I was going along about 55 in my 1952 with flat eight today and it started surging like I was out of gas!I got home and the truck ran just fine at idle with no problem.I guess it is about time for a new fuel pump.It idles good and revs up ok.What else could it be?Any ideas on trouble shooting this problem before I start parts swapping?I thought about water in the gas but the bowl looks good!

 

Vacuum? Check all the vacuum hose (or I guess check the two or three vacuum hoses it might have, if any). Unless it was getting warm and tried to vapor lock on you, but I don't think that's a problem on these, or amybe it is, I don't know. I would think vacuum related. Unless you're running that E-10 crap that likes to clean the grime out of your fuel tanks and really messes things up.

 

Also, You might check to make sure your gas tank/gas cap is venting properly. The cap has to vent and it's possible that at the higher speed, you were sucking more fuel than could be replaced by air in the tank if it's not venting properly. There's not as much demand at idle.

Easy to check: take the cap off and take it out and drive it fast again.

Good Luck,
Julie!

 

Hey your truck looks almost identical to mine! Maybe I better make sure mine is where it is supposed to be! Check to make sure your vacuum advance unit on your distributor is working properly it could be part of the problem. My 52 also still runs a sweet running 51 Merc flathead. Recently did a 140 mile round trip with it and she never missed a beat!

 

Just an update on my problem.It was the coil causing the trouble.

 

Glad to see you found the problem!

 

russ, considering coil was bad, you might want to carry a spare condensor on your journeys, it could come in handy!