This saga relates to the gray wagon, a 1966 220 wagon with leather upholstery
throughout that I bought on ebay 2½ years ago from David Wycoff in Tulsa.
We trailered the car here to Bartlesville and parked it in my driveway, where
it has sat since waiting for me to get time to work on it. It had the clutch
master cylinder out and kits for both the master and slave cylinders came with
the car. Additionally there were problems with the ignition and a few other
things. When I bought it I was given to understand that it had not run in
perhaps 10 years, exact time unknown.
Since Ben's fiasco with the disappearing oil pump idler shaft last spring the
celery wagon with a somewhat modified B20 has sat next to it. Ben's need for
transportation and promised ownership of the celery wagon prompted us to get
the engine in the gray wagon running so we could put it in the celery wagon.
Both of these wagons are 66's btw, about 8000 serial numbers apart.

Fearing bad gas in the tank I unhooked the gas line from the pump to the tank
and added another couple feet of hose which I stuck into a gas can. I put a
battery in the car and we found that it not only cranked, but it did pump gas
also. I had already refurbished the two HS6 AUD94 carbs with oversize throttle
shafts, cleaning, new float valves etc several months back. Couldn't get it to
crank very well so after days of trying different batteries, chargers, etc we
changed the starter for the one from the Celery wagon. Then we parked the
Yellow Peril next to it and hooked up jumper cables with the YP engine running,
so the system voltage was about 14 volts. That was what the Doctor ordered,
as it cranked respectably and started fairly quickly. But pretty quick it
started to leak out of the bottom of one float chamber. The seal ring for
the jet hose was hard, so I made a new one out of a slice of vacuum hose and
put it together and started it up again. Started OK but pretty quick it was
squirting out of the float chamber vent on one carb. Shut it down and put in
another float valve. Started again and pretty quick it was squirting out of
the vent of the OTHER float chamber. I called my friend Jim Taylor,
Bartlesville's SU guru, and he agreed to sell me another float valve. Went
over and got it from him, hurried back and installed it and started the engine
again. Pretty quick it was squirting out of the first carb's float chamber
vent. "Enough!!" I said and went and got my pressure gauge. When I pulled the
gas line off the front carb, there was plenty of pressure there, indicating that
the float valve was apparently not leaking. Put the gauge on the end of the
gas line and cranked it and after about 10 turns the pressure was up to 10 psi.
No WONDER the float valves weren't holding! So the question is,
How does this old fuel pump put up so much pressure? It is the old OEM pump
with the hex head bolt in the center of the top with the phillips screwdriver
slot in the center of the hex. Looks like it has been seeping some, with the
red residue on it but that should not make the pressure too high. The pressure
is controlled by the strength of the spring in a diaphragm fuel pump,
and springs normally don't get stronger with age (in my experience!) or do they?
Anybody had this happen with an OEM diaphragm fuel pump? All the later Pierburg
pumps I have checked have put up exactly 3 psi.
I have a couple of new fuel pumps around as well as the one on the damaged
engine so this isn't a problem but I would really like to know how many of
you have had mechanical fuel pumps that put up too much pressure.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!