Electric fuel pumps and vapor lock

[GB SISSON]

I love a good factory fuel pump but having problems with what I thought was a float/needle hanging up in one of my vehicles. Time was I could tap a wrench on the carb and it would start when hot in hot weather. Lately not so much. I have an inline 12v fuel pump in a box from a previous project. How and why can that make it start when I come out of the store and it's 90 out? Starts like new in the morning, run,pulls,idles like a Swiss watch.

[cmbrucew]

Gary
one of your 6At5.9's would cure that issue.

Bruce

[GB SISSON]

Wise guy! Remember I'm the guy that exploded a 12 ply truck tire 2 feet from my face 3 weeks ago. I have only driven the 6at cummins truck once since then. I am moving in the direction of my quiet vehicles...... Huh? Say what?....

[cas3]

yup, just drive the cummins and forget about it ! just kidding of coarse, vapor lock is a funny thing how some get it and some dont. I would experiment a bit before going electric. either a fiber ( or wood ? ) spacer under the carb, then some insulation like header wrap etc. around the fuel line. Try the free stuff first

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by cas3

yup, just drive the cummins and forget about it ! just kidding of coarse, vapor lock is a funny thing how some get it and some dont. I would experiment a bit before going electric. either a fiber ( or wood ? ) spacer under the carb, then some insulation like header wrap etc. around the fuel line. Try the free stuff first

The fuel ines in the engine compartment are mostly ( 90 percent ) steel. Would it also help to be rubber (hi tech ethanol FI) type? I coiuld go all rubber.

[cas3]

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Rubber would be a cheap experiment .

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by cas3

Rubber would be a cheap experiment .

Ain't no love like cheap love... For vehicles that is....

[tomcarman]

I seem to remember a long forgotten story and perhaps a myth that putting a clothes pin on the incoming rubber fuel line at the carb would help with vapor lock. Anyone ever heard of this?
Tom

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by tomcarman

I seem to remember a long forgotten story and perhaps a myth that putting a clothes pin on the incoming rubber fuel line at the carb would help with vapor lock. Anyone ever heard of this?
Tom

There once was an old gentleman who had a beautiful little coupe, I'm thinking a '36 3 window, but my memory plays tricks sometimes... This old gent used to travel to all the V8 Club's National Meets. He was at that time considerably older than i am now, somewhere in his nineties, as i remember. He'd proudly lift his hood for anyone to see what he had, he wasn't bashful. Under that hood was a collection of wooden clothespins that would fill a clothes basket. They were old, stained brownish, and side by side, they covered every bend and turn of his fuel lines before and aft of the stock mechanical pump. Did they prevent vaporlock? As he was there, and his coupe was there, nobody questioned, nobody laughed. The insulation provided by the wood helped isolate the fuel line from the heat of the engine compartment. Was he the originator of the idea? Only the Shadow knows.

[flatford8]

Gary.....I put a phenolic spacer from Bob Shuman on my ‘50 8BA. About that time I may have put on a fresh fuel pump, it was about ten years ago. I haven’t had a bit of trouble since, not that it hits the nineties very often here in So Maine........Mark

[tomcarman]

Good one Alan! GB's story of vapor lock triggered an early memory from my youth of the clothes pin trick from my Dad and Uncle, both known kidders to us gullible youngsters. Maybe they meant if you pinch the line the car wouldn't run thereby eliminating vapor lock? Probably the same story as the rubber lobed cam shaft where the faster the engine rpm the more intake/exhaust performance.

[flatford8]

I always thought the idea behind the clothes pins was they acted like cooling fins when the air blew thru them. They probably worked better as a conversation starter…… Mark

[5851a]

My Grandmothers 50 Pontiac suffered from vapor lock, a coworker told her about the clothes pins. She put them on and I think it worked she said.

[farmertom]

yes for sure tomcarman,i have two old oily wooden clothes pins on the steel fuel line before filter that came on the'37 when i got it over 2 yrs ago. when i first saw them there my first thought was what the hell then dawned on me that my dad who was born in 1909 told me of this trick as well as my uncle who was a allis chalmers tractor mech. many yrs ago. Tom.

[cadillac512]

Clothes pins on a fuel line work about as well as gasoline on a clothes line.
Terry

[FlatTopFreddie]

Ethanol is the problem... it lowers the boiling point.... on Model A's you can see the fuel boiling in the sediment bowl.. cooling the sediment bowl will help with the boiling...

non-ethanol fuel works well ....

[Jacques1960]

So…add some diesel to the gas

[1948F-1Pickup]

Originally Posted by flatford8

Gary.....I put a phenolic spacer from Bob Shuman on my ‘50 8BA. About that time I may have put on a fresh fuel pump, it was about ten years ago. I haven’t had a bit of trouble since, not that it hits the nineties very often here in So Maine........Mark

1/2” phenolic? Did you have to jet up a number or two? I tried one and that was what I was probably going to need. Much better response down low though…..

[flatford8]

I didn’t change anything on the carburetor. Just longer studs that come with it. Like I said, I may have changed the fuel pump at about that time too. I had one from Macs that lasted about a year. The current one was from NAPA and still works fine......Mark

[GB SISSON]

I feel I am fortunate that the parts store here is a napa. In rural areas, and there are Many, the parts for a 47 truck may very well be going into a hay truck that has been in service since new. The biggest factor is that the parts help to get the job done, not win points. Point in case is the echlin ignition parts. But fuel pumps, carb kits etc need to work with the gas at the corner station. Napa is not a restoration company but a practical outlet to get your 8n back into shape for another year of field mowing. Too bad reverse is like 3rd gear!