Fuel pump replacement

[Guest]

Hi, squarebird fans. I'm thinking of converting my vacuum wipers to electric---meantime, I just want to get my bird on the road again. The new non vacuum assist (supposedly OEM) fuel pump pictured next to the old vacuum assist one appears to have a different looking rod. Will it still work? Thanks.

[jopizz]

Yes, it will still work.

John

[Guest]

Thanks, John.

[Guest]

Fuel pump/Vacuum booster

Happy Holidays, squarebird lovers. I have decided that the best approach to fixing up my '60 and prevent it from sitting dormant for too long of time periods is to mechanically fix it up as close to original as practical then decide on what improvements/ upgrades I wish to make. When I bought the car in 1985 it was original and intact, and for the most part still is. I need to replace the fuel pump before I do anything else, and I realised if I don't go with the original vacuum pump one A) I have to figure out reconfiguring the vacuum lines to reservoir, brake booster, etc. and B) if I do reconfigure, what effect will it have on my Kelsey-Hayes bellows style booster (car has factory a/c). I either need to order correct replacement vac/fuel pump pronto or figure out the vacuum lines with the non vacuum/assist that I just installed. Thoughts? Thanks.

[Frango100]

I have the Kelsey-Hayes booster on my Bird, and it gets it vacuum directly from the engine intake plenum.

[jopizz]

Frank is correct. Your brake booster should connect directly to the intake manifold. The fuel pump vacuum only goes to the windshield wiper/washer system.

John

[Guest]

John, I'm having trouble posting pics small enough to fit on these pages so I'm winging it. The original booster has two vac hoses; one seems to connect directly to the passenger side wiper, the other is connected to a j-block right behind the distributor that's also connected to the intake and goes to a "t" toward the driver's side wiper/ brake booster/ vac reservoir. So would I simply plug the hole where the old booster connected to the j-block behind the distributor? Thanks.

[jopizz]

Just remember if you remove your vacuum fuel pump and plug that hole in the fitting your wipers will not work. A lot of times they don't work anyway. You can connect your wipers directly to the intake manifold and bypass the fuel pump but they won't work as well.

John

[Guest]

The wipers already didn't work well; came within a whisker of tearing everything apart under the dash years ago because I was unfamiliar with how erratic vacuum wipers are. My current concern is that I'm not losing vacuum causing the engine to run bad and that my brakes still work ok.

[jopizz]

There's a kit to convert the wipers to electric if you want to go that route.

John