of ether (basically a spray paint can without the nozzle) and shove it up into the receptacle and spray either into the cylinders. I don't know if the ether system came from the factory, but I know John Deere sold cans of ether to use with it.

[p911dad]

How to start a Cessna 210 Turbo from cold

After pre-flight check:

Master switch - "on"
Propeller - high rpm
Throttle - closed
Aux. fuel pump switch - on "Lo"
Ignition key - start position
Slowly advance throttle
Release ignition key when engine starts (if it fails to start, set Aux fuel pump to "Hi"
Reset throttle to desired RPM
Aux fuel pump - "off"

Continue with preparations checklist for flight

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by oldE

Big marine 2 stroke diesels start with compressed air.

Best
Les

Originally Posted by daepp

HEY!!! There's one I didn't think of. Right on!

As do most jet engines!

Originally Posted by KC911

Alexa...start my engine

HAHAHAHAHA!

[LakeCleElum]

So, starting up in really cold temps:

1) Talked to farmer in North Dakota - they would take the spark plugs out of their tractor and put them in the oven.

2) Alaska - You could take off and break gears in your transfer case if too cold. Talked to a guy that would put BBQ coal in a pan and light them off under the drive train for a few hours in the morning........

[jwiger]

https://youtu.be/rZC1Aklig60

In '53 International made a dozer engine that starts on gasoline, then transitions to diesel.

The left side of the engine is all diesel business, filters, ignition pump, injectors, and a decompression switch. All of the cylinders had one valve in the engine block that opened to a dead end expansion chamber, opening these valves would drop the static compression ratio to a gasoline friendly level.

The right side of the engine had an intake manifold, with a very small single barrel carb, and a typical looking distributor. And spark plugs. The carb had no throttle plate, it ran wide open with just enough CFM to make the engine idle. It did have a choke.

With the compression release pulled open the engine would roll over using just a single Group 24 battery. This is a very large engine, and with diesel compression levels would have required several batteries.

It would start up on gasoline until it was warm. Then you would coordinate the decompression lever and diesel throttle to transition to diesel power for actual operation. In gas mode, it didn't produce enough torque to actually drive the dozer.

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