I have 73 charger, starting it is always a bit of a lottery. It starts most of the time after a few trys but i would like it to start up effortlessly the first time. What parts would I need and how much for a b4b solution? Everything is pretty much stock with a new battery.

Also I would like to know what starting procedure is the best for my current configuration. I usually turn on the ignition and pump the gas slowly 4 times, take my foot off the gas and crank.

An original 400 would have a Thermoquad carb. For cold start, a single pump of the accelerator should set the choke and give it a squirt of gas (ignition off). Then give it a crank. 4 pumps would flood it.

For warm start, no pumping. Hold the throttle open a little and crank.

If you think it is flooded with too much gas, hold the throttle wide open and crank... just remember to back off as soon as it catches so the engine does not over rev.

As I remember, they were good starting engines maybe a bit prone to flooding with too many pumps.

The best/cheapest way to get it reliable is an electrical tuneup (plugs, good wires, cap rotor) and adjust the carb. If the carb is original or has not been serviced for a while there is a good chance it would benefit from rebuild or replacement with reman.

First step is the tuneup and correct starting procedure.

99% of the time IF I need to pump the gas it is a 1 pump push of the pedal. Twice if it is stupid cold outside. Often, not having fuel in the carb bowl is the issue. I solved this issue, which for myself is an issue of the car sitting long periods of time, is an electric fuel pump. I used the Edelbrock low pressure carb fuel pump. Pretty quite. Though some have complained it is noisy. I just think they have no experience or have forgotten what the old Holley blue pumps sounded like. The Edelbrock has a low hum. I can totally live with it.

Your state of engine tune, which should be double checked and in excellent shape should make the car easy enough to start up, well, really easy.

Dead reliable, repeatable, dependable starting? Then go F.I.

X2....
If your having to pump more than once you are defeating the whole purpose of how cold starting was designed. Either your defeating the choke OR the carb choke linkage is misadjusted OR your motor is out of tune or ignition or fuel delivery OR all of the above.


I would suggest you study the choke and associated linkage to get an understanding of how it works.

You need to determine the issue, next time you are out in the garage after the car has been sitting for a while open the hood, pop off the air cleaner and look down into the carb as you pump the accelerator and see if there is a pump shot, if there isn't you've found your problem, if there is then you need to look at the tune.

Here's the problem as I see it , most people didn't own these cars back in the day , or in their youth, and the only thing they have to compare things to is their new fangled FUEL INJECTED daily driver ... it's not your ... insert any of the foreign make crap boxes you daily drive here .... either step into the 21st century or sell it and buy a Honda ...

The fuel of today is formulated to be used in a high pressure fuel injected engine with a fuel system that is not vented to atmosphere. Most of us don't have the luxury/option of fuel that does not have Ethanol in it available at the pump , or even in their part of the country...

Electric fuel pump, or buy one of the comparatively low cost, self learning, throttle body type fuel injection setups currently available ...

Is the stock choke there? Is the choke plate closing all the way? Does it go on the fast idle cam? Is you accelerator pump shooting? Do you have a vacuum leak? Why are you turning on the key first? Why do you need 4 pumps of the pedal?

Remove your foot from the pedal while cranking the engine, pumping the pedal while cranking is foiling the whole process.

Well, they're all there in a way. Here's what hasn't been said.
On a completely cold engine, pump the gas once. That sets the choke. Meaning, with that single pump the choke flops closed. You should be able to see this happen as you look down the carb as you move the throttle linkage the first time.
Setting the choke pumps that shot of gas, closes the choke and puts the carb on the fast idle cam. At this point the automatic choke takes over. As the engine warms up the choke comes off and at some point the fast idle cam moves out of the way and the engine will idle at whatever the hot idle speed is.

I have found that some of my cars started better with a few degrees more static advance. This will increase emissions so if you have to get the car checked be sure to set to factory specs before getting the check.

The other thing that comes to mind is be sure you have the idle mixture screws set for lean best idle. On most carburetors that is approximately 1 1/2 turns out from lightly seated. You can look up the procedure, I am too lazy to type it.

Another approach is to unbolt and drain the carburetor, then send to Scott Smith Harms (board member who restores carburetors) for a going over. After this many years it is completely possible that something has happened to your carb either by ham-fisted previous owners, gasket shrinkage, warpage etc.

On the ignition side once you get the engine running, use the inductive pickup from a timing light on each of the plug wires. When pulling the trigger you should be able to see if the cylinder has a steady spark or if there are gaps in the sequence that would indicate misfire.

R.

The magical point the fast idle comes off is when you step on the gas pedal and the weighted cam falls out of the way, once it gets some heat in the choke. Otherwise it will idle high all day.

I'm assuming electronic ignition. I had ramcharger with a starting problem. 99 times out of 100 it started fine, then once and a while it would completely refuse to fire until I either ran down the battery or gave up and tried later in the day. Turned out to be some weird intermittent problem in the ECU. Once I swapped in a new one I never had a problem again.

Give it a good tune up. Wires, cap & rotor, plugs etc. If still has a problem and has the thermoquad on it, then find a good rebuilder that knows t-quads. The bakelite bowl has a small piece attached to the bottom that is just epoxied on. They are bad to leak there resulting in a flooded engine and empty carb bowl when they sit.

Also, the Magnum engine mini starter is a good cheap upgrade that will spun the engine over much faster for easier starting. It won't fix any of the above problems, but it is a worthwhile swap once you sort out any other issues.

Thanks for the advice. I tried pumping only once and it seems to work a little better. I belive I picked up the 4 pumps from a general article on carburated cars. Btw the carb is an afb 4 barrel.

Sounds good on,the one pump of the pedal. Did you check all the things in the previous posts dealing with the carburetor and choke?
Just read you. Title again. This does not need to be expensive at all. The details are so important.

The carb and choke should be ok. They were checked out by a mechanic just a few month ago. However I discovered my battery only has 11.9 volts on it with engine off, I tried driving the car for 30 min. But it was still 11.9v. The battery is only one year old, maybe it wasn't getting enough crank.

Correct, it ain't being charged.

Check the battery voltage with the engine running, if it is that low, you have an issue with the charging system it looks like.

Around 12.2v engine running. I know it should be at least 12.6v

Should be around 14 volts actually while running..

Yes, just realized it after I had posted. Would you get battery recharged at an auto store?

Before you replace the battery, you should look into making sure the charging system is working correctly (obviously something is not right if you are running at that low a voltage).

You could get the battery load tested though and make sure it doesn't have a bad cell in it..

Test the volts at the alternator with the engine running also. Just sayin.

You could (tell em to slow charge it) if you dont know someone with a plug in (to house wall socket) charger that you could borrow. But first we gotta find/fix why it ain't charging before the battery gets put back in the vehicle. deep cycling can kill em