Technical 1953 Bel Air - New Fuel Pump Not Working?

Hi all, hoping that someone here has some insight into the fuel pump on these cars. Background: The car is a bone stock 235. My dad bought the car in 1980 and drove it to where it was parked in the garage today. The fuel pump and water pump were replaced in the 90s, but the car was never driven again because my dad got into other projects.

I got the car up and running today but I cannot get the "new" fuel pump to work. The car is running great when I pour gas into the carb. The car has a freshly cleaned out gas tank and cleared fuel line. After I had the car running today and still couldn't get fuel up to the fuel pump I disconnected the fuel line at the fuel pump inlet and shot air through the fuel line back into the gas tank to ensure there wasn't a clog in the line or tank. I was able to blow air into the gas tank as I could hear it bubble.

Could this simply be a case of a bad fuel pump? Is there any way that the fuel pump might have been installed incorrectly (everything looks correct)? There are no leaks that I can find in the fuel line and the vacuum through the engine seems OK (though I've only run it for 1or 2 minutes to check it out).. Please share any ideas or suggestions you might have! I'm stumped.

 

I've run into a few that after they sat were a pain. Put a air gun to the tank and hold a rag over it, pressurize the tank while someone's cranking and see if it doesn't help push the fuel to the pump.

 

Disconnect the fuel line from the carb. Crank it over. Is fuel spurting out of the line? If so, probably not a fuel pump issue. Is the car sitting level or at an incline? My buddy had the same issue with his '51 Chevy that was sitting in my steep driveway. Tried 2 new fuel pumps and no joy. Rolled it out of the driveway onto level ground and it fired right up! Just guessing the float was stuck and closed the needle.

 

Thanks for the tips. The car is sitting level. I put a fuel filter just before the carb so I could see if fuel was coming up and the filter is bone dry with no sign of fuel getting there. Right now I'm leaning towards the fuel pump being defective (after sitting this long). Can the existing fuel pump be installed incorrectly?

I like the pressurize the tank idea. I'll give that a shot when possible! Do these pumps need to be primed before they are first used?

 

Make darn sure there isn't debris in the fuel tank clogging up the outlet. Get something to catch the gas with. Undo the outlet fitting to make sure it's flowing freely.

If it still doesn't work, get a new fuel pump. Unless it's the old type that you can disassemble, then just buy a new rubber diaphragm and fix the pump.

 

Something I did with an OT square body the other day. Wasn’t getting fuel. So I removed the inline filter and temp wired an electric pump and filter in to see if it was the pump. It pulls from the tank through the original fuel pump. Once it was running I disconnected it. The original pump kept pumping. In my case the tank selector switch was bad and letting the fuel drain back. The factory pump couldn’t pull all the way from the tank without its prime. You might just need to prime your new pump, which is what they were suggesting by pressurizing the tank. If you use the electric pump and it collapses the hose, you have a blockage. If the tone doesn’t change and there is no fuel, you have a hole in the line and you’re sucking air.

 

Most new fuel pumps are garbage! Carter especially! I went through similar problems with my ‘50 Chevrolet. Get a Delphi fuel pump. They don’t look like a factory unit but work well.

 

I would start by testing the pump.
Disconnect the inlet and outlet lines from the pump connect a vacuum gauge to the inlet side and have a friend crank the engine. If the gauge reads 5-10 psi the pumps good. Look else where. I usually check the inlet side with a hand vacuum pump like a brake bleeder setup to see if the tank and lines are clear.

 

Don't buy a new pump, they are garbage. Rebuild your old one, or have someone rebuild it for you. First test the pump like jchev1953 said.

 

Thanks for all the tips and advice. I ended up pulling the fuel pump out and I believe the diaphragm is totally shot. There is nothing more than the minor spring resistance on the arm to the unit and it doesn't have any suction/vacuum happening at all.

The fuel pump seems pretty tricky to track down. Filling Station, Chev's of the 40s, and Rock Auto list them but no one has any stock and all of them are waiting for orders to have new units built. I'm in Canada so choices are even more limited, but apparently there is a Canadian(?) company called Spectra Premium that manufactures them so I've placed an order. Fingers-crossed, lol.

Link to pump: https://ecat.spectrapremium.com/en/parts/SP1267MP