[QUOTE]If they had too much fuel in the system, we used to start them by fully opening the throttle, fully closing the mixture and then swapping the levers round once it fired.[QUOTE]
Yes, that's exactly the solution.....Now, If you had studied your "Trevor Thoms" assiduously, you'd know
why it is correct and it works!
Too much fuel - air-fuel mixture won't ignite ....close mixture, shuts off fuel supply......cranking the engine dilutes the ratio of fuel to air (as you have given it an unrestricted supply of air to "mop up" te excess fuel Until you reach a combustible ratio,at which point the engine starts firing and rapidly consumes the residual fuel.....swap levers quickly and the balance is maintained....common sense and basic physics , really
-It's got sod-all to do with "difficult...bad starter....temperamental...etc.