[Nerrad]

Following 5 or 6 tanks of fuel since my engine rebuild, the car quit in traffic (in the middle of a construction zone RIGHT where the road was narrowed to one lane by the way!!). Thanks to a few car guys who were parked nearby, I got pushed off the road quickly.

After some fault finding, I found the fuel filter was clogged and I couldn't even blow a breath through it. I'm using the stock type fuel filter that screws into the autolite 2100 carb and it was replaced last March. I immediately saw some fuel tank repair / replacement in my future but carried on and found a service station to blow the filter out to get me home. I noticed the car had a little more "get up and go" right away so I guess it's been clogging over time.

Once home, I pulled the filter off again and it was constricted again, not blocked, but definately restricted more than after it was blown out. I decided to cut the end off the canister and see just what kind of crap was living in my filter (rust, particles...etc). To my surprise, there wasn't even the smallest amount of debris on the white rag once disassembled...completely clean!! After cleaning the filter element (a white nylon looking screen over a plastic frame) I pushed it back into the can and it doesn't blow as easily as another new one.

I'm looking now at putting an inline filter before and after the fuel pump as well as completely removing the stock filter from the carb and plumbing direct to the carb.

What are your thoughts on my solution to this issue? I had an old Ford guy tell me that Ford got rid of those carb fuel filters because of issues with flow in them. Where there was no debris in the filter, do I need to investigate deeper into my tank for sediment or rust?

Thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Darren

 

[donwhis]

I can't explain why you didn't find any crap in the filter, but it sound like the classic crud in the gas tank.

On my car I removed the gas tank and had it cleaned and sealed, and a drain plug installed. Then I installed an inline filter, the clear type with replaceable filter element. I put the filter between the carb and pump, not screwed into the carb. No problem for 2 years now. Some will say to also install a filter before the pump, but I didn't see a need to do that since I took care of the gas tank. The tank is easy to remove once you get the gas out, took about 30 min including removing the filler neck. There are lots of post on here about cleaning the tank if you want to do it yourself.

 

[donwhis]

Forgot to say, it could be the fuel pickup filter in the tank. Only takes a few minutes to pull the pickup to check and see if it is clogged.

 

[Nerrad]

Yes, it was real weird. I was as careful as I could be when I opened the filter case, took it apart over a bright white rag so I could catch anything that may have fallen out. When absolutely NOTHING was there, I started to wonder if it was just a bad filter (if there is even such a thing). The car has been running for years now and only parked when stored for our Canadian winters (full tank with stabilizer) and there wasn't any issues until I changed the filter this year. I guess I'm not looking forward to taking off the tank...lol...but perhaps it needs to be done. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around the total absense of ANY debris in the filter at all.

 

[donwhis]

If you haven't already checked the gas tank fuel screen, I wouldn't go to that trouble until after you rule out a bad carb filter.

I plumbed a clear/inline/replaceable filter between my carb and fuel line using rubber hose between the filter and the carb. The hose helps the filter to not vibrate as much.

 

[arnoldtx]

Did someone sugar the tank?

 

[Nerrad]

I really hope my tank hasn't been sweetened...lol. I've replaced the filter at the carb (until I can eliminate it with new plumbing) and installed a high flow inline filter before the pump. Once I replumb the line from pump to carb, I'll get rid of the filter on the carb and use an inline one there too. Haven't really had much chance to drive it since the repairs so I'll update once I get another tank through it.

Cheers

 

[galax-z]

when i first got my 63, it would run out of fuel at higher speeds, but run fine slow. found the picup tube in the tank inside diameter to be about that of a pencil lead. scrubbed it with a bore brush. no more probs

 

[Sardog]

I'm sure I'm over cautious, but it saved my new carb. I run an inline canister like semi trucks run as well as a glass tube with the replaceable screen. I replaced my tank, lines, filters and upgraded the carb but used my old pump. It seemed clean and pumped clean gas at first but after running for a while, all kinds of crap came loose and showed up in the glass canister. I think as long as you're not restricting flow, you can't have too much filtration.


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