Fuel Pump or Filter?

[Big Dave]

I'm in the process of rebuilding the brakes on a 1958 (sand fell out of the front wheel cylinders). Anyway, I tried to move it the other night, backed over the wheel chock (crushed it) and very shortly thereafter, the car died. To give you some perspective on my knowledge of these cars, I'm the same guy who was driving around with a headlamp on because I didn't realize the car had gauge lighting.

The engine turns over and I'm getting fire to the plugs. Could something have dislodged in a fuel line/tank/filter when I crushed the wheel chock? Can one easily clean or replace a fuel pump or fuel filter on a 1958 Thunderbird?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

-Dave

[Alexander]

Was the chock under the left front wheel? Maybe you crushed the fuel line running along the left side.

I don't know when the last time the car was run. Has it been in hibernation for long. Fuel tanks and fuel lines can get corroded leading to fuel pump and fuel filter clogging.

Reproduction fuel tanks and fuel lines are available. Fuel pumps are easy to get and if you don't have A/C are an easy install. The fuel filter on the 1958 was originally an sintered strainer in the fuel bowl. These are hard to get and the fuel pumps made now eliminate the fuel bowl, replacing it with a flat metal piece - safety reasons.

The sintered fuel fiter in the bowl seemed to been discontinued early. Motor's Parts Guide from 1960 already shows that an inline filter is used. You can easily and cheaply get an A/C fuel bowl with filter that you can put in-line before the carburetor. It will be correct for you car. There is a little clip that they sell for the 1955-57 Thunderbirds and our cars to hold the fuel line to the manifold for holding up the fuel filter.

[Big Dave]

Alex, thanks for your response. I finally got back to work on the car yesterday, so naturally I've got bruised hands and a question or two.

The fuel pump on the car doesn't have a glass bowl filter. Must be an older after-market pump. I found a small screen filter attached in-line at the carburetor. The filter was partially clogged, but cleaning it out didn't seem to help.

I pulled the fuel pump off to take a look. The lower chamber was full of gas but I couldn't push any fuel up to the carburetor while trying to start the car. I was able to blow back through the line to the gas tank with little effort, so I think the problem could be inside the pump.

First question - disassembly of the fuel pump was easy, but I'm having a hard time connecting the diaphragm rods to the actuator lever-linkage inside the body of the pump. The distal end of the fuel-side rod is flattened with a hole in it, where the distal end of the vacuum-side rod is flattened with opposing notches. Is there some trick to this step in the assembly process?

Second question - the inside of the pump looked pretty clean (no tears, rust, etc.). Is there a filter inside the gas tank that could have been clogged and preventing adequate flow to the pump?

Sorry for the lengthy note and thanks for any help,
Dave

[Alexander]

There is a fiber fuel filter in the gas tank on the inlet. It can collapse, clog or disintegrate.

[Big Dave]

Thanks for the help. I took the fuel pump off again and gave it a closer look. The discharge fuel check valve was stuck in the closed position. The internals of the pump were coated in rust-yellow I freed the valve and slapped everything back together and - whala! - gasoline all over my garage. I changed fittings between the carburetor line and the pump and the leaks disappeared.

Now back to the brakes...