Issues With Mechanical Fuel Pump

[hunterrocks24]

Hello Everyone,

I have a very simple setup. I am running a 74 dodge charger with a rebuilt 318, edelbrock 600 carb, mechanical fuel pump. The car is extremely hard to start during a warm or cold start, and while driving it has no guts. At a local car show I was told that it probably has to do with vapor lock. I have been monitoring the amount of gas in the fuel filter and there has not been much in it. I took off the hose from the inlet of the filter and turned over the engine and had really good flow and pressure from the mechanical pump so I think that's fine. I put the hose back on the filter that was connected to the carb it would fill up to 1/4-1/2 of the filter housing but never all of it. After having another hard time of starting I took off the hose after the filter connection and a loud purge of air came out which is leading me to believe that vapor lock is causing my issues.

 

[wagonman]

I have the hot soak problem when temps get high around 100+. I have never seen a clear filter get totally full. That said the fuel we have is bad about boiling in the carb and lines = vapor lock. Be carefull about fuel line routing to keep it off hot spots and insulate it with some heat shield like DEI from Summit or wherever. rTry some Lucas octane booster seemed to help mine. No guts is a whole nuther issue. Stock 318?

 

[hunterrocks24]

I have the hot soak problem when temps get high around 100+. I have never seen a clear filter get totally full. That said the fuel we have is bad about boiling in the carb and lines = vapor lock. Be carefull about fuel line routing to keep it off hot spots and insulate it with some heat shield like DEI from Summit or wherever. rTry some Lucas octane booster seemed to help mine. No guts is a whole nuther issue. Stock 318?

I have the fuel line routing in the front of the block and running 91 octane gas. It has a Edelbrock performer cam, Edelbrock ld340 intake, headers. Temps around here get to 80 max.

 

[WileERobby]

May be 2 separate issues here. My 318 car, after sitting for days, will not cold start easy... simply due to the crap gasoline evaporation. Warm/hot starts, it starts with a blip of the key. I'd try covering the engine compartment fuel line with insulation. As far as "it has no guts", that may be an issue by itself, please elaborate.

 

[hunterrocks24]

May be 2 separate issues here. My 318 car, after sitting for days, will not cold start easy... simply due to the crap gasoline evaporation. Warm/hot starts, it starts with a blip of the key. I'd try covering the engine compartment fuel line with insulation. As far as "it has no guts", that may be an issue by itself, please elaborate.

I will most definitely give that a try. Sorry about the terrible explanation of all of this. For the no guts. I manually put the 727 into first gear and slam on the gas it acts the same if you were to gradually give it 1/4 throttle or full throttle. Takes a long time for rpm to rise. When in park or neutral rpm climes smooth and fast. Ive only driven it once as I've been trying to get the starting issue solved before I get stranded somewhere.

 

[hunterrocks24]

May be 2 separate issues here. My 318 car, after sitting for days, will not cold start easy... simply due to the crap gasoline evaporation. Warm/hot starts, it starts with a blip of the key. I'd try covering the engine compartment fuel line with insulation. As far as "it has no guts", that may be an issue by itself, please elaborate.

Another thing I just thought of is it is a pain to cold start. But I did go to the gas station turned it off filled up and it did start right away. What I've been doing after it sits for a day is hit the pedal twice and try to start it usually without any start. Should I just be constantly pumping the gas while starting? I've just been afraid to flood the car.

 

[wagonman]

Operating carb choke? What rear gear do you have? What convertor?

 

[hunterrocks24]

It has an electric choke on it now. Does fully open when it warms up and closes when you hit the throttle for startup. We have a 8 1/4 rear end with 3.21 gears. The transmission was rebuilt and had a shift kit and new convertor installed I was told they rated it for 400hp. Is there an easy way of finding out the converter without taking it apart?