Chris and Jon,
I believe your trucks are both earlier than my 1954 truck. Before 1954, the fuel tank outlet was on the bottom of the tank and fuel was gravity fed to the pump. On my truck, the fuel feed is at the top (integral with the tank sender) and the pump must pull the fuel up out of the tank. The stock pump is a displacement pump so it will pull the fuel up even if the tank had been run out of gas. (and refilled, of course)
I have a car with an electric pump where the situation is similar to my truck; the pump must pull the fuel out of the tank. If I run the tank out of gas, I have to prime the pump to get it to work again - not something you want to do at the side of the road. This pump is a rotary vane type pump and I believe if it was a different design, it wouldn't need priming.
Question: do you know if the pump you are using work on a 1954 tank? IOW, it's self priming?
