Barabbas

Don, I'm in Fort Wayne now--back amoung friends and family --I lived here from the mid 80s to 2007. I moved out to the Olympic Penisula when I retired, to be near the mountains and ocean, I discovered that "there's no place like home". How do I test for fuel pump pressure, is there a special gage for fuel pumps? The only pressure gages I have the hand held type for compression testing, I'm afraid if I used that gage I'll get a lot of leadfree octane in my eye.

A couple of weeks ago my fuel pump started pumping a lot of fuel out the vent hole. So after searching around for a new fuel and pump and not finding an exact replacement, I ordered a power wagon fuel pump from Vintage power wagon. It went into "Doris" ,my P23 with no problems, I did have to do a little replumbing but that was all. Took it out for a test drive --car started fine but would lose power every time I took a left hand corner. Got back in the garage and discoved that the rear carb was leaking fuel around the base. I thighted the mounting bolts down which seemed to fix the problem. The old Plym ran find for about 50 miles, includind a 70mph run on I-69. Last night as I pulled into the garage it died. Started her up this mornging, she idle rough and died. I restarted, this time with the fast idle engaged--she ran well but GAS started flowing out of the front Carb. It appears that gas is leaking from the main vent tube. It's not a problem at low speed but a few seconds of higher rpm and the gas starts to flow out. The carbs are B&B that I bought from George Asche about 4 years and 7000 miles ago--had no problems with either of them until now. Is this just really bad timing with my fuel system or am I missing something basic? Another piece of miscellaneous data-- last summer I moved from the Pac NW to the midwest so the past few months were the first cold , low humidity weather that Doris has seen since she got the new carbs

Thanks Don, the timing is perfect for me--I just replaced the fuel pump on my P23 with a Power Wagon type fuel pump. I have the old Carter style like yours sitting on my bench, it was pumping more fuel into the atmosphere than to the carbs. I'll get one of the rebuild kits and have an emergency spare

Great News Bob--I look forward to more pictures of Cooper and the Way-Back machine-

When I got my P23 I told myself that I would not spend over $7500 reconditioning her. I kept decent records for 3 years and found I was I approaching the limt, so I stopped...stopped keeping records that is

I've been using a 3 wire GM 10si/internal regulator for 2years (4,ooo miles) with no problems

I think you ought to post this on the HAMB--they have more experience with this type of thing

It was 21 deg this morning in Sunny Fort Wayne IN--

Bob, I've enjoyed the trips that you and Cooper have shared with us especially the fall color trips. I hope that you and Cooper will be able to share more of those with us this year--my thoughts and prayers are with you Mike

-36F is way beyond Cool! I admire your sense of adventure and look forward to seeing your "captain's log" on this Trek

Jeff, welcome to the Forum I'll second everything Rusty Said plus-once you've checked the timing, points and carb, check the condition of battery cables and ground. I found on my 52 Cranbrook that getting 0 guage battery cables helped my starting greatly. If your car has the 4 guage cables that are "normal" for 12 volt cars, it will have problems starting

I wouldn't be seen dead in it

I had one run several years back--did a 20.1 @ 68 +. At the time my engine was a 230 bored .03 over, dual carbs (both in really bad shape) and single exhaust

I was in Study Hall--junior year --when the announcement came over the intercom. Like Don, and the rest of the nation, I sat in front of the TV for the next 3 days..numb, angry scared. For those of you not yet born in 1963, think 9/11-that's kind of how it felt

I got a double sided copper gasket from vintage power wagons about 6 weeks ago

Just got back from a 20 minute drive around town--the exhaust is pretty much cleaned up -- so probably a muffler full of antifreeze and maybe one bolt not sealed well enough...tomorrow I'll take a bit of a road trip just to make sure but for now, things are looking good---thanks to everyone

You're right Don, I just hadn't learned the technique, I kept getting the gage to pop out of the hole before I got a complete reading, so I resorted to a second pair of hands. I got the technique down this afternoon--you can see the readings above

I just had a 1/2hour run at idle and once around the block (a decent size hill) and she still smokes but not as bad as yesterday, by the of the run she was still smoking but could maintain a 500rpm idle it wasn't Lexus smooth but not terrible---BTW compression nos 125,125,125,125,125,140 I will take short drives the next couple of days with my AAA card and cell phone

Niel, I've retorqued a couple of times--I checked them just after the last run-in--(temp was probably only 130 or so) they were all rock solid at 70

She started right up and ran smoothly--I didn't check compression because that gage that I trust is the old rubber tip hold in kind and I need an extra set of hands to get a good reading

Well no luck! I went out today "Hey this will be easy, just one bolt" and proceeded to prove that the bolt in question did go thru the water jacket (forget to drain the radiator and pull the bolt: old faithful ensues). Drained the radiator pulled the bolt and saw that it did indeed have sealant--"well maybe not enough-I hoped" I put a ton of locktite sealant on torqued her down and started Doris up. For about 30 seconds I was happy, then a lite puff of smoke that just kept building. If I put my hand under the tailpipe it is almost pure water coming out the exhaust...so back to the drawing board The only other stupid, easy to fix thing I might have done is put the new thermostat in upside down. but I don't see how that could cause coolant to get into the cylinders. The oil looks clean and the level is about right so there's not a ton of antifreeze just running into the cylinders.. Any suggestions before I start all over?

OOOPS--I did use one original bolt--the one that has an internal thread in it's head; it is located by the thermostat housing & #1 cylinder. I thought I put plumbers thread sealant on the threads but I'm not sure. I'll pull that one bolt and reseal it and retry. Should I loosen all bolts in sequence or can I jut pull that one bolt?

Don, the Bolts from Vintage Power wagon came with a white plastic looking material in the threads-- I assumed this was a sealant

@#!# I decided to take this blown head gasket as an opportunity to clean up the engine--so I sent away for new head bolts, some POR-15 Hemi Orange, new thermostat housing (old one was a rusted mess under the radiator hose). So I turned a 4 hour job into a couple of weeks job but today I was done---I thought. Put her altogether, took all the plugs out and cranked her over to check compression readings. Well Cyc #1 had readings all over the map, I took off the gage and saw little beads of anti-freeze. I turned her over a couple of times with no gage and a mist pumped out of the cyclinder. Well maybe the gasket needs to seat a bit I hoped. I put the plugs in and fired her up---smoke out the pipe, I let her run until warm and still smoke out the pipe. @#!# When I painted the head, some paint ran unto the machined surface. I couldn't get Chemicals to kill the Por-15 enamel so I resorted to a wire brush on my dremel--could that have caused the problem. I knew I messed up the surface finish but I didn't think the wire brush would remove much metal certainly less than .001, is that enough to keep the gasket from sealing?

I know that this is simplistic but have you checked the guage?