First off, thank you to all who have helped me with this truck thus far. Your knowledge has been a very valuable asset in keeping this old girl running.

I need to pick your brains again. First, to recap, I have an '84 F150, 351 with a Holley 4bbl (4B14 on the blue tag on the carb). She was a gift from the MIL when her husband passed away. Anyway, most of you saw the pictures I put up earlier and the shape the carb was in, as well as other issues. (Yes, I DO plan to rebuild the carb at some point, if it isn't too much trouble for this "shade tree mechanic")

Well, two weeks ago, she wouldn't start. Someone had put a fuel filter on for a lawnmower just off the carb and it was completely clogged with a brown, dirt like substance. After searching high and low for a filter (only to discover it was for a lawnmower), I finally replaced it and still nothing. Well, yesterday I started working on her some more. I pulled the fuel line off of the pump and turned it over and nothing came out. It has two tanks on it, but the rear tank was "sabotaged" many years ago and was disconnected by the previous owner (step-FIL). Someone bypassed the switch as well, so I pulled the line where they joined the lines back together at the switch and fuel WAS coming out of the line there, so I know there isn't a clog there. If there is a glog anywhere and the pump isn't the problem, it HAS to be between the switch junction and the pump. I didn't have time to pull that off, but I am relatively sure there is no clog there. I will pull it before I replace the pump to make sure.

So, here are my questions. First, can I put an in-line filter BEFORE the pump without causing any problems? I was thinking about putting one at the junction where the switch was since I am only running one tankt right now and there is already a junction there. When I decide to fix the rear tank and get all of that set up again, I can move the filter, assuming it would work before the pump. The other thought I had was moving the filter to inside the engine well, maybe to the fender or somewhere easier to get to, but still before the pump. My thinking is there is gunk in the tank that may have crapped out the pump, because it was replaced not too many years ago. If I can do this without causing any problems, which filter should I use? I don't like the idea of a lawnmower filter, especially since it it tiny, but I also know there has to be a good flow for everythign to work properly. Any suggestions?

Second, would I be better off putting an electric pump on? I was looking at the pump and it looks like it is going to be a pain to get off. If an electric isn't too much trouble and money, would I be better off with that?

Thanks in advance! Oh yeah, I also removed the air conditioning condenser and smog pump (it only had one vacuum line hooked up anyway and NO belt was on it anyway!) yesterday as well. I cannot believe how much more room I have in there! There is a big 'ol honkin' bracket the AC pump was mounted on and that the coil is mounted on that I would love to get rid of. How big a pain is this? I know I would have to mount the coil somewhere else, but I don't think that would be a big deal. It looks to be attached to a lot of other stuff, though, so I don't know if I want to fool with it just yet.

I will try to get some new pictures up of all of this today. Again, thanks for all the help!

 

There already should be a sock on the pickup inside the tank. I can tell you from experience, if there is junk in the tank, and the sock is missing also, you need to pull the tank and clean it out. If you don't, filter clogging and carb and pump problems(whether original or electric) will haunt you for years to come. A added filter here and there will work, but you will soon get tired of being stranded because the filter is clogged.

 

Yes, I had planned on pulling the tank pretty soon, but it is full right now and I was looking more for a temporary solution until I can get the level down enough to manage it better myself. I am not sure the tank has sludge, as one of the rubber lines was not clamped on either end. Don't know how much could have been sucked up through something like that, but in case the tank had something in it, I wanted to make sure I don't screw up another pump trying to get the fuel level down enough to drop the tank. I literally filled it up 2 days before the starter relay went out, so it is quite full right now.

I will probably just replace both tanks altogether when I do it anyway.