collapsing rubber gas lines

[Deleted User]

Hi everybody, I was just wondering how a car might act if the rubber gas lines might be collapsing. My 49 super 6 wont go above 40 miles an hour and kinda surges and acts starved for fuel anywhere above 1st gear. I plan on going thru the entire ful system and replacing the fuel pump and lines and cleaning out the gas tank with income tax money. Thanks, Hudsonly,Lisa G.

Jon B

I'm curious, Lisa: does the car have either a fuel filter or a glass sediment bowl? If a filter (and it's clear plastic) does it seem clogged? If it's been awhile since it's been changed, why not buy a new filter and install it? Couldn't hurt. If there's a glass bowl, is the bottom full of rust and dirt?



Crud in the bowl or filter, will give you a clear picture of whether the complete fuel line / tank cleanout is gonna help -- or whether the problem may lie elsewhere.

Unknown

Partly pluged lines, weak fuel pump or carb can cause this. There is fine screen filter

under the brass cap 3/4" I belive just above the gas inlet on the carb that is easy to get pluged and easy to clean.

hudsonsplasher1

Hi Lisa;

My brother had a problem with the flexible line on his 37 Terraplane that runs from the gas line to the fuel pump. It was an nos rubber line that had collapsed due to modern gas. He replaced the line with modern material and it corrected the problem. His car ran well when he put it away in the fall, but wouldn't start when he attempted to get it out in the spring. The fuel line might be a starting point. Gene.

nick s

I recently had two fuel line problems. first i was sucking air at my inline filter which caused the car to act as if it had a clogged filter after changing the filter i found the leak. soon after i started experiencing problems again and discovered the element of the new filter had collapsed. with a metal housed filter this will not be easilly detected.

Unknown

First replace the condenser. It may save you a lot of work and time.



Have a good day

Steve

dwardo99

The advice about the condenser is good and should be checked first. These go bad just sitting. However, if you have a glass filter bowl with the ceramic-looking filter, these plug up easily if your gas tank is cruddy. I had a '54 a long time ago that had one of these and it was constantly getting plugged up by the rust being sucked out of the tank.

Unknown

You may very well have a fuel starvation problem. It's where I would start. A fuel pump pressure gauge securely inserted with a "tee" before the carburetor might help confirm what you already suspect. I'm mostly writing to suggest that smcmanus has a very good point in suggesting that you check the condenser, particularly if you don't find a fuel supply problem. A faulty one can exhibit a number of different characteristics. Also, a loose baffle in a muffler can shift up against an adjacent one and cause such severe restriction in the exhaust that the car will act just as you're describing - acceptable idle and low RPM performance followed by substantially reduced power in the mid and upper RPM range. The reason being that the increase in speed results in more and more pressure against the loose baffle literally sealing it up against the baffle that it's resting on.

Geoff

Also check the voltage at the coil - you could have resistance at the switch or bad points. You shou8ld have full 6 volts at the coil negative terminal. Easy enough to check the fuel delivery, just disconnect at the carb inlet and crank the engine over -you should get a good squirt of fuel each time the pump pulses.

Geoff.

bobbydamit

Geoff C., N.Z. wrote:

Also check the voltage at the coil - you could have resistance at the switch or bad points. You shou8ld have full 6 volts at the coil negative terminal. Easy enough to check the fuel delivery, just disconnect at the carb inlet and crank the engine over -you should get a good squirt of fuel each time the pump pulses.

Geoff.

Hey Geoff, you forgot the five gallon bucket and to aim the line at the side. Remember getting a face full of fuel in the good old days when we tried this in a small jar?? Stand clear members, a good pump can give quite a squirt, especially if you forget to pull the coil wire when cranking, and the engine starts up with the fuel still in the carb. Wow what a mess that can be. Just fun'n ya Geoff. I heard you New Zealanders have a dry sense of Humor?? Of course that's from my Mother-in-Law, when she comes back from her place in ChristChurch. :rolleyes: See Ya, Bobby

Geoff

YOu are right of course, but we Kiwis tend to think logically, and assume that people on the other side of the world would do likewise, and have enough nouse to pop the end of the fuel pipe in a jar or bucket! Apart from the scrooge factor - you can return it to the fuel tank - that stuffs worth a fortune these days! It just cost me $880 for fuel to do 2,500 miles in my '29 Hudson.

Geoff.

mars55

Water in the gas can also cause fuel starvation and delivery problems.

dwardo99

If you pull the coil wire off while doing this experiment, bad things can result. The current has to go somewhere and it makes a nice arc if it can. I set a 1968 GTO on fire doing this when I was a 19-year-old "ace mechanic". We were trying to figure out why it wouldn't start after we put on a pair of big-valve junkyard heads. Turns out the clever GM engineers knew about valve/piston clearance but we didn't. First two turns of the engine bent all the valves.

[Deleted User]

ok guys, i talked to my mechanic(my dad). the car has a new condenser on it and i put in a new coil the carb has been rebuilt..so i'll just have to keep hunting for the problem