Hi, I've recently bought a Mk2 Escort running a 1650cc xflow and R1 carbs. The engine once started drives fine and rev's up lovely - I have a receipt for work done on the engine and it's pretty much had everything done to it thats possible.

I am experiencing 2 problems:

1. The car is very difficult to start when cold - you can hear the fuel pump priming but when you turn the key the engine turns very slow and takes many attempts to actually get it started. Was initially drawn to the starter motor but then noticed that the battery terminal (+) was getting hot so I cleaned the terminals and it started better but its still not right when its been left for around a week - it's still very difficult to start. I am going to clean all terminations when I get a bit more time, but did wonder if it could possibly be related to problem 2?......

2. Carbs! when the engine is running, it will tick over fine - then all of a sudden the pump (motorbike) will start knocking, the engine will start to die but when you give it a little throttle it picks up and will be ok for 5 minutes or so before it does it again. When the engine starts to lose revs and almost cut out, I noticed that fuel was pouring out of the carb overflow pipe (the one towards the front of the car and I think its the lower of the two open 'T' pipes). Also the car does this when travelling downhill on a bumpy road. One thing I've read about is the location of the bike pump - I've read that it is better to be mounted near the fuel tank as they push fuel better than they pull? The pump on the car is mounted right at the front of the engine bay.... is that ok or should I look at mounting it closer to the tank as read? Anyone else experienced this problem? Did concider a sticking float but why only on idle and so intermittent?

Any help or info would be much appreciated.