Okay-the '54 has brakes again,and I like the set up. When we got it put together and bled the system it had good solid pedal. I drove it around a while and re-adjusted the push rod once and all was fine. The truck was parked for a week or so,and when I drove it,the pedal was soft but still firmed up about 2 inches off the floor. My guess is I have a leaky wheel cylinder on the rear somewhere. Two pumps of the pedal got all my brakes back. I decided the weather was good to replace the borrowed electric fuel pump I'd been running on for the last 6 months. I'd bought a rotary vane electric pump and an adjustable pressure regulator with a gauge off eBay. I got it all installed,turned the key,flipped the fuel pump switch-silence. I noticed the battery voltage dropped from 12.5 to 9.5. I left the pump on and slid under the truck,and loosened the pump's end plate bolts about an eighth of a turn. The pump ran. I got out from under the truck and shut off the pump. The gauge was showing a solid 17 pounds of fuel pressure! I decided to see if the truck could run with that much pressure. When I hit the starter the engine turned a little,locked and the drive kicked out. I knew what the problem was. I cranked the engine with the key off. It blew gasoline all over the right side of the engine and my neighbor's garage. (10 feet away) I adjusted the fuel pressure to about 6 pounds,thought I had the truck ready to drive and called it a day. Next morning I jumped into the truck to go move a couple of vehicles for a friend,and-no fuel pump. I did the "loosen the end plate bolts 1/8 turn" ritual again and the pump ran for about 5 seconds and died again. The pump was temperature-sensitive. Wouldn't work in temperature colder than 10 degrees! Had to use the BroncWorth to load an SUV onto the car trailer and tow it back to town,unload it,move the trailer and park it and drive to Ryndon to push a 2-1/2 ton service truck about 4 miles to my friend's house. Next day I bought a cheap electric fuel pump from NAPA and installed it on the '54. It makes 6 pounds of fuel pressure,the truck starts easily even at -16 and runs fine.
LOW TECH RULES!!!
Speed
Last edited by speed 6351; 12/27/2013 10:07 AM.
