Sir, get or make yourself a primer bottle. Very cheap, or easy to make. Fill it with gasoline and shoot some gas into each vent tube. Work the throttle by hand to verify the accelerator pumps are working. Don't just pour gas into the carb, fill the bowls from the vent tubes. Remember to drain both float bowls when your done completely because the Methanol is very corrosive. Methanol is a learning curve, from starting to tuning, to shutting it down at the end of the day. Looks like you scored nicely there. Wishing you all the very best. It will be a moderately steep learning curve, but yes it's worth it. Merry Christmas.

I've been around the drag strip all my life. My best pass was 5.98 in the 1/8 just a word from the wise. you better practice getting out of that thing fast with your gear on before you go down the track in it. I've seen a lot guys get in deep shit because they could"nt get out when a fire starts. Sounds frigging awsome!

Keep up the good progress, I want to see a video of it at the drag strip as soon as the weather allows !!!

Methanol is hard to start when cold. Needs to be super rich or prime with gas to get engine started. Once it's warm it should fire no problem.

There's going to be a learning curve, but you'll figure it out. You always do, bro! I like the car. Don't let anybody drag your spirits down!👍

Totally awesome sounding badass. Can't wait to see it go down the dragstrip. Good luck with it

ive built and raced 540 merlins blown on alcohol for years and always gave a hit of gas for cold starts as well. Nice car for sure :)

Id love to see you cranking this up from inside the car, showing us the controls pedals and buttons. Love the cranking sound

Sounds amazing gotta love Merlin bb Love the car

Love that sound!!!! That ol Merlin is a helluva good motor that’s for sure!

Glad you get it figured out indeed so. Starting on just straight methanol they're extremely cranky LOL pun intended.

I'm surprised you didn't put some pump gas down the carb, damn cold methanol starting can be an art, sounds good at the end, cheers

Methanol motor, you need to prime it with a little gas.

Love it..... Sounds like a real monster.....,... We're never too old to learn...... Text more videos of car have a great day...... God bless all...... Merry Christmas Happy New

Man I hope you are enjoying it I had a Vega. now I have a 74 NovaSS with a 496 bb twin turbo 76mm on methanol and boy howdy a rocket ship is a under statement

One of the worst things you can do with a alcohol engine is crank it up and run it for a few seconds not allowing enough heat into the engine to evaporate the condensation that you just created bring the water temperature above 200deg and pulling the evac caps outs of the valve covers is how you evaporate the water out of the oil prolonging oil and engine life.😮

Get used to oil changes on a very consistent basis, 😉 in fact check it now. Alky takes a learning curve, be very safe with it

Sweet trade one bad ass vega u got. Love the h body i h!ve a pontiac astre good luck and be safe keep the rubber down

Nasty motor bro. Looks like you came out good on hat deal!

Glad you got it running sounds wicked .

I love that thing ! I’d love to have something like that !

bad ass, good luck with your new toy

Methanol eats everything. Gona need a rebuild kit for the carb and I’d put new fuel lines in if it sat for any period of time. But when it’s cold out you’ll need break clean or either to start it up.

17 Minutes in we have IGNITION!!!!!😂 SOUNDS AWESOME!!!!!!

Sounds good man

Sounded good once you got it started

Awesome car, I have a 555 Chevelle that I drive and a 72 vega body waiting to be built.

And just another tip. It absorbs moisture in the air and develops a fair amount of water in the tank and in the oil. Your gona want to change oil often after just a few passes and your gona wanna keep very little if not none in the tank in the humid months.

Methanol is hard on oil as it gets into the oil and will turn it milky white. That milky white means it's a bit rich, but will always run that way. You have to change the oil very frequently when using methanol.

I think your already hooked!!!!

Just a bit of time and once you figure out a soild start up procedure then you'll be golden ! The car sounds wicked & should be a blast flying down track at what... 8sec.- 175MPH High HP short wheel base cars can be a handful... be safe and good luck ✌️🙂

Methanol car in cold weather, put a few squirts of 87 in the carb. She will fire right up

Some new needles and seats and float adjustment and it should clean up nice

Pretty rowdy, love it

Have fun with it all you can do

A whiff of race fuel helps. Methanol also is a bit more maintenance.

Where are you located I would love to help you figure everything out and get the car tuned and on the strip

Needle and seat is stuck causing fuel to over flow. If it keeps over flowing it will hydralock the engine and will have to remove all the plugs and turn engine to get all the fuel out of the engine...

Nice clean built. What are you gonna do with all hat H.P.?

Another guy that’ll be taking credit for the build.

You don't burn twice as much if it's set up right. I made a gas system with an old nitrous plate and a cheap little electric pump and ran meth for over 20 yrs without a problem. Last dragster ran 4.50s.

I gotta know what brand of starter is on that thing

It takes a hot spark to fire the methanol!

First thing you need to know mate is that you can’t see it burning in daylight, Indy drivers punch their chests to signal they are on fire. Water is the best form of fire suppression. Also it gets into your oil fairly fast so always change your oil after each meeting. Regards Ken

Love it.. just a little TLC , and you be tearing up the track. 540 Merlin is a great combo.

Plan on doing oil changes often as methanol condensates and will turn your oil into water quick!

hey buddy, that car is sick until you get used to the throttle take it easy that is one wicked ride dude have fun. Remember you need to get all that gas out of the carburetor and the fuel CELL this will gum up your entire fuel system

Good luck pain to start when it's cold like

Well now I see why you got such a good deal

What starters are you using? I want to buy stock in that company. Little gasoline in the carb does wonders….

All of wanna know is what batteries you running? Lol sounds mean!

Is it for sale? Thats exactly just what I need for small tire no prep!

Dennis Taylor just put a Merlin 540 in his 55 , but it's twin turbo and will make 3,300-3,500 hp

That Cosworth Vega is a cool car in its own rite. Bet it's worth a pretty penny.

I use a dish soap bottle with 92 octane to get my methanol race motor to start when it is cold.

Vegas are cool cars. Should be reliable stock manual trans car. That’s fun.

That's a pretty good swap 😅

Once you get running right, let me know what the tomes are at the track and mph, thanks...

I'd love to have one of Bill Mitchell's small block 460 Ford engines

Someone dumped a big pile of cash in that little beast!

That front driver wheel is perfectly straight and the passenger side wheel is off to the right by about 5" I would look into that before you try to drive it.

Good starter testbed

Sweet motor

Got a friend with a 5oo merlin damn wicked

The sweet sound of the best music from 8 cylinders now it needs a blower

Cosworih Vega is worth it's weight in gold 😅😊

Waiting for that methanol leak to drip on that starter that's gotta be nice n hot 🔥🔥😮😢🚒 should always have a 🧯 ready especially the first time firing a methanol car

Fuel pressure should never be over 6.5 psi on alcohol...

When it's cold pour a little 87 pump gas down the carb.

You never crank a car that long.

So do you plan on racing this car?? Just asking

Maybe a little primer might do it. Dude get your primary ball little shot of starting fluid won't hurt it

Mmmm I love it

Fuel on fuel off fuel on fuel off. Pump peddle a couple times then crank it. Once it fires turn fuel back on. If youre cranking that long with fuel on its gonna hydro lock every time if it dont fire right away. Alky is a different animal 😅 and let it warm up before wacking the peddle. Alky burns cold. Hints the 5 min lean out first then give it the fuel and youre good

Rons sells a gasoline primer kit for it...

At least you will get good at changing the oil lol

I love vegas I have a seventy two With a 434 give a catch small block. Three hundred shot NOS. I run nine thirty one forty one And a quarter mile. 580 and 8.

Too much fuel pressure causes the needles to not hold, and flooding over...

Omg I'm getting so aggravated wachin this fool!

I would say you have a 7 second car! & seconds in a 1/4 mile!

I have a 451 stroker in a 69 valiant built by Ray Barton running on methanol with a 1050 dominator from Rupert,,I use duel frost plug heaters even in summer to get it started if it's been sitting and your motor sounds like its dropped a cylinder

Something else to think about, you'll burn about twice as much methanol as you will gas.

Yeah but if the cylinders lost the little oil they had the fuel definitely took it off the cylinder walls,I would have at least squirted some wd40 PB blast or motor oil down the cylinders before firing it up, methanol and alky engines are tricky anyway, little gas, starter fluid or carb cleaner would have made it pop off from the first turn of the key,but sounds like you didn't hurt it and next time get it up to temp that's bad for alky engines heating it up helps evaporate the moisture out of it, change oil every couple runs yoy might get a few more on oil changes if you lean the fuel just a little but they run fatttttt rich anyway that's what they love but good luck with it,its definitely a leaning curve owning a alky or methanol engine,i helped my dad maintain ours for 15+ years and i definitely learned a lot about alcohol engines and the expense that comes with owning a toy like that, love the Vega too by the way

Wow a vega lotta vega hotrods in the day

YOU NEED TO STRTING FLUID WOULD MAKE LIFE EASY AND A SMALL BOTTLE METHANOL TO FEED THE CARB WOULD WORK

Your cosworth must of been worth a lot to trade for that

Merlin as in Merlin airplane engines?

The vacuum pump is four the rings

You should always prime with gas first methanol is a cold fuel

Pour little gas in it. Methnal is hard to start could depending on timing. Little gas and hold go floor. It will start

Im guessinh its got electric dumps that open and shut....????

Just gotta control that Drinking Thing . Cheers.

I agree

Going to ware cam out you keep trying to start in cold weather no choke on race motor

Good lord my guy. Who taught you how to start a big cid engine on alky? Push the pedal to the floor 3 times. Stop! Run the pump. Stop pump. Crank it with your foot OFF the throttle. If you need to give it air,,,,BARELY push the pedal and hold it steady. If it doesn’t pop off, repeat! Wiggling the throttle while cranking does nothing! P.s hydro locked and empty is 2 different things. Also, sell that junk pro systems and buy a real alky carb. Imo of course

My name is will I look forward to hearing more about your sweet ❤️ motor I'm a Motorhead. I specialize in forced induction and nitrous oxide old school 🏫 who needs a computer when you going to do plug. I would do a vacuum reading at the base of the carburetor and depending on the vacuum reading put the proper power valve nothing like a real no guess work with that meth and oil in that motor out and burn holes in everything. Like I said I look forward do hearing more about the vega

Come on harmless cat not going to hurt that car

Float problem or pressure

May have washed the cylinders down with all the raw fuel during starting attempts.

Do you want to sell it