Thread: Roadster Pickup comes home on the Hook!!!

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I'm with you guys 100%--I took the carburetor in to the rebuilders yesterday, and he is going to replace/repair the float needle issue. This is the first vehicle I have had with a downdraft carburetor and the tank setting higher than the carb. (The 4 different model A Fords I had as a kid were all updraft carbs, so even if you forgot the mechanical fuel shut off when you parked, they might run $5 worth of gasoline out on the ground, but they wouldn't fill up the engine block with gasoline!!!) That issue I had on the weekend where all my cylinders filled up with gasoline while the car was setting with the engine off scared me. I really worry about fire. I will put the electric solenoid shut off valve in for my own peice of mind. (I were a belt AND suspenders!!!)

This is the fuel shut off valve. It is actually a "switch over" valve for vehicles with 2 gas tanks. When not electrically energized, it defaults to tank #1. I will plug that port. When energized it switches over to tank #2. there is only one electrical connection, which will have power only when the key is "on". I have shown my pencil and calculator beside it to give you a sense of its size. I paid Horton $57.66 for it. I have looked all over the darn thing for a manufacturers name, and there isn't one anywhere on it. The ports are 0.23" inside diameter.

Just a thought but.. why not switch it on and off with an oil preassure switch? that would add just a little more saftey to your engine if you lost oil preassure.

If you make it complicated enough you may never be able to trouble shoot it in the future. Kitz says keep it simple. I really don't even like the restriction of the 1/4 inch shut off valve but I don't think that will be a problem with the rpu. Denny's bypass idea looks good to me; that should cover all the bases but a properly working carb already needs none of the above.

If it was mine I would run an electric pump (it generally will not siphon) to address this issue. If it did siphon I would add a siphon break after the pump to the return side of the tank if you have one. Passive solutions always rule.

And yes the siphon break should work with the mechanical pump too.

By the 0.9999999999's, Kitz

That's the same valve I've run in the past and currently have for the Dodge I'm building. Pollack used to make them and probably still do but I don;t seem to find them on their web site.

I ran one on my 58 Chevy for 13 years and never had a problem with it.

This morning I made up a bracket and mounted the solenoid valve and a new in-line gasoline filter on it, and bolted it to the RPU chassis. I plumbed the gas line into it, and then decided to drain the oil. OH My God!!!---I got 2 gallons of oil mixed with gasoline out of the oilpan!!!! I don't know how much gasoline has migrated thru the exhaust manifolds and into my mufflers, and there is no way to tell, because when I had the exhaust system built I welded the mufflers in place. Once I get everything ready to start, new oil, rebuilt carb, and safety shut-off valve, I may have a real set of flamethrowers!! One thing for sure, I won't be starting it inside the garage. This has to be one of the scariest things I have had happen in 40 years of hotrodding.

Well Brian, the upside is that your engine is VERY clean inside. What you need to do is have the Wife start it for you the first time. Whenever I would repair some electrical appliance I would have mine plug it in while I stood safely out of the way. (and they say Chivalry is dead!)

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Well Brian, the upside is that your engine is VERY clean inside. What you need to do is have the Wife start it for you the first time. Whenever I would repair some electrical appliance I would have mine plug it in while I stood safely out of the way.

Don

Don some of us still love the wife, but the neighbor.....................

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Well Brian, the upside is that your engine is VERY clean inside. What you need to do is have the Wife start it for you the first time. Whenever I would repair some electrical appliance I would have mine plug it in while I stood safely out of the way. (and they say Chivalry is dead!)

Don

Don---You make a very good point. No, I won't have my wife anywheres near it when I go to fire it the first time after this incident---BUT---I'm going to be pretty damn nervous about it. I have heard a few horror stories about exploding engines, and really, there are is no way to get the gasoline fumes out of the crank case. I bought a gallon of new oil, and I will put a new oil filter on it. I have had the carb rebuilt, and installed a safety solenoid valve in the gas line. Other than that, there is very little that I can do except roll it out into the driveway, grit my teeth, and try to start it. It has always been an excellent engine to start, and other than having the carb rebuilt (just a new needle and seat) and an oil change, nothing has been changed on the engine, so hopefully it should start right away with no backfires or other pyrotechnics. I have been warned that the gasoline has probably washed down the cylinders and bearings, so I will probably give each cylinder a squirt of motor oil before I put the sparkplugs back in it. The bearings will just have to wait for the oil pressure to come up when the engine starts. This first start up scares me---------

Brian

I know you've been through a lot, but do you have an oil pump priming tool or know where you can borrow one. If I was close I'd lone you mine.

If it was mine, I would pull the distrbutor and reprime the oil system before I restarted it.

If that's not possible, then spin it over without the plugs till you get oil pressure to circulate fresh oil to the cam and bearings.

Hang in there!

Mike

Denny---Thats what I plan to do. I have enough shit going on in my life without pulling the distributor.

Originally Posted by brianrupnow

Denny---Thats what I plan to do. I have enough shit going on in my life without pulling the distributor.

do that b4 you put the plugs in.. can spin it faster/ longer w/o worry of wearing down battery or starter

Sorry Brian.

I didn't mean to add to your anxiety level.

I really hope you get it sorted out OK.

Mike

You should disable the ignition system before cranking it over with the spark plugs out. Stray sparks from the disconnected plug wires have a way of
igniteing fuel vapors!

Just crank the thing up and let it idle for a bit, then go enjoy the drive.... Think of the gas washdown as nothing more then a between overhauls cylinder and bearing clean up..... You caught it in plenty of time and didn't hurt a thing.