<VV> Spyder starting problem?

[Eric S. Eberhard]

I always found the Spyders harder to start than a 102.  Having said 
that, good ignition is crucial.  On a 62 you have a resistor block 
which can be made to pass 12 volts and look stock by taking it off, 
and on the bottom bridging the two sides with wire.  On later Spyders 
there is the traditional resistor wire that can be bypassed at the 
plug to still look stock.  I strongly recommend Pertronix II (not I) 
and Flamethrower II coil and 8mm wires.  Make sure the distributor is 
in good order.  Use the Dale advance/retard instead of the stock unit 
... and set the timing a little higher than factory.  Gap the plugs 
high -- 38 or so -- and use quality plugs (I use Nology Silverstone 
plugs, they are very nice).

On the carb, make sure the choke is working correctly.  It is one of 
those dial adjust things.  Also important is the overload adjustment 
(the lever that takes the choke off on full throttle).  This could be 
removing your choke at lower throttle inputs.

E

At 06:05 PM 3/18/2010, you wrote:
>Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:05:06 -0700
>From: Lonny Clark <lclarkpdx at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: <VV> Spyder starting problem?
>To: Grant Young <gyoungwolf at earthlink.net>, virtualvairs at corvair.org
>Message-ID:
>         <92c4e9b01003181405v3b993195h44a795876685409 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>A few things to try:
>
>When I was 16 (admittedly a long time ago), I had to start my Spyder using
>my hand as a choke. I had a starter button in the engine compartment. I just
>covered the carb with my hand, after a few seconds of cranking there was a
>rich enough mixture to start it.
>
>If using stock points ignition, make sure that the external ballast resistor
>is passing 12 volts during the start cycle, then 8 volts (or so) when
>running. Electronic assembly like Pertronics is a good idea on a Spyder, if
>they have one, make sure that the ignition gets full 12 volts when running,
>the electronics don't work right on 8 volts.
>
>What was the fuel line plugged with? Anything get into the carb from the
>plug before that was fixed?


Eric S. Eberhard
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(928) 567-6122          Fax
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