2 questions.
1) What is the total movement on the fuel pump rod. I'm going to put my dial indicator on it and see how much movement I'm getting.
2) The PO had a small piece of rubber between the pump rod and the fuel pump arm. It was hand cut so if figured he added it. Has anyone heard of doing this? Any thoughts on possibly why?

Thanks

 

Oh ya a common fix for a tired fuel pump. Most common was to add a
brass nut (copper tubing compression nut) to take care of lost motion
of the pump arm. As far as pump rod travel which isnt that much, thats a
fixed thing (cant do anything about that). In theory just activate a fuel
pump by hand and see all the lost motion it has-thats why a nut was
added. Not only a flathead also MELs had the pump located the same
way and they dont get a whole lot of lube way up there, like the common
mounted side of the block which gets some oil splash.

 

There are different length fuel pump push rods used in flatheads. You have to find one that is matched to your intake manifold and fuel pump stand. If a previous owner had to shim your push rod then something is wrong. All 8BA rods are the same. However, the earlier rods are shorter.

Here is an interesting write up on flathead V8 fuel systems: http://www.flatheadv8.org/rumblest/fuel.pdf

 

Back when the flathead was the power of the times, a piece of harness leather or shoe leather was the shim of choice. Not uncommon, at all.

 

As I recall, the total lift of the eccentric on the cam is around 5/16" (0.3125").

 

Lift on the 48-53 flathead V8 pushrods is 0.200". The correct OA length is 10.0625" (10-1/16").

 

Before replacing my fuel pump I used a piece of leather to get a little more use out of the old pump. Worked just fine.