Oooppss, putting a new fuel line in and cracked the fuel pump outlet where the line screws in (too tight I guess). Go ahead and chuckle and shake your head (I'll wait). Anyhoo, any tricks to putting a new one in? Mainly concerned with the rocker arm on the fuel pump getting where it needs to be. TIA
It's on a 72 FE 390.

 

Never knew of any "tricks". The rocker style of fuel pump is so common and real hard to screw up on installation. Just don't pull the bolts in unevenly. And follow torque specs. 5/16 - 18 is usually around 20-25 ft/lbs.

 

The camshaft has the one eccentric that drives the fuel pump. If that eccentric is not on the high point where it meets the pump arm it is very easy to slip the arm in and start the bolts and tighten them to torque. If the eccentric is on the high point where it meets the arm it will resist seating flat between the engine block and the fuel pump surface. If you feel that resistance it is no big deal. You can either rotate the engine some to get the eccentric to a non high point or you can get the bolts started and tighten them slowly and evenly and it will suck the pump into the block and internally actuate the arm at the same time. You just have to make sure the gasket stays on straight. I've done it enough times it is sort of second nature, but something to keep an eye on. Otherwise, I've never had a concern or issue.

To get an idea of what the internal eccentric looks like there are some at this link. If you've ever disassembled an FE or the front end down to the timing chain you may have seen this. It's mounted to the cam slightly off-center by default so it provides the action to move the pump arm. Pretty simple.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...w=B7AZ-18125-B

 

Thanks guys, that's all I need to continue.

 

Just put a little lube on the fuel pump arm before you install it.

 

A word of caution though, a lot of the aftermarket mechanical fuel pumps (typically made in China) have higher output pressure (8-10 psi) than what the carb was designed for (4.5-6psi). That can make tuning tough because the float struggles to keep the needle shut, resulting in over filling the bowl. If you have problems running rich with the new pump, you'll need to add a pressure regulator or find a NOS/NORS fuel pump that was made in either the US or Canada. It doesn't have to be made by Carter; in my experience the aftermarket brands made in the US or Canada were built to the same standard.

 

Thanks 66, I've got a Edelbrock 600 cfm 4 barrel on her.

 

Job done. No issues and running fine. Did crank the motor a bit at a time until the eccentric was in position to slide the rod in.