Hey folks,
Took the '83 up skiing this past weekend and on Satuday morning drove up to the slopes (about 4 miles away, cold morning) and got behind some damn stopped minivan, didn't give it enough gas, and stalled out. It took me around 5 minutes to get the thing restarted, it would crank, but just not start. Finally it got going again. Some guys that I was with thought it could be vapor lock... what is that? Is there a way to avoid/better way to restart the engine after that happens? They also said that I blew some black smoke out the tail just before I stalled... running too rich?

300 cid 6, carbed. Like I said, cold morning, and I only drove like 4 miles, so it probably wasn't up to running temperature.

Thanks for the help,
Ryan

...Gave my buddy with the Land Cruiser ammo for making fun of the Ford...

A vapor lock is when the fuel gets so hot it boils and develops an air pocket, thus a vapor lock. A cold morning, less than 4 miles, i really dont think so. Maybe your choke is acting up.

Slopes? What elevation are you at? What elevation are you normally? If your vehicle is tuned for sea level and you go to 6000 feet with a normally aspirated, carb engine, it will run real rich and sluggish.

I live at around 6000 in Colorado Springs, and up at Breck it's around 9000. I don't think it's tuned for sea level, the original owner bought it in The Springs, so I assume (Yeah, ass out of me and me) that it's tuned for higher altitude. It's not seemed sluggish in past trips over passes (12K feet).

Ryan