Any tips or tricks for starting a cold motor with a tunnel ram?? Has always been a major pain in the butt to start cold since I went to the Indy tunnel ram.
Combination 500ci pump gas motor, ported Eddy heads, Indy tunnel ram, dual Proform 950's square jetted(no power vales), MSD ignition and Champion 9YC or 12YC's spark plugs.

Thanks
Derrick

i turn my electric fuel pump on, 2 pumps of the throttle and turn key. it fires up instantly. I've never had a problem starting with a tunnel ram.

i don't know how it's different then a single carb?

THIS^^^ But try turning off your fuel pump and then hit the key, once you're running turn fuel pump back on. I bet your floats are too high. Set floats where fuel barely trickles out of site port or glass.

Two pumps, start the mator then turn on the pump.

First of all.. see if your carbs are bleeding down..
you might have a pile of fuel in there so you wouldnt
have to touch the throttle

How cold is cold? I have a heated shop so my stuff is never colder than 60 degrees and it fires right up.

Years ago I lived in north Idaho and didn't have a garage. My Max Wedge Dodge was the only car that I had so I had to start it dead cold during the winter months. That was a real chore. Lots of choke and some starter fluid was usually required.

Once I upgraded to a heated garage my cold start problems went away! (I also used a block heater for a few years and that worked fine. Plug the block heater in an hour before you need to start the car and it fires right off.)

Turn on pump,1 pump to the floor, fires right up,but I do have a choke hooked up.

My experience is that a cold engine turns slow due to the cold oil. When the engine turns slow it doesn't pull very hard on the carbs. If you can warm the engine up then it spins faster and starts a lot easier. A 16V starter might do the same trick.

How big are the accelerator pumps?

I'd think that a tunnel ram would like more fuel to start than less due to the plenum volume being so much larger. When you pump it twice and light it up what happens? Does it spit through the carbs?

Do you have the start and run circuits on the starter switch tied together to power the ignition box? I have seen several cars that had power to the ignition in "run" or "on" but not during cranking. The car would foul the plugs unless you gave it ether (in any weather conditions) and then it would start about 70-80% of the time. It took me a while to wrap my mind around that one...after changing out ignition boxes, distributors, carburetors, etc.

Thanks for the feedback guys. My problem when its a cold motor(hasn't run for a few days/weeks) and I go to start it I just can't seem to find that happy place of just enough fuel. It acts like it needs another quirt of fuel then before I know it the plugs are soaked and its flooded.
I will check the float levels out and adjust as well as the other suggestions.

Thanks

this is my exact procedure every time,

turn fuel pump on (3-4 seconds), turn fuel pump off, 2 pumps of throttle, turn key and it fires instantly. turn fuel pump back on. I've never had a problem in cold weather.

no spitting back through carbs, just idles nice. no chock

I had a buddy with a 440 tunnel ram, he had it setup so he would crank then hit the ignition, bam it would fire. This was a street car that he drove three seasons in north Iowa, I have seen him start his charager at 45 degrees cold.

It was also the best running street tunnel ram I've ever seen.

annular discharge boosters?

When it's cold my Indy cross ram is difficult to start. There's a lot of plenum to puddle fuel in. I personally had a bad experience cranking with the ignition off and then hitting the switch, BOOM. I have found if you pump it a few times and let it sit 30-45 seconds it helps a lot. If it's really cold I through a cloth fender cover over the carbs. I hold the end of the cover with my hand through the window. When it fires just pull it off. Works very well.
Doug

Before I shut my motor off at the end of the day I shut off the fuel pumps and let the motor run the carbs empty. Before I fire it up after sitting I flip the fuel pumps on for 10-15 seconds, give it a couple pumps and hit the key. Starts great every time. Dave

Our tunnel ram if anything starts better cold than warm. That situation has improved overtime. I have worked on the carbs quite a bit, lowered the idle feed jets in the blocks, reduced the size of the jets and air correctors etc. Made sure the carbs were the same, counted the idle speed screw turns etc.

Anyway, basic procedure is to turn key to start, let it crank a second or two, if that does not do it a pump or two with a little bit of throttle cracked and it lights off. It actually should need a little bit of accelerator pump cold as the idle mixture should be set up for a warm engine. This assumes no cold start features of course.

We have a 452 with Weiand tunnel ram and 2 x Holley 600 Ultra carbs.

Have also worked on the distributor making sure the air gap was correct.

My guess is you are rich, what size idle jets and air correctors are installed?

Check out http://racingfuelsystems.myfunforum.org/index.php for lots of good carb information.

Good luck. Best regards, Dave

And "cold" for you is what, 62F?

Good point!