Re: Cold weather start
My Brazilian smokes when it's cold. It's just a natural byproduct of a cold start. The engine relies on heat generated by the compression and stored in the block to ignite the fuel-air mixture. When the engine is cold the fuel doesn't vaporize well and there isn't much heat so much of the fuel goes out the tailpipe unburned. That's the smoke you're seeing. Heck, even gassers do this. That's why secondary AIR pumps were invented and are STILL used to this day. They provide additional oxygen to burn off the excess fuel in the manifolds and pipes.
My Brazilian starts like a champ down to about 0 degrees. Below about 10-15 it will have a very angry idle and I will have to feather the foot feed for the first few seconds, but it will start. It doesn't have any form of intake heater. I have been known to use ether to help it start, but I'm not really sure it makes a difference until below 0 degrees. The key is a good, fully charged battery to allow for long enough cranking. Below 0 degrees my block heater becomes a necessity and that thing draws some juice, over 1500 watts!
Just take it easy with the ether. A gas soaked rag over the intake works very well also. Make sure your batteries are charged, and don't be afraid to feather the foot feed if it doesn't start to pop right off. Just don't rod on the thing until the idle has smoothed and you've made sure it has had long enough to get the oil flowing well to the turbo and top end of the engine. I usually give it 2-3 minutes of me feathering it before I will set it to a low high idle (say 1100-1200 RPMs).
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