How do I start this thing?!

You had it in for work?   The owner is using his phone as the primary key and the FOB or card is the back up.  And a starting procedure topic is a great idea!!!

Yes, it’s just in for a minor trim part replacement. I’m going to have to start asking customers how to start their cars before long. There’s no general consensus on the controls in any cars anymore. The shifters are a prime example.

Wow. You don’t have to worry about anyone driving that away on you.

Funny thing Travis is that if you don't exactly follow the sequence that car is not starting.  But if you do, it will start dead cold every time.   Guys screw up and forget to turn the autovac off which means next time you go to start you need to go to the reserve (maybe a 1/2 gallon) or so in the firewall to feed the carb.   A RR is indestructible when properly maintained.  How many are?

That brings up a good point about starting procedures. There’s the way that they were originally intended to start and the way that you have to start them after they get…um…multi-annually challenged.

100%.  I believe you need to get them back to the way they were originally intended to behave.   If possible.

Yes, sometimes just finding the battery can be a challenge. They usually have jumpstart terminals somewhere too, but even finding those can be tough sometimes.

Porsche.
Battery in the frunk. Emergency release requires tire removal and inner fender out.
There's a power-up terminal in the fusebox but it's pretty wimpy so you need a beefy battery and cables to bring enough juice to the terminal.

Thanks for reminding me, although I changed the battery on my 981 last year just before the whole car went dead.

Haha.. I rented that as well.. Car wasn't bad but the shifter mechanism was a cluster!!!

Yeah,  I sat there for a solid 5 minutes trying to get  it in drive too.   Would love to hear the justification for that thing.  They had a system that worked great for 50 years but had to "improve" it.

Oh, is that the one with the stupid shifter stalk that you have to rotate fore/aft to shift? The engineer that came up with that needs to be slapped.

I think so.  It was the most non intuitive thing ever.

Btw,  the new Teslas will figure out which way you wanna go based on how you are parked.  There is no "gear shift".   You just touch the accelerator.

We rented a 3 row Enclave.  Not a bad SUV if need 3 rows.  Took me a while to hook my phone to the dash.  But I hated the shift lever.

I wonder how the cars with no gear selectors are supposed to be maneuvered in tight quarters like a shop setting. We’re constantly having to jockey cars  around where you only have inches of room to spare. There are already some cars that won’t let the car move when it’s that close to something.

Man,  I screwed that up.  Updated the last reply with the correct video link to the RR.

The Stearns is interesting because it has both a choke and a primer.  Not sure I've ever seen that before.

What kind of carburetor in the Stearns? I’m not sure if there were other companies than Stromberg at the time that were incorporating a primer valve actuated by the choke linkage.

Original pot metal Tillston is long gone.   Has some unknown boat carburetor on it now.  I have the two barrel manifold setup to convert it to a UUR2.   Not sure I will ever attempt it.   The accelerator pump might be a nice addition though.

The accelerator pump does make quite a difference once it’s adjusted  correctly. I need to update mine to either a later version of UU2 or just go to a UUR2 because I can’t get the idle quality where I’d like it to be. From what John  Cislak was saying when he looked at mine, it’s the very first version that they came out with and he rarely even messes with them because they’re so problematic. I guess that means that Hupp must have bought a ton of them in 1928 and just worked off the inventory they had for a couple years.

I was just on the phone with Cislak yesterday.  He is the guy to talk to!!!

Have you ever thought about getting the mechanical pump working again?  Or replacing it with something slightly more robust?   My Stearns has the mechanical pump and I like it better than a vacuum tank.   Although guys complain about them you can make them rock solid.

I have considered getting it working. I’m still on the fence. Straight Eight has the repro castings for the small SW pumps which I may buy while I still can, regardless. When I was talking to John about it, he was recommending just sticking with electric for a driver because I may find that the mechanical pump can’t keep up at higher speeds anyhow. I guess that makes sense because ethanol fuel means bigger jets and more fuel and we’re pushing them to higher speeds than they would have back then. At least with the electric, I know that it will pull all the way up to top speed without a hiccup.

But all that having been said, it still bugs me to be depending on the electric pump all the time and have no backup. Does it bug me enough to pour $1500 into rebuilding the pump? I don’t know. I might put the money into a better carburetor first, then see how I feel.

Because it is an updraft the chance of fire because the electric pushed through the needle valve is greatly reduced.   Maybe close to zero?   If it was a downdraft I would strongly urge you to go back to the mechanical.

I hear you. When I first got the car, it was a death trap with the pump wired right to the battery without even a fuse. I was sure to change it to a fused relay on the ignition circuit and added an inertia switch so if something terrible happens, there far less of a chance of being trapped in a wrecked, burning car. Realistically, that’s about as safe as it can be.

Travis, I generally agree with @ChandlerFan1929 advice here as full time electric pump can really be bad.  However, because you have an updraft you are probably safe.   If you can get the parts I would at a minimum do that and see if the motivation ever hits you.    Such a nice original car in great colors.  That might be the only knock against it.

Yeah, apart from the investment in the parts, I’d have nothing to lose. I’d keep the electric as a primer pump anyhow so there’s nothing to really undo to switch back to the mechanical.

Excellent video Travis!

Thanks.

Cool video.  Thanks for posting.

Excellent video!

That requires @TomLaferriere to post some videos.  I'm sure he has some very early ones.

I found this one on Tom's youtube channel.

Another.

I love that Cole.

When I had a RR if the engine was still warm,  you could start it by moving the ignition lever on the steering column and it would fire.  Turning the ignition on again puts battery voltage through the coil primary while the points are closed, so a magnetic field builds in the coil.  At least one cylinder is top dead center.
A quick flick of the lever rotates the points plate and sometimes you get lucky and it fires.  This worked for me occasionally but not consistently.

I had that happen accidentally on my dad’s Model A once. Went to start the car up while it was hot, turned the ignition on and realized that I hadn’t retarded the spark just as I was about hit the starter button. Swung the timing lever back up and it fired. Scared the crap out of me.

😂