Slick 60's

Bought a 66 f100 about a month ago and only have had very little time so far to check it out. Any thoughts about this issue--- 352 automatic, 2 barrel Holly. --- If truck has been sitting more than a few hours or days, it starts instantly, runs one or two seconds and dies, does this 5 or 6 times until it finally starts and keeps running. When it does finally keep running, it acts at first as if it is recovering from being mildly flooded for a few seconds. After it is warmed up, it starts quick and runs good. Even after it has been sitting, the accelerator pump squirts fuel, and the manual choke opens and closes as it should. I suppose cleaning the carburetor should be the first thing. Whadda ya think??? Doug

Even though the choke opens and closes, it may not have its high idle set correctly or the linkage to this cam might not be connected. To start cold, give it a full pedal when you pull the choke. This does two things, it primes the engine via the accelerator pump and allows the choke to set the high idle to high.

These trucks are notorious for being cold natured. Someone may have adjusted the choke for summer driving or just never set it right for the winter. Several things come to mind on the carb, including missing parts from previous work and parts lost or just plain not put back on. There is an adjustment screw on the idle for the choke. As stated, you need to hold the foot pedal down while setting/pulling the choke. Several things could be affecting it otherwise, such as an air leak on the carb or intake. Throttle shaft play in the carb allowing air to bleed through. etc. etc. My guess is choke adjustment idle screw not set close enough to right.

Rich

Check your ignition system. Weak ignition will often allow starting with the full availabe battery voltage, but may not be sufficient to run cold engine. Easy check would be a jumper wire from battery to coil positive. If that alleviates the problem, then it is a matter of identifying weak component, from resistor wire , coil, points, condenser.
Paul

If, it runs after it is warmed up, wouldn't that indicate fuel system and not electric?

Rich

Hmmmm- Reply from Toyz has got me thinking----- First of all, the choke is now fully manual and can be completely closed with or without even depressing the gas pedal. So I guess the high idle screw in not in play. Electrical? I wonder---- I have other engines around the farm that that feed full voltage to the coil during cranking, then the voltage to the coil is lowered by being routed thru some form of resistor when the starter is disengaged. I'll check it out. Thanks all--

The pink ignition wire does just as you stated; it is a resistance wire rather than having an an external ballast resistor. Any additional resistance such as worn/weak components, can drop the available voltage below that needed to keep a cold engine running once started on the resistor bypass circuit.
Often, our trucks will start, then immediately die upon release of switch from "start" position. This is quite often indicative of a bad resistor wire.
Paul

The resistor wire would be feeding higher voltage if it has lost it's resistance, and this could make the coil overheat. But I expect, that as it is first started it would be cool and would become weaker as it heated up if the coil was the culprit. On the other hand, if you still have points you could have a condenser problem. Both coil and condenser usually cause misfires when bad. Easy enough to change coil or condenser if you have a know good one laying around. Another source of electrical problems and one that could possibly be at play are the plug wires. Depending on how old these are and what the composition is, these can cause hard starting. Some of the old carbon wires can be broken and separate inside and cause resistance. Again, this usually would cause some kind of crossfire on occasion.

Rich