Tweet
Was up at my tbird garage this morning trying to start my 58 Bird, as it hasn't been able to start in quite sometime, I thought because of a dead battery. Wasn't able to open the hood to access the battery cause the hood is directly under a big storage shelving unit in the garage that I drive the front of the bird under. So I devised a method of trickle charging the battery thru the cigarette lighter socket, but still didn't start, so I thought it might be a fuel problem. This morning had some help to roll the car out so I could get the hood open. As it turned out it was a fuel problem. The filters were OK. Gasoline in the bottom pump filter was clean, but the micro filter up next to the carb was empty. Gas was not coming up the line from the pump. So was able to clear the fuel line by snaking it with a thin wire cable to remove whatever obstruction was plugging the line between the carb and the pump. I cranked the engine before I hooked the line back up to the upper filter and the carb. Gasoline was shootin out now. Hooked the upper filter back up, turned the key and she started right up. It's beyond me what would have clogged up the fuel line above the pump filter, but the problem is now resolved. That was a good start to a great day!
-
-
Jed,
I agree - it's always a good day when they start - hope you were able to drive your 58 that day too! Looks great - mine is white also.
My 60 doesn't have the clear fuel bowl on the pump so you just have to guess if there is fuel in the pump. I installed a see through filter at the pump inlet and have a better idea if fuel is at least getting there. My problem is the tank has rust and crud stopping up the tank filter screen but I have a new tank to install soon.
I would have guessed that the tank screen or the line from the tank was the problem. I wonder if you had a small amount of water in the fuel that just happened to stop in that steel line and cause a rust blockage - can't really think of anything else that would get past the pump filter unless the filter itself is coming apart. Doesn't seem like it could have been any of the pump internal seals or it wouldn't be working now.
Glad your back up and running.
Eric
registry 5347 -
Eric, She started up first thing this morning. My guess as to the clog would have been either a water/rust metal fuel line problem as you suggested, or just cruddy fuel gunk from not operating the bird enuff. I keep the car stored with a full tank and the fuel treated with stabilizer, but that may not always be failsafe.
Years ago, 1996, I had my rusty old gas tank restored by gas tank renew and they did a fantastic job. My old metal fuel line still had rust in it tho and it would chip and flake off and clog the pump glass bowl filter and get up and thru to the carb and clog that.
So I had done 2 things; 1) I put an inline glass bowl micron filter just up at the carb, so I can easily inspect what's goin into the carb and take apart the micron filter to clean it. 2) also, I snaked out the metal line from the tank to the pump with a wire cable and then hypodermically pumped metal-prep acid thru the line to change the ferris oxide to ferric oxide, thusly no more rust in the line. POR15 makes a good metal-prep acid. Sulpheric battery acid works pretty good too. It all has worked pretty good since, but that was 13 years ago.
One of these days I may get motivated to replace the fuel line with stainless or aluminum. I guess I don't see why a guy couldn't use copper tube for the gas line as well. Sounds like an easy hardware store retrofit to me. I think I just now talked myself into replacing my old original fuel line. I betcha the Ford flair fuel line fittings would be the same thread as copper flair fittings.
Comment
Comment