making some progress on my sbc 307 V8 car, -- rear sway bar back in Options

[Mike Bellis]

yes - like this.

As I ponder your symptoms... Do yourself a favor and get rid of the spiral wires. They look neato but create an electro-magnetic field and turn the wire into an inductor. Inductors oppose current flow.

You can use the same spiral wire to magnetize your screwdrivers. Slide the spiral over the screwdriver and tap both ends of the wire across a battery. Do it once, quickly and remove. You will see a spark. You only need to connect for less than one second.

You can also use this to shoot nails across the room or when connected to AC power, make you own prison tattoo machine... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Bottom line, the spiral wire creates a circuit that can and will create problems you don't need.

[jimkelly]

been off on a tangent with - spoke, dave darling, r towle, conedodger, rhodyguy, halfmoon, rand, mepstein, jeff bowlsby,etc

had 3 issues, two remain, no wipers and no horn.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=223741

hooked up ignition to starter wire and reverse lights wire to trans.

[jimkelly]

ok - she started off the ign key and ran for some seconds but stalled out. seems it ran from the fuel in the bowl but is not getting fuel from the pump.

I think the pump needs to be lower in order to get fuel to it via gravity ???

i'll also check for a kink in the fuel line.

[Mike Bellis]

You should mount the fuel pump in the front of the car, down low. You will have vapor lock problems with it in the rear and mounted so high. It will be hard for the pump to prime mounted like that.

[rhodyguy]

rotary pump? if you don't want to do the front put it on the lower fire wall, elevation near where the line exits for the tunnel. easy peasy to use the stock pump wiring. i had wondered about the eng comp location near the battery. fumes, heat, and sparks.

[jimkelly]

I checked for a clog or other issue, gas all over the place, thought I had it working, but it ran for about 3 minutes and cut off again.

I had a similar pump when I was driving it before, lower mounted. but I do have a nice edlebrook pump and rethinking selling it, and installing it instead, but I'll need some 3/8 npt nipples. and it will allow me to eliminate the one in-line reducer I had to add because the pump I am running now has a 3/8 nipple on one side and 5/8 on the other. maybe I need more line pressure than the POS that I am currently using can provide. though I will look into mounting it lower either way, but I want to avoid upfront as just running the hose was a PIA. a more curved lower tank larger nipple would have been better.

what's funny is the engine was running fine with this pump when I had it feeding from a gas can in my trunk (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) thus I do think its height in relation to the gas tank may be an issue.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-2460-1381434074.jpg)
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-2460-1382635765.jpg)

[bulitt]

Obvious Question Jim- do you have gas in the tank?

[jimkelly]

yes - about 3 gallons - and it spills out if I disconnect the hose in the engine bay.

good point though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

you know though, I do have the car on jack stands at the rear, (I did not when i first noticed the problem though) and maybe 3 gallons is not enough, even though I can see gas is higher than strainer, maybe the angle of the line is such that it is denying the pump the amount of gas it needs.

i'll put the car down before I do anything else.

[jimkelly]

dropped ground, but still no good.

put car back on jack stands and dropped pump on ground, she ran great.

probably a safety hazard driving with pump dragging on ground (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

I will mount pump on engine bar for now, as this is just lower than where the fuel line exits the firewall.

is this form-a-gasket stuff by permatex ok for sealing npt fittings to a fuel pump. fuel pump installation papers suggest a sealant. I ask because I think I am going to go ahead an install my edelbrock fuel pump after all.

[mittelmotor]

Nice progress. I've heard the pumps are much better at "pushing" fuel than pulling it, hence the low mounting point for gravity feed to the pump. I put mine beneath the gas tank, without any sort of access hatch, so failure means pulling the tank. But fuel pumps are pretty reliable these days, so I figured what the heck!

[jimkelly]

thanks. lots of pics for those few, that may be less capable than myself.

and my pump's manual does address - push fuel.

I could issues with driving DOWN steep roads ???

[Mike Bellis]

The Permatex sealant is the best one I've ever used. I use it for all the pipe connections on diesel fuel systems. It is copper based and will never harden. Perfect for fuel connections.

[DBCooper]

I've used that stuff since I was a kid. Never had any reason to change, so I was curious to see what answers you got, since I've never really had anything else to compare it to. I'd just add don't use too much on threads, you aren't gluing anything together, you're just putting in enough to fill gaps when it tightens. A thin smear is plenty.

Mike, you changed your name. And I can pronounce it now.

[jimkelly]

thanks guys for the comments on the permatex product!

just returned from napa where I got a small tube of permatex form-a-gasket sealant, and from ace where I got some hardware to mount my edelbrock pump. waiting on a delivery from ebay of some heat shrink 1/8 ID and 1/4 ID as I ran completely out. this time I got 3:1 ratio heat shrink with adhesive center, I think the stuff I just ran out of was 2:1 and did not have a juicy adhesive center either.

I should have been expecting this stuff to be DARK color, keep it away from your wife's kitchen towels : )

two guys mostly work at my local napa, a nice guy about 55, and a young tobacco chewing, slow moving, could give a shit, punk. yesterday I got the older guy and I asked him about the stuff vs permatex's thread sealant. he said he used Teflon tape for years with no problems. just like internet threads say when you search what to use on npt threads with fuel. the form-a gasket was a buck cheaper, so I went with it.

[jimkelly]

pump in but will probably relocate fuel filter further down, away from header, later on.

is it ok for fuel filter to be horizontal, like I have it, or should it be vertical?

the fuel pump inlet is a good 2+ inches below the fuel line coming out of the firewall but the pump bottom is 1 inch below the engine bar, I will probably need to raise it to at least flush with bottom of engine bar.

[rhodyguy]

filter pior to the pump?

[jimkelly]

its after pump. when I had pump higher, I had it before pump.

I could put before if it is ok to have horizontal, as I have it now, ironically.

and how I plan to change up my exhaust, to get it quieter and to get it higher off the ground at the tailpipe, too noisey for neighbors and I scrap my tail pipes too much.

gonna keep it dual, for the annoying drone, and it may be helpful when I get it tuned as both sides of engine can be checked independently with a sniffer.

[jimkelly]

i had temporarily removed my rear sway bar so I can mess with my rear shocks.

a c clamp got the bushings back on the bar with ease but it took a scissor jack between trans and shock bolt to get them back together, with ease also.

[Mike Bellis]

From the pics, that looks like a very bad pump location. I have scraped my engine bar on various bumps and humps. I also scrape my radiator hoses ALL THE TIME. I make it a point to un-crush the straps every couple months...

I also think it should be located up front to avoid vapor lock. I run mine in the front trunk for easy access. If you intend to keep it back there, you should change to a return fuel regulator system to mitigate vapor lock.

[jimkelly]

I too have smashed my share of hose straps but did not know that some have bottomed out their engine bars, thought the renegade bar I have now sits closer to the road than my old bar did.

my pump is definitely too low and I will reevaluate mounting it upfront. I will need power for it and power for my radiator fans too.

thanks for the input!