New Fuel Delivery System

Dateline - Aug 22 - The Edelbrock Performer 1406 Carburetor on the car has a fuel bowl inlet that is high on the top of the carburetor. With the lower profile Edelbrock Air Filter, the hose going into the inlet was being pressed down in a very unhealthy way! I didn't like the idea of this hose getting cut through and pressurized gas spilling out on hot engine parts. So I bought a chrome delivery tube at Schucks that has a banjo fitting that brings the hose under the carb. It also has a fitting that allows a pressure gauge to be attached, which I bought also.

Of course, the fun part was dealing with the existing fuel line. The mechanical fuel pump is on the front right side of the motor, and a 3/8 inch steel fuel line runs from the outlet of the pump, up the front of the engine between the timing chain cover and water pump, then up and over to the right. I then had a small piece of rubber hose, a fuel filter and then a longer piece of hose going to the carb. Of course, with the new pipe, I did not have enough room to get a fuel filter in-line, which I really wanted. So I pulled the steel hose off the fuel pump, which immediately started siphoning gas from the fuel tank out onto the garage floor. I didn't expect this to happen because most cars have a fuel tank that is lower then the level of the fuel pump. The Jags tanks are in the rear fenders, higher then the fuel pump so a siphon happened! I quickly had to pull the fuel pump inlet hose and get it above the tank level, and of course, clean up the gas from the floor and let the garage air out!

Then, I had to cut the steel hose down because it was bent and crimped and would not allow me to get a good round surface to attach the rubber hose. Finally, I got it cut to size and reinstalled. Installed the inlet hose, connected the rubber hoses, fuel filter and everything else. Started up the car and guess what, gas leaked out the of the outlet fitting of the fuel pump! Damned! I had to twist the steel hose around, with more gas on the floor, until I got it into a place that the flange seated correctly! What a pain!

This setup looks really cool and I found out that my fuel pump is pushing 7 lbs of pressure, which is higher then the carb really likes (between 5.5 and 6 lbs). High pressures can cause the engine to stall at standing take-offs because of carb flooding. I've noticed hesitation during take-off, so I am going to remove the mechanical fuel pump and put an Edelbrock pump in the trunk. There is already wiring there for the original fuel pumps, including the ability to switch the pump on and off from the dash switches. If I do this right, this would be a good anti-theft tool, since, no gas, no go!

I've also noticed a lot of gas smell when I shut the engine off and let it sit in the garage, which makes me think that I've got leaking float valves or bad gaskets on the carb. So I am going to buy a carb rebuild kit to see if that helps.