Well, I have almost got my fuel lines sorted out, and it brings me to another question.

Turns out my truck had the fuel lines going from the tank to the selector valve to an in line electric pump, to a Raycor water separator, to the mechanical pump, then up to the fuel filter then to the injector pump.

That being said, the mechanical pump apparently quit working. The reason I say this is that if I put a slight vacumme on the output side of the water separator, fuel flows low, but it does flow.

I placed a carter universal pump right after the selector valve, got rid of the inline fuel pump. When I pump INTO the water separator, it seveverly restricts the flow of fuel out. The input is right at 7-8 psi.
The water separator clearly states the 'in' should be on the vacuume side.

Do they make two kinds of separators, depending upon whether they are drawn through (like mine) or pushed through?

I also went by Napa and looked at the 3617 filter/water separator. I read in some old posts that it was a filter/water separator in one unit. It is kind of puny, and does not really say much about filtering.

Does this 3617 replace the element on the water separator, or get rid of the water separator and put it in place of the fuel filter?

 

I am not familiar with the NAPA 3617 Filter.

I put a 2 micron RACOR R45S Filter/Separator on my truck two weeks after I had bought it back in 1993. (and later upgraded to a R60S Fuel Filter/Water Separator; not that I needed a large filter, I just found out one day that I could buy the larger cartridges cheaper and they were more available as they are pretty standard on marine diesels in our neck of the woods).

Process wise I located the RACOR R60S it between the mechanical fuel lift pump and the original Ford 10 micron Filter/Water Separator. I did not want to put it in the suction line from the tank as any air may potentially be pulled into the fuel system if I had a leak, did not spin a new fuel cartridge on properly or did not crew on the plastic bowl properly. Most importantly having a pressurized filter allow me to drain off water of the bottom of the clear plastic bowl without pulling air into the fuel system.

Note, my R60S RACOR is an older model with the priming pump in the filter housing. I found this pump to be invaluable for quickly getting air out of my fuel system after a fuel filter change. Probably saved myself a starter or two in the process. (Still on my factory starter)

At about 100k I got rid of the Ford Filter and bracket as I could not stomach the $50 the dealer wanted for a replacement cartage. I was getting a lot of false water in fuel alarm lights which just got to annoying. I know I had no water in my fuel because I checked the clear plastic bowl on my RACOR each time. The funny part was after I had removed the water-in-fuel alarm sensor the alarms light still occasionally kept coming on so there must have been some intermittent short in the wiring. Eventually I just broke down and took the alarm light bulb out the the dash panel.

Physically I located the new filter off my toolbox over the right Fender which also holds my Antifreeze filter.

Getting rid of the Ford Factory filter and bracket was the best thing I have ever done as it make working on the engine, such as changing glow plugs, so much easier.

I can email you a picture if you are interested.

 

Sounds sort of what I ended up doing.... the previous owner replaced the Ford unit with a Raycor unit with the water cup separate from the spin on filter. I went to several parts stores in the bay area and ended up at Winchester Auto. They actually had a WIX part that replaces the Racor spin on filter. I put it back in, powered up the new electric pump (which, by the way, sounds like a large motorcycle starter grinding and grinding. Not sure if I got a bad one or if they are just damn loud.)

My Raycor head that the filter spins on has the priming pump also. Took me a long time to put two and two together though. Now that I have the electric pump priming is trivial. The only thing I have to worry about is where the dribble of diesel fuel will puddle when I press the schrader valve.

Now that I have replaced the pump, filters and injectors, I have a lot more power, and no more blueish white smoke. Only a slight hint of black smoke at full throttle under a load.

My 86 is not plumbed the same way.... Mine went from the tank selector valve to the fuel/water separator on the firewall, then to the mechanical pump, on to the fuel filter and then to the injector pump. So the water separator was zero pressurized (or vacuume) while the fuel pump was pressurized from the pump.

I redid mine and put the electric pump right after the selector valve, so everything up to the engine is under pressure. Seems to work OK for now.

Thanks for the response.

Anyone know if the Holley Red pump is quieter than this Carter I have?