fuel troubles

416Ford · November 04, 2014, 09:28:21 PM

Quote from: "idrivejunk"I'll throw in...

WAY too much rubber line. Drag strip tech does not allow more than one foot total in an entire system,

The after market tanks for some reason put the pickup tube on the right hand side thinking everyone was putting a 350 in the car. My steel fuel line runs all the way to the back of the car on the left. I could add a coupler and run the line along the cross-member while the tank is out.

Quote from: "idrivejunk"Resist the urge to throw something, you'll get past this!

I am working on my wife's car at the same time. When I get frustrated with this one I put the tools down and go cut up her car.

416Ford · November 04, 2014, 09:30:37 PM

Quote from: "jaybee"Yes, if you have a vented cap you can run your vent line up to a a location near the cap and into the fill tube. Some older cars were built that way.

Thank Jaybee. I was hoping that would help. It would be nice to put a full tank of gas in the car.

enjenjo · November 04, 2014, 09:35:06 PM

I agree on the hose. Much better with hard line, and the fuel will be cooler too.

On the vent, I run a loop of 5/16" line up into the fender, secure it with a fender bolt, and then back down to the frame. I use a fuel filter on the end of the vent to keep out the big pieces, and some screen over the open end of the filter to keep out bugs.

idrivejunk · November 04, 2014, 09:52:47 PM

Good idea shuffling projects to manage frustration. All you'd have to do to eliminate that big rubber bend at the tank is cut the line and use two extra clamps to temporarily splice in a bent section of hard line. If that fixed it, you could stay with clamped hose for unions but just make that rear section of line out of piping. doubles the number of hose clamps but takes away the potential suck shut area. When I had that happen it was where hard line meets fuel pump, so suction was greatest there. But the bend was a radius about like yours at the tank. I just happened to thumb the throttle linkage one day and saw the hose collapse. the solution was to loop it which required more hose but allowed a wider radius. Just thoughts ...

I like enjenjo's vent solution. The fuel should have to jump over a baffle or some sort of hurdle before it can ht the ground. Like the loop with a filter.

416Ford · November 06, 2014, 07:55:31 PM

Digging in the garage tonight to find this and found it. It came with the fuel tank.
Never thought I needed it till now.
Does it go on the pick up tube, vent tube or is it for a fuel injection system like I originally thought?

idrivejunk · November 06, 2014, 08:37:52 PM

I don't know what that is supposed to be, but I can't imagine where it would be used in a pressurized EFI system. I can't see it going on the pickup end either, thats just not enough surface area to flow easily. As a vent cap, I believe that would work fine. I'm certainly no expert on fuel systems though.

kb426 · November 06, 2014, 09:18:13 PM

That is a Tanks roll over vent valve. I have mine on the 32 mounted to the frame.

416Ford · December 11, 2014, 08:17:53 PM

Well it's not a fuel issue....
The car is back together and I took it for a cold weather drive tonight. I can now assume that something in the distributor is cutting out. She runs good in the garage but I take it out for a drive and get it going and she shuts down/stops firing. Car only dies once in awhile. Tach is showing rpm charging system seems to say steady.
I am still at a loss. GM HEI style distributor. I will start replacing stuff in that again but I wish I knew what part to start with.

rooster · December 11, 2014, 10:11:25 PM

Quote from: "416Ford"Well it's not a fuel issue....
The car is back together and I took it for a cold weather drive tonight. I can now assume that something in the distributor is cutting out. She runs good in the garage but I take it out for a drive and get it going and she shuts down/stops firing. Car only dies once in awhile. Tach is showing rpm charging system seems to say steady.
I am still at a loss. GM HEI style distributor. I will start replacing stuff in that again but I wish I knew what part to start with.

What controls the coil? computer or icm module

Coil in the cap?

Vacume advance?

wayne petty · December 11, 2014, 10:11:32 PM

Quote from: "416Ford"Well it's not a fuel issue....
The car is back together and I took it for a cold weather drive tonight. I can now assume that something in the distributor is cutting out. She runs good in the garage but I take it out for a drive and get it going and she shuts down/stops firing. Car only dies once in awhile. Tach is showing rpm charging system seems to say steady.
I am still at a loss. GM HEI style distributor. I will start replacing stuff in that again but I wish I knew what part to start with.

http://www.harborfreight.com/fuel-pump-and-vacuum-tester-93547.html
i don't know if you can get 3/16 or 1/4" fuel hose up there and create a brass tee to allow you to tee into the line at the pump.. to monitor the suction side of the pump http://www.autozone.com/plumbing-hosing/rubber-hose/armor-mark-1-4-in-sae-j30r7-fuel-and-emission-hose-sold-by-the-foot/4954_0_0/
you will then also want to monitor the pressure side of the fuel pump..
this is only a test...

lets see if it is the ignition system.. got a timing light.. can you hook it up so you can get the wire out from under the hood and stick the timing light under a wiper arm.. trigger taped in the on position.. see if the timing light stops flashing before the engine stops turning..

i don't recall.. but i imagine that you have an HEI coil in the cap distributor...

can you monitor the power wire to the distributor by hooking up a test light to it.. slowly turn the key to the RUN position.. with an HEI.. you need to see a BRIGHT LIGHT.. crank the engine.. you should still have almost as bright a light... return the key to the RUN position.. you should still have a bright light.. in all reality you should NOT have any drop outs..

you can.. use a scotch tap and add a test circuit without much damage to the wiring.. by extending to a digital volt meter stashed on the dash board..

where are your ground wires located?? got a digital volt meter..

engine running.. headlights on.. digital meter set to 20 volts DC..

test 1. Negative battery post to the positive battery post.. 14.1 to 14.8 volts DC is expected..

test 2. Negative battery post to the Engine block.. 0.04 volts DC max..

test 3. Negative battery post to the body/firewall.. 0.02 volts DC max..

test 4. Engine block to the firewall/body.. 0.02 volts DC max..

a strange test.. negative battery post.. to the distributor housing.. what.. i just have a hunch... the electronics in the distributor ground thru the housing.. if you have painted your intake.. painted the hold down bracket.. and have a distributor mounting gasket.. the only ground connection is down inside the block..where the cam gear and housing touch.. not a great ground connection..

would you like some HEI distributor tests???

have you swapped the ignition coil for a new one??? coils can fail.. you can use a spark gap tester to verify the output...

under the corner of the in cap coil is a folded metal strap.. it is held down by the corner of the coil.. make sure that corner of the laminations is clean ..not covered in paint.. the other end goes to the center wire of the three going down into the distributor base... that is the coil spark return path..

what... the high voltage spark leaves the HEI Coil .. down thru the cap to the rotor.. jumps the gap at the end of the rotor.. to the cap terminals.. the spark plug wires.. jumps the gap at the spark plugs and into the heads.. it will go to the intake thru the distributor hold down clamp to the distributor body.. the 3 wire and condenser hold down screw that actually connects the center wire of the 3 up to the cap terminals.. this allows the coil high voltage to make a complete circuit.. only issue.. the current flow actually goes the other way..

enjenjo · December 11, 2014, 11:52:40 PM

Quote from: "416Ford"Well it's not a fuel issue....
The car is back together and I took it for a cold weather drive tonight. I can now assume that something in the distributor is cutting out. She runs good in the garage but I take it out for a drive and get it going and she shuts down/stops firing. Car only dies once in awhile. Tach is showing rpm charging system seems to say steady.
I am still at a loss. GM HEI style distributor. I will start replacing stuff in that again but I wish I knew what part to start with.

When it dies, does it start right back up, or not?

416Ford · December 12, 2014, 08:26:43 AM

Usually starts right back up.

Wayne, battery is in the trunk, 1" wide copper ground from the frame to the block and to the body. You can see it at the starter in the picture.

I have not checked the regular yet. Just like everything else, it work fine in the garage with hood up.

I have a slightly used coil, cap, and rotor in the garage.

When it does stumble/die it take a second or two or more for it to run again. Almost like a complete kill of the engine but then goes again.

Regulator is mounted on the right front of the head. Just replaced at the rubber fuel line, all the fuel lines from the stock pump mounted on the block to the regulator.

416Ford · January 19, 2015, 08:04:03 AM

Well I hope I found it. The roads are snow and salt covered so I put the car up on stands and hooked up a timing light and started it up. Vickie sat in the car and ran it at high rpms for awhile while I watched the fuel pressure and the time light.
After about 40 seconds the fuel pressure started to jump around then dropped all the way to zero. I let the rpms drop down and shut it off, started right back up with 5 LB of pressure.
Installed another fuel pump and the pressure stays right at 4 to 5. Crossing the fingers and closing the hood for awhile.
Back to the Torino.

UGLY OLDS · January 19, 2015, 05:18:57 PM

QuoteVickie sat in the car and ran it at high rpms for awhile while I watched the fuel pressure and the time light.

See ...All you needed was Vickie's help :!:

Bob......

chimp koose · January 19, 2015, 11:00:22 PM

I had a similar problem years ago with a vehicle that would just die for no reason and usually start right back up.The culprit was a piece of PAPER floating around in the tank that would occasionally plug off the fuel line in the tank.Shut it off and the suction stops , paper floats away only to return later with no really diagnoseable reason why , just random stalling. Get a camera in the tank and have a good look , a floater the size of a postage stamp would be all it takes to cause your random stalling.