China Strikes Again

I replaced the fuel pump on a 72 chebby pick up first of the week, I forgot how much fun they were to replace and all the tricks that can make it go EZ. After I replaced it the carb immediately flooded I thought it was a carb issue as I had moved it out of the shop last week at closing time because it was leaking fuel and the engine seamed to flood EZ...

I got on it the first of the week to replace the engine mounts and found the fuel pump leaking so replaced the pump. I just knew it was a carb issue so took it off and could not find a thing wrong with the carb, the needle and seat passed a pressure test with flying colors :shock: About the only thing I could see was the last guy are gal was not much of a man and just snugged up the needle seat and all the screws. The owner said he had never experienced a flooding issue but had smelt the fuel and it had stopped running like it ran out of fuel...

I put the carb back on and it started pushing fuel out the top of the carb :evil: I put a fuel pump pressure tester on it and it pegged the gauge out at 15 PSI PLUS :shock: It has to be the pump so order up another Airtex pump and the same thing happened :shock: :shock: I put the pressure gauge on it again and all seamed well till like flipping a switch the pressure shot up to 15 plus PSI and fuel started pouring out the top of the carb...

I made a call to Airtex and the tech said it must have had the wrong spring installed in the pump. I called up another parts store and got a different brand pump and all is well... Thanks China for a screwing me out of a days work :!:


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Bill your supplier for the time, that's what I do. BTW, Airtex haven't been worth the box they're shipped in for a long time as far as
electrics. Guess mechanicals are junk too.

My local independent guy started carrying Airtex pumps some years ago.

I quit buying fuel pumps there.

If I want a decent pump I have to order it from Summit.

Fun eh? I put a new fuel
pump on one of our IH
674 gas tractors last
summer due to a leaking
diaphragm putting gas in
the oil. Got a matched
up number from the parts
store and put it on.
Used the tractor for
about an hour, parked
it, and looked the new
pump over one last time
for leaks before filling
it with gas and parking
it. I don't know how
many gallons of gas it
holds, maybe 20? 3 days
later I was in my yard
across the road from the
barn where the tractor
was parked and could
smell gas. It
immediately thought
about the 674 and walked
over and looked at it.
The new pump has a soft
plug in the side of it,
and it had leaked EVERY
ounce of gas out of that
tractor all over the
barn floor out around
that small soft plug.
Went and got another the
next day and installed
it, and after putting
some (a little) gas in
it, it was leaking
around the gasket
between the 2 halves. I
tightened up the screws
and it has been fine for
about a year now
(fingers crossed)...

Ross

Earlier today I read an article about a recent survey that indicated that US buyers are much more interested in low prices than quality.

Dean

Never had that happen, but have had problems with anything made by Airtex!

They have made inferior products since maybe the 60's... And they are, or were, an American company! I won't
accept anything Airtex unless it's something hard to find and I have no choice.

I've read that too.

I'm willing to pay more for higher quality, but it's hard to tell anymore if you're really getting higher quality for your money or just higher priced junk.

Fred

Just yesterday I was looking for something and noticed a 3/8 bolt turned down toward end and threads near head. Took me a while to remember what I had that for. Then remembered using it to hold the fuel pump push rods up. Probably haven't used in 25 years.

I was also curious about why there were comments about how hard it is to change the mechanical fuel pump on a SBC.
I think the side bolt was there for a motor mount when the SBC was in it's infancy, probably around 55-57. Anyway, the small bolt comes out (making sure that the fuel pump rod is at the upper end of the stroke, and if it isn't, rotate the crank so that it is), and a longer bolt screws in to hold the fuel pump rod in place. The fuel pump is then changed and one must remember to take out the longer bolt and replace it with the shorter one, the same one that was originally there.
I've seen people use grease and attempt to use a screw driver to hold up that rod. Neither one is needed.

I had a marketing class that taught three things that people consider in buying a product; low price, high quality product, and excellent service. In the buyer's eyes if a retailer excels in one field the other two can be overlooked.

If you had mentioned airtex at the beginning we only
would have had to read the rest to see how long it
took you to figure it out.

A friend was talking about her firebird acting like the fuel pump was out again but it was only a few months old. What kind? Artex. There's your problem.

I changed a pump on the road one time when it was about 25 below. The rod stayed up out of the way by itself. I still have a bolt in my toolbox too.

Exactly. Have to always look things over that you arent getting something that is the same somewhere else but in a better looking package lol.

I have a emergency job today thermostat on a Ford Focus. Local Ford dealer does not stock it soooo do I get a Carquest china junk thermo assy are ride to Cary and get Motorcraft china junk...

Motorcraft china junk it will be if they can find were they put it...

That works.

I always just used a long thin knife blade. Slip pump arm in and slide knife out in one motion and it's done.

On some you can not use the bolt trick in those cases I sharpen the end of the pump leaver and use it to grip the rod flip it up and quickly shove the pump in place.

On this one I could not get to the rear bolt I had to do in from the top with a 3ft extension and wobble socket and then it was a tight go. The first two pumps went EZ other than I got a good dose of gas on me the third pump put up a good fight why I dunno...

My first education on mechanical pump brought up a question, I ask the old timers why they started the bolts and by hand rocked the pump to prime the system. They told me because it was 6Vs and the bat my run down before you got it to self prime. If it did not prime to look from the pump back for the problem.