Earlier this year, I decided to tow my 1961 Corvair truck with My 1967 Chevy C10 to a shop in Palomas Mexico for rust repair. (What could possible go wrong. Two eighty year old guys driving a 55 year old truck towing a 61 year old truck into Mexico.)
The 67 has the original 283 with a Rochester 2 barrel and was running fine. In preparation for the trip, I serviced the truck and did a visual check. Bad fuel pump. No need to test, was spritzing gas from the vent hole. Should be an easy fix. Headed down to my local Irish parts store, purchased and installed an off the shelf fuel pump.
Truck ran ok on the trip that was mostly open highway but had a tendency to die at traffic lights. Hard to restart, Black smoke, acting like it was flooded. Finally died near home and would only run after cleaning sooty plugs.
I suspected that the new pump was overloading the stock Rochester 2 barrel. Following sage advice from this site, I decided to test not guess and checked the fuel pump pressure. Gauge showed 10 psi. From my understanding, this was way too much, should be closer to 3-4 psi.
Got online and checked the specs for the fuel pump sold at the local Danger Zone parts store. 7 psi max. Still too much but a step in the right direction, perhaps it would do. Purchased pump. Looked like the same offshore unit as the other in a different box. Installed the pump and things were worse. Out came the gauge. Pegged the gauge at over 10psi.
Back went the other pump. Picked up a cheap chrome “dial in fuel pressure regulator”. Truck runs fine.
I am really annoyed at the solution of having a cheap chrome after market regulator in my previous stock looking engine compartment. It should not be necessary. Is this the best that can be done? From my limited experience, it appears that off the shelf pumps are out of spec. Am I missing something?
Another option would be to add a bypass from the output line back to the inlet side of the pump, I have seen metal in-line filters with two ports on one end and one port on the other end.
1957 Chevrolet 5700 LCF 283 SM420 2 speed rear, 1955 IH 300U T/A, 1978 Corvette 350 auto, 1978 Yamaha DT175, 1999 Harley Davidson Softail Fat Boy
Hi Don, welcome to the club. (the victims of Chinesium club, that is)
I started a similar thread a month or so ago call Fuel Pumps and Other Nonsense. I too had a major problem with two new Advance Auto Carquest pumps. One failed in 300 miles and the other wouldn't pump a drop straight out of the box.
It's all Chinese Garbage made by slave laborers.
I had the original glass bowl fuel pump rebuilt and its working perfectly now. If you happen to have the original old grungy pump laying around, send it off to be rebuilt.
Last edited by Otto Skorzeny; 11/13/20227:46 PM.
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
Unfortunately, I don't believe that this type of fuel pump can be rebuilt like the earlier pumps found on 216-261 engines. The one that I took off and the replacement pumps are crimped together, no screws. There may be some 'speed shop' pumps with screws but again, no guarantee about the psi output. It is not the quality of the pump that I have a problem with, but the specs that are used for building. My suspicion is that the builders looked at the specifications (psi output) for a number of pumps, chose the biggest as the best, called it good and used it for everything.
About 10 minutes of searching on Ebay turned up at least 20 rebuildable fuel pumps, the ones held together with screws. Some were "core" types and others were "new old stock" or "rebuilt". More than a few were dirt cheap. There's nothing particularly exotic about compression springs- - - -a pump with too much line pressure can have a lighter spring installed by anyone capable of running a screwdriver. It would probably be a good idea to scavenge up a few for future use before they all get melted down to produce beer cans. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I am really annoyed at the solution of having a cheap chrome after market regulator in my previous stock looking engine compartment.
I can understand this, I'm also very specific when it comes to my engine compartment Feng-Shui. I would recommend a Malpassi "Filter King" regulator - pretty much period looking cause it is, they never changed the design.
They come with and without the gauge, with or without filter.
On your 283, it would also be possible to disable the mechanical pump by removing the pushrod between the camshaft and the pump, and install a small electric pump under the cab to push fuel through the mechanical pump. One of the small pumps that resembles a fuel filter with a couple of wires attached will provide the right pressure and volume, and it can be hidden near the fuel tank outlet out of sight of the casual observer. Just be sure to wire the pump through an oil pressure sensing switch to avoid flooding in case of an engine stall. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
