Projects Cutting my Hotrod Teeth (57 Chevy Budget build/revival)

Fuel line is plugged or pump is inoperative. Sorry for my blowup earlier but the book is so important. Ralphie

 

Hard for me to trust buying another $40 book when the first one everyone insisted i buy turned out to not be at all helpful. Anyway i think at this point i’m almost done with the tri five specific stuff.

I’m going to pick up a new fuel pump when i’m out later

 

You might need more than two gallons in there...the pickup in the tank might not reach the gas...especially if its jacked up at an angle nose down like your pic shows...

 

You can always pour gas into the carb bowl by way of the vent. The engine will run enough to pull the fuel to the pump.

As for books, they weren't in print back in the 70's. I figured it out by looking close or borrowing a Motor's Manual.

 

the fedex man just stopped by

 

You should be able to test you pump before throwing money at it. remove the pump discharge pipe and feel for praesure at the pump discharge with your thumb while cranking engine.

 

Did you bench bleed the new master???

 

The master is just sitting there on the old studs to test fit it with the pedal

 

Before you go buy a new pump just unscrew it from the carb and see if you get gas while you bump it over a few times. You may want to get that thing back on the ground and level and add more gas to the tank.

 

Been following along, for a while, seems like you had plenty of help so Im just reading

I also went to Carbondale, was on this team, let me know if they have a ch***is dyno. My senior year we designed a ch***is dyno, got machinery and software donated. Engr dept head halted the project the day we got a work order to have university facilities cut out the concrete in the engr lab.

Dont forget the advice I gave in your vehicle search thread, spend some of those weekends on campus. Available 20yr old females arent as available once you leave school.

 

Carbondale isn’t what it used to be but the strip is still tons of fun every weekend! they are closing the towers this year because attendance is so low but i have a blast down there. We don’t have a dyno but the new car we’re building we got a company to sponsor a turbo project so we’re getting the engine rebuilt and pistons gapped for boost!

 

Yes, it does look like it should. Did it come with anything to place between the straps and the tank?

 

It did not, i’ll look around and see if i can find something to put between though

 

That would be a great idea. Remember someone is going to buy this car after you so do yourself proud by doing it right in the first place.

 

I'm also in the camp put more gas in the tank...squirt some gas in carb..but not when your turning it over...good luck....

 

I just might hang on to it after the amount of work i’ve put into it

 

I placed a pad between the tank and floor pan, look for something that won't soak up and hold water. I used one of those non-skid pads you put under a cutting board, cut it into strips. Ace Hardware had that. I also put shrink sleeve over my straps, which on the Ford are stainless steel. I shrank it using the flame of my gas stove, but now have a heat gun.

 

Everyone asks me that. If I'm going to sell it when I finish it. They watch too many of those ***-hat car shows on TV. AND.. a hot rod is never ever finished.

 

I checked to see if the fuel pump is working and it is, but it seems weak. I don’t want to run it without the fuel filter because the filler neck was full lf all kinds of **** but it seems like that might be making it weak.

 

Describe what you mean by "seems weak". I can tell you that the fuel pump on the 1951 I sold yesterday would shoot fuel out like a severed artery would shoot out blood, a pulsing type spurt. I actually cleaned the original fuel line out by running the engine off my little 1 gallon IV tank that I showed you a couple of time. I rigged up some fuel line to recirculate fuel through the pump until all the **** stopped coming out of the line and pump. Once it was clean and free flowing, I hooked everything back up as it should be so I could run off the new tank in the car. I had a cheap clear fuel filter between the fuel pump and the carb, and I figured with the sort of spurting and perceived pressure the clear filter would be FULL of fuel but in the 30 gallons of fuel I ran through the car while fixing everything the clear fuel filter never got more than halfway full. Hopefully someone that knows will jump in and give an accurate way of testing the pressure and what it should be. I bought a new fuel pump for that car because I figured it would be shot after sitting 24 years but it was still pumping yesterday when we loaded it on the guys trailer. I installed the new fuel pump on my 235 that's going in the Sedan Delivery several weeks ago.

 

5 to 7 lbs.

 

And there ya have it. I've never had the need to check fuel pressure on an older car. I had to check it on an OT vehicle once when trying to diagnose an EFI problem I was having.

I would imagine your LAP would have this as a loaner tool.

 

That's my experience with clear fuel filters. They always seem to have an air bubble that never goes away.


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I actually have a pressure gauge that was given to me with the snap on starter from 57chevydude, i’ll throw that on there in a bit here and see what i get

 

Be careful when doing this so that the test hose does not come off and allow fuel to go everywhere. A mechanical pump can be tested dry as well (no fuel going in).

 

Now you are starting to get your mindset going in the right direction. There are some things that you cannot just ***ume and the mechanical operation of certain items are a**** the most important. You can maximize the limited amount of time that you have (being away from your project most of the time at school) by doing solid troubleshooting from the get-go. Knowing the fuel pressure will eliminate or confirm the fuel pump as an/the issue. It can very well be several issues causing the problem. Troubleshooting is a process, a process of knowing the data and systematically eliminating components and scenarios until the problem is resolved. Carry on and let us know, as a lot of people are behind you 100%.

 

It's the difference between a mechanic and a parts changer!!!

 

Make sure that gauge is a Fuel Pressure Gauge and not a Vacuum Gauge!!!!

 

"Can't we do both babe"

 

"Can't we do both babe"

To satisfy Johnny Gee and to keep things in perspective and on the right track for Pineapple, please look at the gauge and make sure it is a compound gauge that measures both vacuum and fuel pressure. You could have a compound gauge, or a fuel pressure gauge, or a vacuum gauge. Only you know as you are the one with the gauge.