VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 fuel line plugged from tank to pump 38 MD

My gas line from tank is plugged from setting 50 yrs.any suggestions ?? replace line or take it out and cook until is clear ? replace with copper ? replace with rubber hose ??? any ideas ? .sc

I suggest that you drop the tank and have it boiled out. Also, you should replace all of the fuel lines with new steel tubing. The carburetor and fuel pump should be rebuilt as well.

I replaced mine with steel brake line. Last winter I removed the tank on my 38 to get the sender restored. The tank had quite a bit of rust so I ended up getting it done too.

The tank, line from the tank to the pump and the fuel pump were plugged with old fuel varnish in my '38 as well. I pulled the tank. Cleaned and lined it with Redkote. The pump I replaced. The line I was able to clean. to clean the line I placed a short length of rubber fuel line over one end and clamped it securely. I filled the rubber fuel line with carb cleaner, propped it up so that the carb cleaner was being pulled into the line by gravity and left it over night. The next day I put about 100 PSI of air pressure behind the carb cleaner but the line was still plugged. I repeated the process with fresh carb cleaner. The third time was the charm. When I put pressure to the line the plug gave way and shot out the other end of the line. I then filled the line with carb cleaner, plugged both ends and let it set for a few days to soften up any varnish that was left. After a few days I blew it out good, put it back on the car and have used it since without issue.

I agree that Tiny's approach works great if the line is in good physical condition.

In my case the line on my '37 had a lot of external rust and a few dents in it so I was not comfortable reusing it. I was able to buy 5' lengths of flared 5/16" steel fuel line at the local Farm & Fleet. I also know that both NAPA and O'Reilly's now carry a product line of steel tubes that bend easily and have a nice exterior coating to prevent corrosion. I recently replaced the fuel line on a 1966 British sports car with this type line. It was easy to bend, cut, and flare.

The advice you are getting is right on. The key is to clean the tank. Otherwise you will always have problems. Most of us have added some type of inline filter after we have cleaned the tank just in case.

Hope this helps!

I did some work on 38 motor today, its painted orange,it should be blue??found the serial number starts with FAM 188xxx,looked that up comes back 1948 I think I have to take a closer look at casting # and serial # ..I started motor also with 1 gal gas can hooked up ..ran very well 15 PSI oil and was charging but water pump squealed like a pig ,radiator full,also I took out block drain left side back of block ,no water came out stuck wire in but hit dead end,another big problem to fix.learning a lot..spencer

Your engine color should be a dark grey with a tiny tinge of blue. The Filling Station sells what's accepted around here as the "correct" grey.

OK thanks much your rig looks good ..how to replace water pump on 38 without taking the front end off also very hard to get at fuel pump ..I thinking my motor has been changed to 48 I don;t see anyway to lube water pump as in earlier models..

The fuel pump is a piece of cake. The water pump isn't that bad but does take some back and forth (driver side to passenger side and back) to get all of the fasteners. That picture was taken as the freshly overhauled engine was being re-installed.

Tiny,

Off subject but I was wondering if you had the valve cover in place whilst you were inatalling the engine in place? If so, I wonder why. Seems that would be conducive to accidently skinning spots in the paint.

I always leave mine off until the engine is run and valves readjusted. I do lay a towel over the rockers, though.

Thanks,

Charlie

I wasn't the one doing the install Charlie. They likely left it that way since that's the way it came from the engine builder.

This is a little off subject but does anyone know where you can buy a pre-bent fuel line for a 34 master.

They are not sold.