Spring Cleanup

I had the Quick Fuel Technology carb off the engine recently and decided to add a return spring. It's a pretty impressive looking contraption, and it's a safety measure worth having.

When you install the kit you will need to buy a longer carb stud, or a bolt, which is what I did, to install the holder to the carb base...

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Have a Drink!

I've been messing around with things a bit (as I try to figure out how my intake manifold installation went awry—more on that later), so I delved into the fuel lines that connect the mechanical fuel pump to the QFT carb. I wanted to replace the hard line, various brass fittings, and the -8 carb fuel kit.

Although the old parts worked well enough, they looked a bit cobbled together, and the faded carb fuel kit leaked once in a while probably from being 7 or 8 years old. I think the hard line on the front of the engine seems like a good idea if you have a mechanical fan, or if the fuel line snakes around and through many pulleys and belts. Mine doesn't so I found some Russell and Edelbrock fuel parts featuring matching black anodizing, all in -6 AN sizing.

From the older Carter fuel pump I needed a Russell 660823 Black ProClassic 90 Degree Adapter Fitting (-6 AN and 1/4" NPT) to replace the larger 3/8" NPT fitting or elbow that came with the Edelbrock 81234 ProClassic Fuel Line Kit. You might not need the smaller elbow depending on your fuel pump. Then I needed a Russell 660463 Black ProClassic Straight Adapter Fitting (-6 AN and 3/8" NPT) to attach the line to the new Russell 641093 Dual Inlet Carburetor Kit (-6 AN with 1/8" NPT gauge plug for Holley 4150-style carb). This 641093 is advertised as not having a gauge plug in some stores and having one in others, mine does. I decided to add a fuel pressure gauge Auto Meter 2172 Autogage Mechanical Fuel Pressure Gauge (1/8" NPT).

The lines are a sufficient length, even with a taller-than-stock RPM Air Gap intake manifold. I didn't include an inline fuel filter, also black and from Russell, but maybe I will add it one day.

I used Permatex Thread Sealant 56521 on the NPT threads and spent about $75 on a pair of Aluminum fitting wrenches, and an adjustable one. I might have just taped up a regular wrench to handle tightening the anodized aluminum fittings, but my 2001 Bullitt has a full replacement -AN fuel system so I can use them there too. I think the black ProClassic lines look pretty good, and I might even be able to remove the carb fuel bowls with this style of "soft" carb fuel kit installed.





I should mention that regarding the Edelbrock 81234 ProClassic Fuel Line Kit, there seems to be a design change with the fitting that attaches the coupler to the braided line near the fuel pump. The larger fitting failed on mine when I installed it the second time, so after speaking with Edelbrock's Tech Line I returned it to Amazon. The smaller fitting in the image was sent to me as a replacement and appears to be the newer design and works fine. (Amazon doesn't seem to carry this line anymore, but other places do.)

Brand New Repro Parts, Part II: More Adventures in Head-Scratching

Here's an issue that has caused me to waste some time, so maybe this tip will help somebody else. I bought a new fuel tank sending unit for my new 22 gallon fuel tank. (This tank is from a 1970 Mustang and holds more fuel than the stock 16 gallon tank from 1966.) The sending unit was from NPD and is supposed to be a good quality one with a brass float and 3/8" line. I think all of the parts houses will have this same issue, so I don't think NPD could do much about it.



Anyway, the first two floats failed by filling with fuel, causing the gauge to always read "E". The first floast failed within one day, and the second within one month. I finally replaced only the brass float and not the whole repro sending unit. At left is the brass float I ordered from NPD, and it came in a Ford package, which was a nice surprise.



And here are the two floats together. The import is on the left and Ford is on the right. They seem reasonably close to being the same, but notice the soldering (or brazing?), which is more controlled on the Ford one.



And here's the failure point of the import on the left both times (the first time there was a leak on the side too): the solder on the end cap looks like a big porous blob stuck on there. The Ford float has solder that is accurately placed and very smooth for leak-free service.

As a matter of fact, the import sending unit design apparently has another issue that quickly happened to both units I bought: The white plastic sock that is stuck on the intake tube to keep debris from getting sucked into the fuel line actually fell off or melted off and is presumably lost in the fuel tank somewhere. (With a new tank and a fuel filter before the fuel pump I'm not really worried about that right now.) But the parts houses do sell a NOS sending unit filter or sock for about $22. I just bought one and will install it when I have a chance (see photo). [Edit: Just installed it a couple months ago!]



In hindsight, I'd use a NOS brass float ($7) and NOS sending unit filter ($22) that are available in Ford packages from places like NPD and Mustangs Unlimited. Then I'd buy a $25 repro sending unit and hope for the best. I would not use a repro sending unit again without upgrading the sending unit filter and float. Of course if you can score a NOS sending unit assembly for $50 that's the best bet, but these go for over $100 easy when they come up on eBay.

Carb Crazy!

My Holley Street Avenger (Holley 0-80670 Street Avenger 670 CFM Square Bore 4-Barrel Vacuum Secondary Electric Choke Carburetor) took a dump on me the other day... One day it just flooded out, and the car would barely run. I took the carb apart, but didn't see anything obvious. It was a 670cfm unit, which was good, but it had a vacuum secondary, which wasn't ideal in such a light car with a decent motor and low gears. I couldn't rebuild it myself with any degree of competence, and local places wanted $200-$300. I could buy a new one for under $400 so that seemed silly. So I bought a 650cfm unit with mechanical secondaries from Quick Fuel Technology. I also had the choke horn milled off since I prefer no choke.





I've only started it up to check for leaks and set the fuel float levels. It sure looks like a million bucks. (It was $513.) Hopefuly, it runs as good as it looks!


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Spaced Out

I bought a phenolic carb spacer to keep the carb cooler. I had noticed that the car was a little difficult to start after driving for more than 15 minutes. This piece is only 3/8" tall, which is great because I have no room under the hood to raise the carb much more than that. As you can see from the photo, the spacer was more of a restrictor plate as it arrived, a little too small. So about 15 minutes later with a Dremel and a coarse grinder bit and fine grinder bit and I was in gasket-matched business. (In the photo, the brown spacer is peeking out from between the grey carb gaskets. Sorry, no "after" photo...)




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Bad Gas

In preparation for installing my new carb from Quick Fuel Technology (more on that later) I bought a new dual feed fuel line from them.

Now, the carb I bought from QFT seems awesome, sure looks amazing. I called back to get the line and they suggested this one. It was $60 and nickel plated and looked great when it arrived in the package. I would have been happy to spend more and figured whatever they had would have been about $100.

Unfortunately, there were some issues with this thing. In no particular order, the line was -6 instead of the -8, which was already on my car (not a huge problem); the threads on the extensions that go into the fuel bowls on the carb had some small nicks, which made hand-threading difficult (not a huge problem); and one of the flanges had some sort of dent in it which can't be good for a fuel-tight seal (getting worse). Oh, did I mention the load of metal shavings loose in the line from where the gauge hole was drilled and tapped? (Good grief.)












Fortunately, I looked this stuff over before instantly ruining my new carb on start-up. I sent the line back to them tonight and will re-use my old one.