Happy but annoyed

by WyldeBill66 Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:00 pm

Ever since I bought my 75 Chevelle, I've been trying to figure out an issue it's had at freeway speed. I have posted on here several times my efforts to solve why it would cut out. Was it loss of spark, or fuel. My wife following me said white smoke was coming out of the exhaust when it did it, so I thought it was raw fuel. After changing the distributor to no avail, I decided to get a better electric fuel pump. The motor is an 87 vintage, so no mechanical pump. I bought the pump with a regulator just to have a better setup. Then I realized finding a place for the big pump was going to be a challenge. I recently put a fuel pressure gauge inline to see what I had, and there was nothing, even though the fuel was flowing as I could see in the inline filter. I thought maybe it was a bad gauge. Well, I decided to just try to new regulator this weekend, and finally got everything plumbed and hooked up. Hit the switch... 6 pounds of fuel pressure, and the fuel filter full as hell... Damn...All this time and money wasted, and it was the POS Spectre pressure regulator the previous owner had put on...

I'm glad it's finally solved, but I wish I had figured it out a long time ago...

Just venting and letting everyone know the mistakes a self educated mechanic can make. What you don't know can cost you time and money... Now to move on...

by Joe73 Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:28 am

Interesting. White smoke is usually antifreeze/water. Black smoke excessive fuel. And blue smoke is oil burning.

Glad you got it fixed.

by driveit Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:29 pm

I was about to post that same thing about the smoke. Joe73. Have you noticed if it is still smoking white WyldeBill66?

by 77mali Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:13 pm

Interesting, thanks for the post.

My current small block is an '88 casting and has a mechanical fuel pump. I know I'll get disagreement on this but unless your car is fuel injected, I would never bother with an electric fuel pump.

by Joe73 Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:56 pm

77mali wrote:Interesting, thanks for the post.

My current small block is an '88 casting and has a mechanical fuel pump. I know I'll get disagreement on this but unless your car is fuel injected, I would never bother with an electric fuel pump.

I agree! Unless you need massive amounts of fuel, then go electric.

by WyldeBill66 Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:29 pm

I'm just goimng off what she said. but she doesn't know anything about vehicles. No it doesn't smoke at all when running. There is no mechanical fuel pump. They guy who owned it previously said he went to put one on, and there was no way to do so on this block. Maybe he had his head up is rear on this too...I'll have to check it out.

by 77mali Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:29 pm

The provision for the mechanical fuel pump should look similar to the photo below. Check on the bottom front of the motor, passengers side. If there is a block off plate on it chances are it was originally cast for a mechanical pump. It will look similar but will be solid. In my pic the magnet is there holding the fuel pump rod in place.

You s/b able to remove the block off plate and look inside with a light to see if there is a passageway for the fuel pump rod.

Happy but annoyed Img_0110

by Joe73 Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:06 pm

And the bottom hole on the front of the block is tapped through to hold the pushrod in place while installing the pump. Then take the bolt out and reinstall a shorter one so it doesnt hit the pushrod. Have to have a bolt in there or oil will dump out.

by 77mali Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:08 pm

Joe73 wrote:And the bottom hole on the front of the block is tapped through to hold the pushrod in place while installing the pump. Then take the bolt out and reinstall a shorter one so it doesnt hit the pushrod. Have to have a bolt in there or oil will dump out.

Funny thing Joe, my block doesn't have that, IDK if an 86 will either. That might be a 70's small block thing. LOL That's why I have the magnet in there. There are 2 bolt holes on the block in the photo but it seems neither was drilled through to the rod's passageway.

by Joe73 Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:38 pm

Thats interesting. Never seen one go all the way through.

by WyldeBill66 Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:53 pm

I'll take a look when I have the time. There is a long a$$ bolt sticking out of the front of the block there. I'd be pissed if I could have just had a mechanical pump on there all this time. Thanks to everyone for all this info. Quite helpful indeed.

by pila Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:26 pm

The pump pad went away in the 80s, since TBI & port injection didn't use the mechanical pump, but the in-tank type....
Not sure what year they did this ?

Those front holes were for '55 to '57 front engine mounts 265 & 283 etc '58 was the first year for the mount bosses & holes on the sides of the block.....

by WyldeBill66 Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:45 am

It's definitely a TBI motor. Roller cam and all. Bone stock internally except for a gear drive. That's why he said he put the electric fuel pump on it.

by pila Fri Sep 26, 2014 7:49 pm

I've run electric fuel pumps since the 60s, with no apparent problems, except one.....I had a Stewart Warner pump in my '40 FORD coupe ( 390 Olds engine) which was noisy as hell.
My Elco has one under the panel in the front of the bed, with a small access cover over it, to get it without disturbing the seal on the big panel....the pump relay is on the right side of the opening..

Happy but annoyed P1011000_zpsfd333925

by dynchel Fri Sep 26, 2014 8:20 pm

pila wrote:I've run electric fuel pumps since the 60s, with no apparent problems, except one.....I had a Stewart Warner pump in my '40 FORD coupe ( 390 Olds engine) which was noisy as hell.
My Elco has one under the panel in the front of the bed, with a small access cover over it, to get it without disturbing the seal on the big panel....the pump relay is on the right side of the opening..

Hey bill, Would that have been a 0lds 394? I currently have the low performance 371, and it moves my heavy '60 olds quite well, so I would imagine a hipo 394 in '40 ford would be pretty darn fast.

by pila Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:01 pm

Yes ! It was a 394. I forget a lot of what I did in the old days. My wife says I have CRS Very Happy

I do remember that I had a Cad/LaSalle 3-speed stick transmission behind the Olds......

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