All right. Lets see if someone can help. Just got my econline pickup running about a month ago and it just started vapor locking. At about 180 it just dies and about 15min later will start up like a champ until it hits 180 again. This is what I have tried so far.
First I put an electric fuel pump on and am running it at 7 PSI....That didnt work.
Added an extra pusher fan to help get air through the dog house...than didn't work.
Replaced all rubber lines with hard lines.....didnt work.
rechecked timing....good to go.

Just about at wits end. Anyhelp would be appreciated.

Matt

 

1st, are you sure it is a vapor lock?

2nd, did you do the points and condensor? i have seen bad condensors heat up and shut down acting like a vapor lock. i have seen coils do it too.

3rd, make sure the fuel line is as far from the manifold and head as possible. you can get fuel line insulation from speed shops, seems to work pretty good for the guy's that have tried it.

 

Check your exhaust manifold, they have a tendancy to crack. A cracked exhaust manifold will heat the engine compartment up very fast.

 

I had a pick up coil in my 460 do the same thing. I just went and go another distributor and the problem was gone. In my case it was better to get a new distributor. I did not have another one kicking around. But try changing the distributor. It sounds like the same thing I had. A bad pick up coil in the distributor.

 

Uh...pickup coils didn't appear till ignition modules did. Thankfully for some of us owners of these old rides, there were no modules or pickup coils till 1973/74.


The OP has an Econoline pickup. Econoline pickups were made 1961/67.

 

Ok, checked the manifold no cracks. I'm running an MSD Distributor with Infrared pickup and a coil to match. Tried wrapping aluminum foil around the line and that didn't work. I was thinking about dropping down to a 160 thermostat. would this work?

 

Number is right about the years of the pick up coils, Butr the system you put in maybe new enough with the problem. If not check the condensor in the distributor. That maybe faulty as it gets hot as was mentioned the coil itself maybe faulty. It does not sound like vapor lock.
To really find out if it is vapor lock. Have a bottle of water with you.When it happens pour the water over the fuel pump and then see if it will run then. If it runs it is vapor lock, if not it is something else that when it gets hot it shuts down.

 

There is no condeser with this distributor. It is all optical not IR. I'm pretty sure it's not the electrical, because when it did it this morning it shocked the crap out of me. Plus the fuel pump is mounted on the frame rail about half way between the carb and tank, so I won't be able to pour water on it. This is kicking my A**. Question. If it's running lean, it will run hotter, could it be a carb thing. I'll try tinkering with the Idle screw and see what happens.

 

You know what works for fighting vapor lock? Wooden clothes pins on the fuel lines. This was SOP till the 1950's. If you truely are experiencing vapor lock, re-routing the fuel lines should help. The tight space, engine location, fuel lines near the manifold, hot t/stat are all contributors to the problem.


What size battery do you have, do you know what the cranking amps are? There were two trays used then. One for the R-22-HF battery (45 amp), t'other for R-24-F or FA (55 or 65 amp).

 

All right I think I figured it out. The carb is getting really hot. I think I routed the coolant lines through the carb spacer wrong. Anybody know the right routing or should I just leave them unhooked.

 

Does the hose go from the right front of the engine just in front of the exhaust manifold to the carb Spacer plate. If so it is correct. The other should go to the heater according to the shop manual.

 

the hoses to the carb base are there to heat the carb during cold weather, the heat is used to prevent icing. i have mine unhooked and have for several years now without a problem.

what is happening is a form of vapor lock. the carb is getting so hot it is boiling the gas into a vapor, thus no gas in the carb. i think you have another problem besides just the fuel issue.

what engine do you have, and what mods besides the ignition.

 

The only mod I'm running is the ignition which required the use of a ballast resistor. It's a Rebuilt 170. One other thing i'm thinking is that I used an exhaust manifold off of a 250. Everything seemed to lineup correctly (ports) Also i'm using one of those tiny air cleaners, not sure what was supposed to go on there so I went out and bought the little dinky one. Everything else is stock.

 

also i ended up replacing the coil before i figured out the carb was overheating.

 

is the exhaust good and open? if it is restricted it may be causing heat retention in the engine bay.

i'm kinda grabbing at straws here, no real reson for it to do that.

someguy's have made an aluminum plate to go under the carb. i have seen a thin aluminum heat sheild fabbed for under the carb also.

mabey a heat sheild over the manifold would be the ticket for you.