good morning to all, just bought a 1937 chevrolet car from the Netherlands, when it arrived i couldn't start it, they pushed the car and it fired up. i came home and being on a small slope car would not fire up, electronic fuel pump is near battery and mechanical is disconnected. i tried to contact seller, to no avail to see if there is a button to prime it, i just picked up a mechanical fuel pump, what is the purpose of the electronic fuel pump? maybe short handed of supplies in netherland?
Most likely the old mechanical fuel pump went bad and the electric was a cheaper, more available option. I see The Filling Station just got a load of new fuel pumps in stock for that application.
VCCA Member 43216 Save a life, adopt a senior shelter pet. 1938 HB Business Coupe 1953 210 Sedan
There are simple tests to determine if the electrical fuel pump is working properly.
When you turn the ignition key to the “On” or “Run” position you should be able to hear and feel the pump running. If not, make sure there is voltage at the pump. If there is no voltage run a jumper wire from the battery to the pump. Then you should hear it run.
Disconnect the fuel line the comes out of the pump. Direct that fuel line into a container. Have someone turn the key on for just a few seconds. You should have fuel coming out of that line.
I agree with Tiny. Get one of the mechanical fuel pumps from the Filling Station.
An electric pump can also be used with a mechanical pump to prime the fuel system after a long time of not using the car and for use when you are in a vapor lock situation and the mechanical pump won't pump vapor.
good morning to all, i disconnect the power from the electrical fuel pump and installed the mechanical pump with a line from gas tank to fuel pump to carb, with a little help the car did fire up BUT the carb start leaking fuel so MAYBE the electrical fuel pump did work? but its a bad carb? i am going to remove carb and have it rebuilt. i will leave per Dave39MD and use it in conjunction with mechanical
I have the same thing on my 1936 Chevy Master coupe. I have a rebuilt mechanical pump I would like to use instead of or with the electric pump as every thing on it is original. How can you use both as it is my understanding that if you run the electric pump to the mechanical pump it could blow the diaphragm and leak gas into the oil pan.
I would not mess with your car if it is running fine now. You are already pushing gas through the body of the fuel pump that is on it. That apparently has not damaged whatever diaphragm is in it.
As long as the electric pump produces only about 4 psi it will work fine. Any more than that can push the needle valve off the seat in the carburetor.
I did not realize that the original ‘36 Chevy’s had a starter solenoid. I thought they all had starters with a mechanical foot switch.
I have installed an electric fuel pump on my 1938 Master, inline with and behind the mechanical fuel pump. I did this while experiencing successive falures of new "Carter designed " mechanical pumps. I finally replaced the mechaniclal pump with one made by Spectra, and it works perfectly. It does not look original as the body of it is quite thicker. I no longer find it necssary to the the elctric pump. However the two can coexist without a problem. It has been my experience that the electric fuel pump produces a much lower pessure than the mechanical one.
My 1951 1 Ton is now on the road! My 38 Master 4 Door is also now on the road .
Thanks for the replies. Yes you are right about the starter solenoid but that is how it was when I got it so I thought I would leave it until I have to mess with the starter and then put the foot switch back in.
Old 216's comments point to the major variable in this situation. It is hard to get the actual specifications on these electric fuel pumps before you purchase one.
You need to know the pressure, flow, and most important, if it is a pump that will allow fuel to be pulled through it by the mechanical pump. If it is a simple impeller pump with no check valves it should be work.
Even trickier is finding what you need in a 6 volt pump.
Many of the electric fuel pumps put out too much pressure for some of the carburetors, even the 6 volt ones. There is a mechanical pressure reducer that can be plumbed downstream of the electric pump. On one of our cars that had a Stewart vacuum type fuel system and an updraft carburetor there was an electric pump on it when we got it. I installed and set an auxiliary pressure regulator at 1 psi. It had a dial on the side that went from 1 to 6. I used that to fill the vacuum canister if the car had been sitting awhile.
In theory it could be used to refill the Stewart vacuum tank if it failed to get the car back home or the hotel if on tour.
Or you could show your OCD nature and plumb in an electric pump as I did on the 53, the schematic is in the link below. I use it strictly for priming the carb after sitting for a period of time. I plumbed it this way so the mechanical pump won't have to work harder to pull gas through it. The one way valve keeps it from just sending gas in a circle when I activate it using the momentary switch I put below the dash.
good morning to all last night i did remove the original carburetor and installed a carburetor my son bought from amazon for his 1938 Chevrolet canopy express running a 216 motor and it fired up. my thinking is that it sat at the old yard in the Netherlands before coming to USA, i do have to redo some lines no biggie and will have carburetor rebuilt today. will keep you posted. thanks!
good morning, i took the carter carburetor to get rebuilt, car runs fine now, i just need to clean up the motor (paint it) and drive the car to iron out bugs, thanks everyone
