SPICA Spider starting

["Scott Johnson" <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While George Pond's starting recommendation no doubt works for him, in my
own experience this still shows that something is wrong. Another sentence
on his first paragraph should read "and finally, either get all the proper
tools and the SPICA notes from AROC and do an end-to-end setup, or take it
to a professional with SPICA experience so he/she can do the same." 

Again, in my experience, a SPICA car that has everything functioning and
whose settings are bang-on should start after 3-4 cranks with ~1" of steady
throttle depression. My own 1750 tends to need "massaging" after it fires
before all 4 cylinders come on line (it sounds *very* much like a tiny
version of a Wright R-1820 starting up), and this is undoubtably a
mis-adjustment of some sort. In fact, after a replacement of the cold-start
solenoid it is much better in this regard.

One of the few things my old Silver Spider did right (after an ingram pump
installed and adjusted by an Alfa mechanic who Knew the Right Things) was
start the first time, every time (once when the temp was -14F/-40C), and
idle perfectly without flooding or sputtering. IME, if your SPICA car
doesn't do this, then something is wrong. 

Scott Johnson
Alfa Spider FAQ Author

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