VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 fuel pumps

I have experienced slow response with the vacuum fuel pumps when trying to start the 4 banger if it sat for awhile.I know alot of you guy's wont aprove ,but what I did was install a 6v electric pump and regulator in the rear, up inside the frame. this gave me quicker starting response and actually ran better.I removed the inner parts in the canister and ran the fuel line into the canister so it would actually look like it was in use. Even the vacuum hose is connected but blocked off.I'm curious,has anyone else install an electric fuel pump on there old chevy.If Iwas at a judging event how much would I be deducted for this modification? would I be in the toilet

I don't know about the deducts,(check the judging manual and forms over on www.vcca.org), but keep an eye on the carb needle valve

I also have a fuel pump on my 26 and it runs better and more reliably. Please note I live in a hilly area and it's nice to know that I don't have to worry about getting up these steeper hills around home on a Sunday drive. I can't tell you about judging since the car is a family fun ?daily driver? type car, If you can't drive it, you loose all the fun.

This discussion has been played through many times even on this forum. Vacuum tank vs no vacuum tank is like the 6 volt battery vs the 8 volt battery. In either case, if you fix the source of your problems, you won't have a problem. As has been explained many times, the electric fuel pump, if used as the sole pump, will constantly cause carbureator problems on the OEM carbureator. If used as a supplemental pump will degrade the vacuum pump and more problems. A correctly working vacuum pump, with good tight connections all the way around, is a trouble free solution. My car made it to the top of Pikes Peak on the National Pre '29 meet in a 100% stock configuration. It don't get much better than that.

My 28 had an electric fuel pump in it when I bought it and it continually gave me problems, most of which have been mentioned. I had electrical problems as well, vibrations caused bad earths etc.
I tossed it over the next door neighbours fence and fitted an original vacuum tank.
As far as hills are concerned, I have driven over Australia's "Great Diving Range", crawled up a 1 mile long very steep hill in 1st gear and never had a problem.
I takes about 5 or 6 miles to empty the vacuum tank and that would be one awfully long hill
Chris

Hey!

I'm kinda new to this pre-29 thing, but last summer AntiqueMechanic and myself found out that you can drive about 10 to 15 miles on a full vacuum tank! We both drove our 28 roadsters to the top of crater Lake and we didn't have a single problem with running out of fuel. This was the first time that I had driven a 28 that far and never ran out of fuel, and we went up some really long hills. The car that I was driveing had been sitting for about 15 year.

Driving up hills are what Chevrolets do bestest!
Vacuum tank or mechanical (like on the 216, 235 and 261) Ford saw what Chevrolet did with the firewall mounted vacuum pump and went them a step further with the model A, anyone ever hear of a model A having fuel pump trouble, that is ok if you want a 10 gallon bomb sitting just above your lap!

Had my 28 for over 25 years. Have the original vaumn tank. Rebuilt it about 10 years ago for no specific reason. It never let me down. Restore the vacumn tank and sell the electric pump at your next swap meet!!!

ok. ok ! The elec. pump will be gone.The previous owner removed the inner parts from the vacuum pump.guess i'll be giving Gary an order! :confused:

If Gary doesn't have one I know a fellow who does and it is already restored or can restore what you have.

...And he is easy to find, right here on the Discovery Channel!!!...........

At Hershey this year I saw a tank on Gary's table. He must have one and at least some internal parts for you. Good luck. Keep us posted.

Or move "Down-under......." We don't need vac pumps here as the juice flows from the tank to the carb. Its the A model "F#**" Guys that have to fit pumps in Australia.

Tim,
Got a chuckle out of that one. I had always heard that you blokes were upside down but now get the impression that are backwards too! Any truth to it? :confused:

Chip and Tim, I also understand the water in the tub and john swirl in the other direction, does the air cleaner on your "roaring 4!" suck the dirt into the engine or do you simply put it on backwards, or upside down? Ha!

OH! and is that why you drive on the "Wrong" side of the road?

:p

NO! we don't drive on the wrong side of the road, you blokes couldn't handle it, so you changed sides in about 1910. If there was a 1909 Chev then it would have been right hand drive
On top of this, I bought one of your 28's and the steering wheel's on the wrong side.

It makes it hard to pay the road tolls, however we all had a good laugh one night when the highway patrol breath testing operator breath tested my son in law who was in the passenger seat. I laughed so much that when he realised what was wrong I couldn't blow in the bag
Chris

Chris, Well you now see why we changed to drive the "Right side of the road, with the wheel on the "Left side" of the vehicle....we had visions about tool booths, and knew that most of them would be on the drivers side, ha! It is too bad that you folks down under followed the lead of the UK rather than us Yanks.....However we did mess up a bit, The RFD mail boxes were set up for horses and buggies, now the mail carriers here have to use imported vehicles with the steering wheel on the "Wrong Side" The Oil field service company I worked for used Us IH trucks in Australia back in 1980 and we painted the rear bumpers "Left Hand steering" so that when we got passed by a native , they wouldn't think the truck was driverless. We got to see a lot of the country since we drivers were curbside.

I heard a rumour that you Statesiders are finally going to do the sensible thing and change to RHD. I heard that to reduce the impact of such a large change, you are going to change all the cars, RV's etc one week and all the rest (semi's etc ) the following.
Tim.

In the horse and buggy days the driver sat on the right side because he or she was probably right handed. If the right handed driver sat on the left he might whip the passengers instead of the horse. That meant you drove on the right side of the street because you would get in and out of the buggy on the right side instead of the muddy street on the left side. The Model T Ford pioneered left hand drive. Automobiles had to pass a slower horse and buggy on the left, and the automobile driver could see better to pass if he was sitting on the left side. By 1914 all US cars were LHD except Stutz and a few others.

Yep, D2D2 that is the way we did it, back in the good old days! We even had some mud every once in a while, and we still have mailboxes, out in the Boonies! But we have up graded to the newfangled automobiles (whipping don't seem to have any affect on them). Now, we have to slide over to the passangers side to take the mail out of the box.
Maybe we need to move this thread over to Ray's tool forum since it seems to have become a history class. Right Teach?

You have to read this whole thread to see how we got from fuel pumps to buggy whips and mailboxes. Guess I'm as guilty as anyone for getting off the subject.

I think that the only reason that we started driving on the right side of the road is to make room for the 4 legged transportation.other countries just had to be different.sure glad there isnt a right or left fuel pump or we would have a mess

like some of you other guys i have put many miles on the 26 and pulled steep hills here in kentucky with no vacum tank problems just maintain them and they work great

Tim, I think we decided to do the change to RHD , as you said a step at a time, RVs and pleasure sport cars, and rice rockets, on the first of January and then after all the funerals we will change everyone else the 1st of Febuary!........ Except for Texas, as we drive on which ever side your fancy leads you to.