clothes pins= old wives tale.. I have a lot of respect for you guys. your knowledge is way more than mine on these old cars. I love to learn all I can about anything I can.but now im kinda disappointed inya. look up myths debunked, the clothes pin is a**** them. there is noway possible for the to work.they are wood.there is no properties in wood that could possibly help. I bought a car that was vapor locking bad. and it was covered in pins..took them off one by one,thought maybe there was too many..lol nothing. what did help was to change route of my fuel lines away from the exhaust.we all believe in science right? without it we would still be in the dark ages.so why do some believe this. science says there is no way possible for it to work.but im always willing to learn,so someone explain to me how it works,please.
As stated earlier, while you are putting on the clothespins, the car is cooling. You could probably slap the carb with a dead chicken for 10 minutes and "cure" it too. ClayMart's explanation is right on.
Well the boy's made it to Lake Tahoe for the V-8 Nationals. Thanks for all the suggestions, the simplest, was a rag over the fuel line and pump, and every few miles they soaked it with cold water and got them to Tahoe. They are going to take a more northern route home, thanks again!
Wood clothes pins seem to work. I run 3 or so on our flathead 32 and on our flathead 36. And besides its fun to hear people ask "what for..."
well thanks guys for not callin me names ! lol. i di have a best friend who is in his late 60s and when we talk about this he gets hot so i start putting clothes pins on him.. don't work on him either ,he just gets hotter...lol
Required Reading if you want to understand Vapor Lock; http://bennettpump.com/uploads/file_library/components/manual/Vapor Lock.pdf
^ NICE! Never thought about gas stations having vapor lock problems getting fuel from their tanks into a car's tank. But it's the same science as getting fuel from your car's tank to the fuel pump. But where do you suppose the gas station guys put their clothes pins?
Some carbs have small fuel bowls and the gas can percolate. Carter-Edelbrock four barrels are examples. They benefit from a carb spacer or thick gasket designed to help isolate the carb from the intake manifold.
We think the same. I have been thinking about setting up a pump sprayer in the '47 with a nozzle over the radiator so I could mist the radiator to keep the whole deal cool especially when cruising or stuck in traffic. The '47 doesn't get the best airflow when going slow or sitting still due to where the radiator had to be mounted. I have a spray bottle so when we stop I'll get out and spray the radiator and it cools down quick. This also keeps the fuel from boiling out of the fuel bowl which is my problem with "vapor lock" issues. At some point I am going to put a stock dimension aluminum radiator in it so I can put it back where it will get all the air it's supposed to and hopefully remedy the problem correctly.
Buy better grade gas, and use MMO in the gas too! My car also needs a little more choke when it's very hot? I also have clothes pins on the fuel lines, and a electric fuel pump too.
As stated earlier Vapor Lock occurs from the low pressure side of the fuel pump back to the tank. If we get Vapor in the supply line to the fuel pump it will not be able to pump the vapor. Depending on the part of the country, the EPA's standards mandate an RVP below 9.0 PSI or 7.8 PSI for summer-grade fuel. The biggest culprit in raising RVP is butane which is cheap but has a RVP of 52. Neat Ethanol is much less volatile, at 100 degrees it's RVP is 2. Blended fuels are more complex but no fuel can be sold after June 1 that has a higher RVP than 7.8 PSI. So if the fuel supply line is kept below 100 degrees you would need about 14 inches of vacuum to get vapor, that would be a pretty severe restriction. If you tee a vacuum gauge in the supply line it should be less than 3 inches of restriction. That leaves a 14.7 - 7.8 = 6.9 working pressure - 1.5 (3 vacuum) = 5.4 safety margin for vapor lock. How do we get vapor lock, either we have a greater restriction than about 14 inches on the supply side, or the temperature is above 100 or a combination of the 2. A fuel line near the exhaust or a kink in a fuel line, or any introduction of an air leak will introduce bubbles in to the fuel supply line. It's a supply side phenomena. In theory we can get vapor bubbles on the pressure side with high heat from cooling systems, high underhood temperatures. Of course the Carburetor fuel is under no pressure and can boil at high temperatures. A sticking manifold/heat control valve or an unbalanced exhaust system will cause continuous exhaust flow which can overheat the carb. This can cause the engine to stall under severe cir***stance but the pump will keep adding liquid fuel. Clothes Pins? Are they a heat sink removing heat from the fuel line? Seems a poor way to do it, wood is an insulator. Are they an insulator, well seems there would be more efficient ways to insulate a fuel line from underhood temps. Do they work, well magicians can do magic eh? So; 1. Be sure to get fresh fuel after June 1. 2. Check for restrictions by teeing a Pressure/Vacuum Gauge into the supply side of the pump. 3. Make sure no fuel line is near exhaust or other hot items. 4. Make sure you have no leaks in the supply line. 5. Keep a cold 6 pack in the trunk on ice. 6. Pour on suspected area 7. I guess I can't advice you to drink one. Drive-On
Don't forget to use clothespins to hold the foil in place. The foil functions as a heat synch. My Y-block would vapor lock on me so I used about 4 feet of gas line and coiled it up between the fuel pump and the carb. It looked like a still under my hood but the vapor locking was fixed. The most important thing is to get the fuel line away from any heat source. Bob
How about plumbing in an old power steering fluid cooler in the line to the pump? Looks better than clothes pins...
Fuel coming from the tank should be about ambient, so an ambient cooler wouldn't cool it unless it was heated by exhaust. If your underhood air is 150 plus you don't want fins to transfer heat into the fuel. You would likely be better to insulate the pump to carb line. A fuel return line let's excess fuel continually circulate. This was the industries method of preventing vapor lock in the fuel pump. Remember, this is important and seems to be missed, their is no"vapor lock" on the pressure side of the pump,it occurs on the suction side. Before vapor return lines purged vapor and recirculated fuel,at low demand the fuel sets in the pump and if it gets warm enough the vapor will displace the gasoline and the pump isn't primed so no pumping. Fuel boiling or vapor or percolation are heat related fuel problems but they are not vapor lock. Percolation occurs during hot soak and can empty the float bowl but it will restart with a long crank. Vapor bubbles in the fuel metering circuits cause surging or hesitation,they can occur where the fuel makes sharp turns under a jet for example where sharp threads can cause bubbles much like you would see in a kink in a clear outboard fuel line. If you put a heat sink of any kind on a line ask yourself, which is hotter, the fuel line or surrounding air during the problem. This will guide you into air cooling or line insulation.
Hoop98, I love UR post!!! =). Can U or N E 1 out there help a single mom w/a 1993 GMC Sonoma unvapor lock it PLEASE! I'm in the middle of a parking lot Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I have my 14 yr old son & 2 granddaughters w/me & I'm kinda desperate Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A small electric pusher pump back by the tank solved the problem in my Hudson. Before that I just kept a small cooler with ice and an old tube sock. Throw some ice in the tube sock then repeatedly swing violently onto the roadside/parking lot/etc. (This is also a great stress reliever after vapor locking your non-AC pig in the heat... again) Tie a knot in the open end of the sock and mold by hand over your engine mounted fuel pump and wallah, your good to go again.
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