I found a 20.00 permanent fix for vapor lock. The 460 in my new/old truck is the first carbureted motor I've had in 10 years, and even then I have never had an issue with vapor lock. I got my truck about a month ago while it was still in the 70's out side and everything was great. Then we had our first 90 degree day..

Needed less to say I was left waiting for my engine to cool down a few times along side the interstate. I asked my dad how to fix this as he use to own a truck like mine and he told me of all of the home remedies from cloths pins to carb spacers, to electric fuel pumps. Then I found out what vapor lock actually was when I replaced my steel fuel filter with a clear one. I saw that The fuel was literally boiling off in the line causing a over pressure situation. Meaning the mechanical pump could not push past the pressure created by the expanding gas in the line.

My back ground is in refrigeration, and I simply saw a common change of state when the fuel (acting like a refrigerant) was absorbing heat from the engine compartment. So I approached the situation the same way we do when we have a superheated refrigerant in a gaseous state that we want want in liquid form. We run the hot gas through a condenser. In this case it was a discount auto part power steering cooler (which cost about 20.00) it even came with lines and clamps. All you need do is mount it away from the heat of the engine and preferably in some sort of air flow. (Remember heat rises) Since ford mounts their power steering cooler on the cross member underneath on my year truck I would say that is as good as a place as any. (Also Keeping away from impact prone areas)

I know there are going to be poo pooers on this idea, but so what it works. We had a 95 degree day and I ran a tank a gas through the worst of it and the truck did not stall nor was it hard to start. We'll see how she holds up over the rest of the summer.

 

That sounds interesting. I have a 74 stock 460 and have had some vapor lock issues when it's out. I think 90% of the members on this forum have too. So this is probably a stupid question but I'm not a mechanic....how exactly does the power steering cooler work? Im assuming the fuel runs through it? Im not exactly sure what a p.s. cooler looks like. Thanks for the idea.

 

The ps cooler removes heat from the fuel allowing it to remain a liquid. I had the same issue on my 75 CS with a 460 after I installed the Performer intake and Holley carb. I ran an inline filter that sat on top of the intake manifold by the carb. Once I removed the filter problem was gone. My factory fuel pump has a cartridge filter and the holley carb has filters at the bowl inlets, no need to have another restriction and a volume of fuel stored on top of a hot intake. That worked for me, just a different solution to the same issue.

 

Buy Imperial Power Steering Oil Cooler 241009 at Advance Auto Parts

This is a link to the exact cooler I used. It works like a mini radiator for the hot power steering fluid, but in this case it does the same for the gasoline.

 

If you live in a really hot climate or you actually do a lot of camping/really work your truck (run the high side of your temp gauge) then I suggest spending the extra 10.00 and buy a small Trans cooler and use it the same way. For what I do the p/s cooler works well but the little cooler does get surprisingly hot. I can only imagine how much hotter it would get if the truck was loaded and being worked in the summer months.

Side note keep the line coming out of the cooler away from any possible heat source, you may even want to wrap it in a good heat shield if your in a lot of traffic/low air flow conditions. Otherwise your defeating the purpose of the whole thing.

 

Has anyone tried just insulating the line? I was thinking pipe insulation or foil tape maybe...

 

I thought about that, but the problem is unless you have someway to remove heat the insulation material will only prolong the vapor lock process.

 

If anyone was following my progress here I did have to move the ps cooler to in from of the radiator today. I was in heavy stop and go for over an hour and started to have problems again. I low mounted it so its kinda behind the bumper hugging a frame, so if I were to hit something... Once it was in a constant air flow situation it cleared up again.

 

I been searching and reading about vapor lock for 2 hours and this is the first thread I found where the original poster confirmed a solution. I'm going to give this a try because I'm battling vapor lock right now.