Re: vacume tank or vapor lock 1929 626

Posted by DavidM On 2012/9/3 5:43:39

29tons, Is your friend referring to the vacuum tank when he says " will never get it to work right" ? If so I disagree strongly, they work fine and if you carry out the tests suggested by Tim you will soon know if there is a vacuum problem. I have three cars with vacuum tanks and I have replaced the pot metal tops with aluminum reproductions which eliminates dodgy threads, hair line cracks and the brass insert seats coming loose in the pot metal.
Recoating the manifold is not going to stop it cooking the vacuum tank.
In the Automobile Quarterly Packard book by Kimes it states in relation to the Eighth Series cars "To accommodate the more volatile fuels then in use , the vacuum tank gave way to a Stewart Warner fuel pump..." We know that the fuels today are even more volatile which is why our cars are so prone to vapor lock. I too like to keep my cars exactly as they were built but without the fuel of the day we are stuck with having to make a few changes to accommodate modern fuel or only drive them in cold weather.
The following provides interesting information about how modern fuels have changed. If the link does not work, Google " Modern Petrol in Vintage Engines"bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/australia/ ... ws_modern_petro_vintage_engines.pdf