I have a 1971 360 engine with fuel pump problems. The pump is new, and there does not seem to be any action with the eccentric on the camshaft timing gear. Does this round cam have a history of wearing out, or the bolt coming loose and the eccentric falling off?
Thank you for any responses!

 

Typically this is not a problem. You should be able to drop the fuel pump, and feel the eccentric to make sure its there and snug. My bet is that it is there and fine. When you were bolting your new pump up you should have felt the acutator arm snug up against the eccentric, actually depressing it a bit when you tightened the bolts. Yes, no? I've been given the wrong pump that looked right but had the wrong actuator arm before too. Did it work fine before you put on the new pump? Anyways, I doubt its the eccentric...heck, you can't even get them from Ford anymore since theres no call for them.

 

Proeliator,

I should have mentioned the pump is almost new, used for about 500 miles.Shut off engine one day, wouldn't start the next. No longer pumped fuel. Took it off, checked out fine, so I reinstalled it. Still didn't work so I took it back out and made sure I put it in correctly.(Did not feel the typical resistance when insatalling pump) I am at a loss, fuel pump works when manually operated, there is gas to pump, however no gas pumps out. I hope the eccentric is not the problem for obvious reasons, but I am running out of ideas. Any more advice would be appreciated.

Mallardgreen

 

Hmmm, that does change things a little. When you inspected it the diaphram didn't show any small tears? I still suspect the pump before the eccentric, but at this point you might as well drop the pump off. In the timing cover hole you should be able to feel the eccectric up in there and rotate the outer ring (they are actually two pieces...an inner plate that bolts to the engine and an outer ring which spins freely). When you say it won't pump gas...you've taken the fuel line off of the pumps "out" line and cranked the engine (with ignition disabled) and no gas pumps out? And you've verified it is freely flowing into the pumps "in" outlet? Assuming you have done all of these tests it would have to be the pump. Let us know what you find. Oh, and what brand pump you running?

 

I've seen the return spring in the pump go bad. If you manually cycle the pump arm it will pump but it won't return to the eccentric.
Just my 2¢
Greg