I have a 83 shortbox 318ci. 4 speed, 2wd. It does not want to start what so ever as soon as it's chilly outside. Like in minus 40 I could end up dying from the cold while trying to start it.

The thing is it is middle of summer and it didnt start one day because it was raining out.

it always starts basically if its plugged in. It even started in the summer rain day after i plugged it in, in the middle of july!!!

I've been told its because the truck was set up for racing or hot rodded. Is this likely true? I've been told because it has headers the exhaust manifolds and heat riser are gone. therefore thats why it wont start in even chilly weather. I've also been told the msd distributors are the cause of this? Which is true? Or should technically a hot rod or drag truck be able to start just as easily as a oem truck in the canadian winter?

Also , could i just put a oem distributor on in the winter to solve the entire problem?

This issue is really bugging me now that the truck wouldnt even start just because of summer rain. Yea it was chilly and wet out but still.....

 

get the WD-40 out clean the inside of the cap. that cap will have a vent hole next to the center tower. get the JB-weld out and plug the vent. took me 5 years to figure that out. Mopar dist cap wiring
My dad made this saying about small and big block dist cap wireing. To reduce wiring confuseion. “the small block has the dist in the wrong place, in the back of the engine. BUT the shaft rotates the right way clockwise. The big block has the dist in the right place, in the front of the engine BUT the shaft rotates the wrong direction counterclockwise. Both wire #5 and #7 on both ALL ways have #5 before #7 on the cap AND block. And most / some stock V8s have the fireing order cast in to the intake manifold.

 

Its a carborated engine.
It doesn't start in -40 because of that.
Spark must be as strong as you can get it.
Big cranking amp battery helps.
Choke must be set right.
Electric choke. Forget the fkn heat riser chit.
Carb must be in good working order.
You still running the piece of chit 2BBL Holley?
Headers dont screw up cold weather starts.
Set up for racing? Lol. Good one.

 

gasoline has a flashpoint of -45 degrees F so at 40 degrees any thing C of F it WILL be hard to start an engine. the ONLY thing that might help is propane flashpoint -156 F. i had propane on a 318 twk it would start at 20 F but it had to warm up, 10 min before i could drive. but using propane just to start might work. as reff the only things with a lower flashpoint than gasoline. : propane -156....neohexane -54.....n-butane -76......iso-butane -117....iso-pentane-less than -60......all F

 

you might want to check your carb out because there should be no reason why your truck would not start unless it is plugged in. i could understand not wanting to start at -20*c in the winter. -20*c is about the border line where vehicles that are not plugged in start getting miserable to start including fuel injected vehicles. also i don't know about you but this winter that just passed i had fuel turning to jelly in the carb. i don't know what caused it but i had rebuilt the carb in the fall so i know the jelly was not there. it seemed to happen when we dropped to -20 pretty rapidly.

 

as a far out thing you might try hydrogen or CNG. as they dont have to vaporize. hydrogen stoichiometric AFR...43.5....limits AFR 345-5. gasoline stoichiometric AFR 14.5.....limits 25-4. this means hydrogen will burn at MUCH higher AND lower ratios than gasoline. the bottom limit on gas is lower than most people say it will run. you might be able to get hydrogen from a welding shop. just a wild idea.

 

who are these people that tell you this ****.. the msd distributer puts out way more power than a stock one.. which would help with starts. No heat riser from the manifold will mean the truck will be a little more difficult to keep running when its cold, and the truck will take longer to warm up but wont affect its starting, i got a diagram with my headers on how to remake the vent tube to fit but never did and my truck was ok last winter. bottom line, your problem is probably caused by the carb being a piece of junk, or maybe a vacuum leak. thats assuming you have a good battery and charging system

Canadian winter tips Run a battery with BIG cold cranking amps, get a warming pad thing that goes around the battery and plug it in when possible, I run 5-30 oil in the winter because its thinner which makes for easier starts