What fuel filter is recommended? Has to have barbed fittings each end for 3/8" hose.
Reason I ask, is I see there are huge variations in gph flow ratings for filters. I ma currently using a generic unit, but I am having fuel delivery issues now and would like to optimize things when buying a replacement.
Fram P/N?
Other?
Thank-you.

 

What you need is one like this. They will handle 502 CID big blocks in a marine (AKA fuel guzzling engine) application. I've been using then for years and akk my fuel related problems (except for too low of octane) have disappeared. I inner fender mount them. Oh and get the 3/8" unit.

http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=85448F

 

What year is your truck?

As original: All 1965/72 F100/350's, some 1973/76 F100/350's with FE engines have a cartridge fuel filter inside a steel can that threads directly onto the fuel pump.

Most ppl have no idea it's there, so they install an inline fuel filter, or get an adapter and use the type that threads directly into the carburetor.

Since most ppl are unaware of the cartridge fuel filer, it rarely gets changed.

C4AZ9365B .. Cartridge Fuel Filter (Motorcraft FG1A)

Available from Ford and autoparts stores.

 

I ran this water/fuel seperator filter in addition to the filter on the pump on my 1967 F250 with 390. The real nice feature of it is if you get a bunch of water at a fillup and you fill the filter with crap and water (done it once), you just unscrew the canister , dump the bad stuff out and reinstall the canister to catch more, that is if you don't carry a spare canister as I did.

 

My FE is in a homebuilt vehicle, ,so can't get a P/N that way.

Bear; I have one of those in my boat. I once replaced my gastank fuel tube and made it a bit longer. Sucked up water and filter filled up with water. Once full, engine died from lack of gas. Strong winds, rocky shore, anchor dragging. Not a pretty sight. Once I figured out what was wrong, as you said, unscrewed it, dumped it, put it back on, and away we went.

Anyway, I seem to have some fuel delivery issues right now. Seems to lack fuel if I run it hard for too long. Current filter only has 5000 miles on it, but it could be plugged a bit. Not sure of flow rate, but what's the point of having a 120 gph fuel pump and only an 80 gph filter.

I have a new Motorcraft FG-2 kicking around. It was recommended as a good flow fliter, but it only has 5/16" ends for fuel hose and I need 3/8". I manged to find another one like I currently have, same P/N, but it's clear plastic and looks really chinzy.....was only a little over $3 too! But it may be good enough to try and see what happens.

I also have a piece of fuel hose from the chassis mount fuel line to the fuel pump fitting that seems a bit soft, not sure if it could collapse or not. I tried squeezing it at idle, but no drop in pressure guage.

Speaking of pressure guages, I have an "el cheapo" one hooked to the carb. With no pressure is reads about 1.5 psi and at idle about 8.5 psi. So that's about 7 psi I guess. The other day, after a run, I opened the hood and it only read about 5 psi. I tapped it, but it stayed there until I shut the engine off. Today, I started it up and it read the same 8.5 it always has.

Sintered filter at carb is clean. When I took it out to inspect it, I did see some droplets on the cover piece. I don't think gas will form droplets, but water does. Not sure about that one.

Only other thought is the fuel pump, a high-flow Carter, again with only about 5000 miles on it. It is the screw-together kind, but I don't want to take it apart quite yet as I have not found any mention of kits available for it so far.

Oh, fuel tank is aluminum, no no worries about rust plugging things up. Water could be in it from condensation or bad fuel.

So anyway, starting form the tank, I thought I'd replace the filter and wondered if anybody had a good recomendation. Marine one is a good idea, but no room where current filter is. Wold have to do a lot of modifications to fit one in. Maybe later once I confirm what the problem is.

 

I got a pretty good story on that. A couple of years ago my cousin was trying to fix a stall/hesitation on his mid-late 70's C50 stock Chevy grain truck. Yes, stock Chevy. He had one of these filters on his truck, but it wasn't on the fuel pump, it was close to one of the saddle tanks. He knew nothing about Fords, so he called me to help him find his fuel filter. He had never changed this filter and the water had almost eaten all the way through this screw-on can. We found it and it took the same filter as what the Ford filters-under-the-pump take. It's actually a pretty good setup.

 

I guess I have gotten away from the fuel filter question. Put another one (like the old one) on today, changed the rubber fuel hose joining the fuel line to the carb, and went for a long test drive.

Sometimes, acceleration was fine, other times there was a single miss at higher revs, and once, with just a touch of the throttle, it hesitated and misfired, etc.

Seems to happen more during uphill runs. Fuel tank pickup is probably in the back of the tank. I am suspecting water at this point. Just a bit and it sloshes around the bottom of the tank.

Ignition stuff has been changed, so that's out.

OH....here's an interesting tidbit. Got back from my drive and fuel pressure was reading a little under 5.5 again. Usually reads 8.5 starting from 1.5 with no pressure (so I figure about 7 psi normall). I took a rag and wet it with cold water and wrapped the guage. After a few minutes, guage was reading almost 7 ...up from the 5.5 reading. Next, took a dry rag and put it over the guage....spread out so engine heat would heat the guage again. After a few minutes, guage had dropped to almost 6 psi. Apparently, a cheapie guage that is sensitive enough to read from 0 to 15 is strongly affected by ambient temperature.

So....next I will drain a bit of fuel from tank and check for water. If none is evident, next step will be checking carbs for dirt and Power Valve problems.

I guess having the carbs sitting around in an unheated garage from Sept of last year may have could cause some issues.

 

John you might try if you think its water somewhere ? A can of seafoam...

 

C2RZ9155A .. Universal Inline Fuel Filter (Motorcraft FG2).

Parts catalog says: Use with 5/16" or 3/8" fuel lines.

In other words, the filters straight ends are tapered, so either size hose will fit.

I looked thru six Ford parts catalogs that cover 1949/79 cars/trucks, could not find an inline fuel filter for 3/8" hose only.

 

Thanks ND. Who'd a thought it would fit two different size hoses?

ps: draned some gas frm tank this morning. No water. Zip!

Down to carb tear-down time......gotta order some gaskets.....

 

I think your being a little modest. Don't you have a ERA? Those are REALLY nice cars.

 

shhhhhh...don't tell. It's like belonging to a yacht club and being snubbed by the sailboaters because you own a motorboat. If these guys think I don't have a truck, I'm doomed. Oops....this isn't a PM, is it? Oh well, I do have a 99 F250SD, but no FE in it. Anyway, I like this forum. Lots of expertise here. And we all have at least 1 thing in common.....we like FEs.

Just for a little history, after rebuilding my FE, I've had nothing but trouble. Worked great for a while, then with summer humidity and heat, I got ignition troubles. Fianlly got that fixed and now seem to have fuel troubles. It's hard when you get multiple issues simultaneously. To add to the mess, I have no real idea where I set my timing for all these years, so it was back to square 1 with that. It's still not advanced as far as it was because I have to run the idle mixtrue screws about 1/4 turn richer than I used to. Plus change teh accelrator pump cam for better part throttle response. But, the current problem is not consistent. Sometimes it works perfectly. So I know I'm close and tuning is probably very close to optimum. Sooner or later I will figure it out.

LOL>...Guess what? I looked up "Fuel in gas tank symptoms" and foound a number of web-articles basically saying "it's a poor mechanic who doesn't know what he's doing, that suspects water in his gas tank". Now that made me feel good.....chuckle.

BAsically, all that's left for me to check is the carbs...cleaning, adjustment and power valves. I left it to last as I'll have to order some gaskets etc. Regardless if I find anything or not.