Cold Weather Reliability

[86blazerboy]

Hey guys I'm planning on using my K5 more and more in the near future and my problem (being that I'm in Canada) is that the cold weather gives my engine some problems (stalling rough starts, sometimes takes up to 30mins till I can shift into drive without stalling). So I was wondering if anyone had some ideas for improving the reliability and cold weather running habits of my ride. Heres its stats.

Chevy 350 V8
Hooker Headers
Quad intake plenum
Holley 4 barrel 760cfm carb
Vortec heads with 10.25:1 compression
Dual exhaust with Flow masters.
Cammed (cant think of my exact degreeing right now but they are lumpy and big)
Thats all I can think of off the top of my head right now, Dyno says 366hp and 400lb-ft of torque, thanks ofr any input guys.

 

[quinryan]

My first guess is that (to be a might obvious) is that it's too cold to drive. Yes, "Thank you Captain Obvious."

Right.

In OEM form, all our trucks had a heat riser leading to the air filter assembly, for obvious reasons. I don't know how cold you're having it up there in the Great White North, but drawing some hot(ish) air into the carb when it's below zero never hurts.

However, once it starts, 30 minutes is a bit too long. Is your cold-idle set properly? Not uncommon to have a problem there with aftermarket carbs. Is your mixture set properly? When it's really cold, it's pretty easy to run too rich. Ironcally, when you're running too rich your truck heats up slower than it would otherwise.

If you're single (or unbelievably lucky), you can spend about US$1200 for a Howell fuel-injection system; it's pretty much a plug-and-play operation, especially for SBCs. EFI adapts to weather conditions automatically.

If you're married, then I'd recommend taking a screw driver to the mixture screw and play around with it for a while.

Is your fuel contaminated in any way? That kind of cold can cause condensation in the tank, thus contaminating your fuel. Get cold enough (global warming? Pull the other one), and ice can actually form. I have a diesel rig so my concerns are even worse here in Colorado. There are a LOT of good (and more worse) fuel additives out there to deal with that. I'd recommend checking your fuel filter(s), too. If you do have water in your fuel, these can ice up and block fuel flow.

Do you have a block heater? Even a gasser benefits from these, especially Up There. For US$50 or so you can buy a very large heater that magnetically fastens itself to the oil pan. Besides the benefit of having warm(ish) oil on a cold, cold day, the magnet attracts metal fragments that your oil filter misses to the bottom of the oil pan. Can't be bad.

I'm certain that there are other ideas than these, most of which will probably be better than mine. Good luck.
___
The Hose Cutter is a tool used to make hoses too short to use properly.

 

[scottsdale86]

Get something with an electric choke and hook it up. If it has a cam it isnt going to like cold weather anyway. Maybe a block heater in the cold months

 

[86blazerboy]

Thanks for the ideas guys, temps up here can get down regularly to -30 with extremes of -40 or colder (-22 to -40 Faranheit) I'll look into some of these options and see what could work, another idea I had though was selling the crate I have in there and putting in something with just as much power but with a little more finesse and reliability, anyone have any ideas on that end of the spectrum?

 

[496truck]

Yeah, an LS 5.3 or 6.0 swap.

Otherwise, if you wanted to get by with what you have, a milder cam and an Edelbrock carb with electric choke. I ran one of those carbs in my 79 Z28 with a mild 400 small block and it would fire right off and idle great (fast idle, cold) on the coldest of mornings in Illinois when I was going to school out there. And it got pretty darn cold out there, maybe not as cold as Canada but below zero was pretty normal that winter.

 

[Stomis]

As said the cheap route would be an electric choke carb and the correct air cleaner system with a preheater.

Middle of the road on expense/difficulty would be a TBI or TPI injection swap.

Then comes the GEN III/IV swaps.

If I was in your shoes I'd put TBI on the truck.

 

[The Pumpkinator]

Agreed^^^

Here in Wyoming we almost get that cold, usually the wind chill is what do all the vehicles in, especially the diesels. I would like to add another pointer here, my TBI has never let me down in cold weather (-32 with windchill was the worst), what most people overlook is the battery gelling up and the starter motor won't have the amps to crank over that engine with caramel oil laying in the pan. Your best bet would to be a block heater (that does not use the freeze plugs/welsch plugs on the block... messy, leaky, and a pain in the ass to install), an electric choke, and a heat pad for the battery. All these can be plugged into the side of the house with a timer so it shouldn't rack up the utility bill

 

[Blue85]

Fuel injection would be the most effective
Next up would be a factory Q-Jet setup with riser and electric choke
Third would be putting the basic cold weather stuff on your Holley.

Do you have an open element air filter or a proper CAI-type intake? How much have you played with the choke settings?

I was able to get through a lot of negative temp days with my Q-Jet but would have to fiddle with the choke pull-off adjustment a couple of times a year. Now with the MPFI I don't even climb inside to start it anymore.