The other night I was trying to start the truck and found that I have a fuel line problem... being an impatient person i decided to use a funnel to dump a touch of fuel down the carb. When I did this the bottom butter fly valve thingy was closed and I'd say about 1/2 of the small amount I put down came out the sides of the carb where the piviot points are.

Is this an indicator that I should rebuild the carb, or should I wait until I've replaced the fuel line (tonight) and see if I continue to have a problem?

(oh yea, some details... 49 F1 with 226 I6, and stock carb)

 

If the carb has not been rebuilt in a long time, you could easily just rebuild it for peace of mind.

What's wrong with your fuel line?

 

clogged, rusted up, probably varnished... all i know it that i couldn't blow the line out with 95psi from my compressor. Besides, after looking at the way the line is ran I really dont like the fuel line running along the very front of the truck. Not sure if its the stock run, but it goes from the stock location up drivers side frame to the front cross member, crosses the truck and then goes back inside to connect to the fuel pump.
I'm going to change it to go up to the crossmember under the cab, cross to the passenger side and run it up the frame from there.

 

I would think that the fuel line was run on the drivers side to keep away from the exhaust pipe. Be sure that you have lots of clearance to prevent vapor lock.

Gil

 

i was thinking of getting some of that header wrap and using it to wrap the exhaust pipe where the fuel line comes close. Thoughts?

 

Actually your current fuel line routing sounds correct to me. It should run along the driver side frame, under the radiator area, and then back up and over to the carb on the pasenger side.

In regard to your comment about hear wrapping the header/manifold, I would suggest if you were serious about reducing heat is to take off your header/manifold and send it to any one of the good shops out there that do high heat ceramic coating. This not only reduces heat due to increased air flow, but it also may gain a little horsepower as well. However, since we are talking about a 223, how much real horsepower could you gain from this litttle engine anyway. Either way, don't wrap your header/manifold with that tacky header wrap stuff, as it never looks good to me, but that's just my opinion.

 

i'm planning on wrapping the exhaust pipe down under the cab where the new fuel line i'm will come close to the exhaust pipe, not the manifold nor the first several feet of the exhaust pipe. I'm thinking that the wrap might reduce the heat enough that the fuel won't go gaseous causing the vapor lock issue that gdgerland mentioned

 

James, I am going to have to do the same with my '50 with a 226 flat motor. I am going to run the new gas line in the stock location. Don't have to worry about clearing the exhaust. Just seems like the path of least resistance. I can think of all kinds of horror stories with gas leaking onto the hot exhaust. If you want to go the alternate route, think about getting a clamp on heat shield from the wrecking yard to clamp on to your exhaust pipe. Just a suggestion.

Gil

 

hmmmm.... i still dont like the idea of having a fuel line running across the front of the frame and just under the body... but as you say, having a volitile combustible running thru a tube just past the exhaust isn't good either. I need to take a good look at the route i'm wanting to do and take these suggestions into really serious consideration.
i was hoping to start the truck for the first time tonight... guess i'll drink beer while laying under the damn thing instead.