I have now gone through 3 fuel pumps in my 69 XR7 with a 351w. The first one was a Delphi and it leaked at the housing seam. The second was a Carter which had 0 psi out of the box. The third was Carquest and it was 15 psi and caused the carb, an Autolite 4100, to spew gas from the vents. I am wondering what everyone else is using and if it might be time to convert to electric. I am a little reluctant to do that, as I am trying to keep the car as original as possible.
Any advice you have on the subject would be appreciated.
I would confirm that the lines are clear and clean on both sides of the pump including the pickup filter in the tank. No other added filter somewhere or kink. Rust debris or flake blocking the line making the pump work harder. That said, could be a string a of bad luck and chances are the 4th time is a charm…
Wrong type of gas cap? Vented vs not vented? Needle and seat is good I imagine. Eccentric isn’t bolted tight or worn out. Missed it on installation with second pump. First pump was old or new? 3rd pump, back to bad luck…
Im not a fan of electrical pumps on street cars that dont need the high volume constant flow. They are noisy and there is a lot of electrical to add. Prime button, cutoff pressure switch. Its like adding another whole system. They don’t like to sit for periods of time either and need maintenance. Mechanical pumps are cheap. I would try again with factory setup 1 more time.
I built and still have a 67 that I did every Hot Rod Magazine trick in the book. It was fun but I wouldn’t put in another electrical pump in anything but a true race car. The idea of electrical pump is to get every bit horsepower to the rear wheels instead of running it off the motor. Or are consuming so much fuel the motor leans out.
Thanks everyone - the 4th time was a charm! I found a pump made by Precision and it has the correct pressure and works great. I think all of these aftermarket pumps (Delphi, Carter, Precision, etc) are all made in the same chinese factory as they all look identical and have the same markings.
Its easy to chase your tail over something like that tnese days. There is more new junk parts out there than ever before. Even trusting manufacturers like Carter and Delphi have been baught and sold to the point that its about all on the same mass produced off-shore quality level. Just went through four new speed control sensors on my 1995 F-150. Motorcraft sensor from Rockauto solved it. Spent hours trying to fix the issue like you went through with parts from Orielly and Napa. Feel your pain.
I ordered one from WCCC and it was pumping at 15, put a pressure regulator in and all good (almost). Cold starts one crank but if it sits for more than two days, starter fluid is needed. And have symptoms of heat soak with concurrent new carb. No starting issues cold or hot before new pump/carb…the puzzle that never ends…
One comment bothered me here…was the “wrong gas cap” vented or not. While I guess the system can always be circumvented, Ford had two different NON-interchangeable between the two systems, vented and non-vented.
Also the symptoms listed above don’t apply to this scenario… Once the car ran long enough to create a vacuum in the tank if the wrong cap were employed, then the engine would starve out. Depending on how good all the connections etc were, the vacuum may or maynot dissipate while thrashing and diagnosis continues… and the following attempt to start the car would be successful…rinse…repeat…
In this case it was bad pump, bad pump, bad pump… Look for old stock but not antique…you at least want rubber that has half a chance of surviving the ethanol etc in the new fuels…
Glad you finally got a good one!!! Roll on!!!
Steve
I have electric pumps on both my cars - 68 and 69 with roller cam engines.
Most electric pumps are pushers and need to be mounted near the tank outlet. That means a bracket and significant noise insulation to stop vibration being transferred to the trunk floor and wiring to the rear.
Also need to install a tachometric relay so that the pump cuts out if the engine is not running. Some tachometric relays cant handle the amperage for direct connection to the pump - so you need to install a mini relay to endure the pump gets enough power
Then build a cover for the pump so it doesn’t get damaged from flying debris
