Hello,

I have my 1952 Ford F1 with a Ford 302 carbureted engine and I'm currently running an electric fuel pump on the truck. I am using a reproduction stock fuel tank in conjunction with this set up.

Recently while driving my 52 after getting out into town the truck wants to shut off. It will drive fine as can be, then all of the sudden it starts sucking air and starving for gas and shuts itself off. I get out, scratch my head and get back in and it fires right up again and takes off. I'm curious if anyone thinks that possibly my fuel pump is bad?

I've thought possibly that the wiring for the electric pump that is wired to my key switch is loose causing the fuel pump to kick off causing lack of gas(hot wire to the key switch, ground run to the battery post) Also I've thought that the fuel flow from the original tank is not as good as it should be causing lack of fuel. My third thought is just that it is a bad fuel pump.

Initially I had a mechanical fuel pump and never had any issues with fuel flow(or at least not until my gas tank that had gotten some rust in it had ruined my mechanical pump...)

Any tips or advice? I had considered moving the hot wire from the electric fuel pump down to the starter instead of the key switch.

Thanks guys,

Jon Preston

 

How long has this pump/tank combo been in operation? Did you re-route any of the lines, (vapor lock/pinched line)? What sort of testing have you done? Is there an in line filter? Have you tried replacing it, (assuming there is a filter)?

 

This combination has been in use for about the past month and a half. I didn't reroute any lines or anything. I have replaced the inline filter going into the fuel pump and the filter running into the carb appears to be clean. As far as testing goes I'm not too sure what type of tests to conduct other than just monitoring what I have found out already.

Thanks again,

Jon

 

Your pump should have either a PSI flow rate or a GPH flow rate. Maybe both. The PSI flow rate, (pounds per square inch), will require the proper tools for testing. But the GPH, (gallons per hour), you can do. Just plan on wasting some fuel.
If you have the GPH rate, get a clean two gallon bucket and a stop watch, (second hand will do), run some additional line from the fuel line carb connection to the bucket and turn the pump on. Time how long it takes to fill the two gallon bucket then calculate the GPH, (ie, 2 gallon in one minute equals 120 GPH). That will tell you if the pump is working at proper capacity.
It's old school, but it works and it is valid.

 

This is something that I thought about this morning and so far it seems to have helped my situation. I was thinking that possibly I was burning more fuel than maybe my fuel pump could keep up with...

So I checked my fuel mixture screws on my carburetor and they were threaded almost all the way out. So I took my screwdriver and tightened them all the way in and then backed them off 1 1/2 turns. I fired the truck up, my son and I drove into town and not once did the truck shut off or even seem like it was trying to shut off. Could it be possible that my carb was sucking more gas than the fuel pump could keep up with?

 

Is the pump mounted as close to the tank outlet as possible? Electric pumps do not like to suck only push. do you have a vented gas cap, is it venting? There is another thread going about electric fuel pumps: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-rockauto.html where a lot of tests and suggestions were given. How did the mixture screws get backed out in the carb? If the truck was running that rich, it would have been bellowing smoke out the exhaust and reeked of raw gas smell. Did you install the newpump using as short of length of rubber hose as possible and verify the hose was stamped suited for use with gasahol? Older composition rubber hose is attacked by the new levels of gasahol from the inside and can deteriorate, swell or crack in a relatively short time.