i always depress the clutch and pump the gas wen starting, duno why really just habbit i guess. so i would be better off not touching the accelerator?
Yes, clutch DOWN but throttle UP is generally the way to go if your injection pump is a Lucas CAV type. Touching the GO pedal actually "switches off" the automatic excess fuel delivery system, which allows the injection plungers to have a slightly longer stroke when starting up.
The little bitty of extra fuel makes the engine that much more likely to fire up at starter motor cranking speed which may be only be 100 rpm or so even with a good battery. The instant the engine does fire up the tickover governor hoicks the revs up to about 600-650 or so, and that is easily fast enough even on a cold day to get the heat of compression the engine needs to run sweetly after a few seconds.
It is important for these pumps that tickover is set using its own little lever, the one that leans on the fuel inlet adapter on the pump. DO NOT set tickover using the cable or main throttle stops
Of course, best quality orange-hot incandescent glow plugs help too!
CharlesY