If you haven't replaced the fuel lines you might as well go ahead and do it
cuz you will sooner or later. Over the years alot of debris, from inside
the tank and elsewhere causes obstructions and will starve your engine of
fuel.
The sock on the pickup tube needs to be cleaned also. Alot of us have gone
through this scenario you've described to one extent or another.
Wayne
At 12:29 PM 2/22/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Hello, list...
>
>I have a 1949 Chevy Pickup... I'd call it "original restored" - most of the
>underpinnings are original, but the engine is rebuilt, and it has been
>painted and re-upholstered. You can see a picture online at
>http://songs.com/pws/xmas99.html . I've only had it about 3 months,
>basically it looks great and runs great, but three times now it has "conked
>out" and refused to restart, and on two of those occasions I've had to tow
>it a fair distance to get it home.
>
>Each time it has 'conked out" like this, I have been unable to restart
>it. Starter works fine - one time it wore the battery down to zilch, hence
>the tow-job - but there's no getting it to turn over. So I've taken it to
>a mechanic, who didn't get to it till the next morning, and each time, the
>mechanic had no trouble starting it - even in the "dead battery" case.
>
>In the first two instances, I could see that there was no fuel in the
>transparent fuel filter; also, I'd been experiencing some "surge" going up
>hills and so suspected the fuel pump. After the second instance, we
>replaced the fuel pump, and it has in fact been running much more smoothly
>ever since (not that I drive it all that much - like, twice since the pump
>was replaced).
>
>This past Sunday, despite the new fuel pump, it conked out again and I
>could not restart it. Called AAA. They towed me home... and as soon as he
>lowers the truck in my driveway, I tried to start it and... fwhoomp... it
>started right up.
>
>A neighbor who knows a little about old cars listened to my tale of woe and
>suggested that my problem is caused by "vapor lock" I'm not really sure
>what "vapor lock" is, though I've the phrase hundreds of times.
>
>Does this sound like "vapor lock" to any of you, or could there be
>something more fundamental, like a failing magneto or something? Are these
>engines/carburetors prone to vapor lock? And, can vapor lock be so total
>that it would keep a truck from starting for over an hour?
>
>If it is "vapor lock," can anybody tell me a) how to prevent it in the
>future and b) what to do about it if it happens again?
>
>If it's not "vapor lock," then how do I go about trouble shooting a problem
>which only appears intermittently? (I'm fortunate that, so far, it has
>only happened in cases when it has been easy to pull off the road... that I
>might not be quite so lucky next time makes me nervous every time I leave
>my driveway.
>
>I confess I know little about old trucks or carburetors. I wanted to take
>auto mechanics in high-school but was supposed to be on a fast track to
>college (lotta good THAT did me...) so, now that I need the knowledge, it
>ain't there. I learned a lot about engines when I was a kid (anybody
>remember the "Visible V-8" model?) but at this point I've forgotten more
>than I never knew, and my knowledge of carburetors in particular is
>non-existent. Can anybody steer me toward a good book on carb fundamentals?
>
>I am grateful for this list... there are not a lot of vintage chevy truck
>owners in my neighborhood, so it's nice to find a fellowship of like minded
>folks out here on the Net.
>
>Look forward to whatever help anybody can offer... thanks very much.
>
>--PS
>
>***************************************
>Paul Schatzkin, aka The Perfesser
>General Manager, songs.com unit of Gaylord Digital
>shipping - 3927 Cambridge Ave #2 Nashville TN 37205
>mail: P.O. Box 121616 Nashville TN 37212
>ph: 615-298-1122 - fax: 615-298-4825
>e-mail: perfessr@songs.com
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>"Hard work has a future pay off. Laziness pays off now." -- (anon)
>
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
>
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