Re: SLEEPING BEAUTY SLEEPS NO LONGER

Posted by Jim L. in OR On 2012/8/10 21:01:39

She is practically all original except for some places that were re-sprayed for very minor collision repair.

When I last posted anything about my '55 I said I was having problems with lurching at constant speed. Jack, O_D, Howard, Big Kev, PackardV8, JW, JP and others have given me the benefit of their experience in trying to track down the cause. I haven't done much since last Friday due to 102 degree temperature and other side tracks.

What I have done was rebuild the fuel pump with a kit from Then and Now, eliminate the ceramic fuel filter by breaking the glass bowl it sat in and having to replace the bowl with a shallower one. I found my hand held vacuum pump and found the vacuum advance to be working very well. I re-routed the spark plug wires for #5 & #7 as per advise, removed the accelerator pump from the carb and rolled the leather back up and then down as per the Service Counselor bit on the 4GC and generally checked out all the other wiring to see if it was hooked up as per the FSM.

THE RESULT: I have my smooth idle back but when I took it out for a test drive, the lurching was still present and increases in severity with an increase in speed. On my way back home I put about 10 gallons of gas in the tank with made the gauge read 3/4 full. Leaving the station for the one mile trip back to the house made me doubt I'd make it. I ran terrible! I did get it home and that was that for a couple of days as my frustration level was getting dangerously high.

Today I started her up and went for another drive - and guess what. The lurching was GREATLY reduced! In fact, it was barely noticeable for most of the drive.

I mentioned earlier that I had installed a reconditioned gas tank that I got from Mike Dulinski which had been professional sealed and coated by a group that was mentioned in a few threads a couple of years ago and which I cannot remember the name of.

I realize this is going to be a difficult question when I can't supply the name, but I'm wondering if our wonderful alcohol mix fuel could be causing the coating inside to come unstuck. It could be one answer to why the car ran so poorly after getting 10 gallons of gas and ran well today - the what ever in the tank having settled. The company that cleaned and coated the tank claims that it is un-affected by alcohol but.....

Has anyone run up against this problem with a "treated" tank causing problems like I'm having.

It probably sounds like I'm grasping at straws but that's only because I'm grasping at straws!

So, if I can ask for more guidance about this I would be really appreactive.