Thanks for all the comments everyone. I've been thinking about the situation all day while I've been out of town.

I'm surprised by the consensus to use an electric pump. I just removed the electric pump because I was concerned it was clogged and/or restricting flow. But it seems many people run them, so perhaps I will put mine back on.

The pump I pulled from the car is the solenoid type, 12V (the car is converted to 12V). The sound it makes is annoying. For those of you who run an electric pump, are you placing it before the fuel pump (by the tank) or after the fuel pump? Do you have the electric pump running all the time?

I will still pull the fuel pump because we did not have the arm pushed down before we tightened the screws on the diaphragm. I had tested the pump afterwards and it appeared to have sufficient suction, so I'm not sure what is going on.

While I have the pump off I will blow air through the hard line back to the tank to make sure it is clear. The tank appears to have been restored when the car was restored. There is no evidence (so far) of junk in the tank, based on what I'm seeing in the clear filter. If I put the electric pump back on I will remove the clear filter.

I still need to make a small gravity tank so that I can check the fuel pressure after the pump and the flow rate. Time is ticking....I have 4 days to figure this out before the last big show this weekend.

-Kevin

Ugh. Still having fuel delivery issues. Another test drive this morning ended with the car dying right before I got to the road leading to our house. Only did half a mile. Luckily I was able to coast in off the main road. Couldn't get it to start or run again initially, so had to tow it to the shop with the truck.

Fuel cap on or off didn't matter. First filter on the back looked clear, but hardly any gas in it.

I was able to get it started after a bit and into the shop. Out of gear I can rev the engine and keep it at high RPMs with no signs of dying or struggling.

My guess is the fuel pump is the problem. I can't think of anything else. I will pull it off, and rebuild it again. Any other thoughts?

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This may be a stupid question, so tell me if it is.

We're still figuring out the fuel tank situation. We'd like to get the car running in the meantime and sort through other issues (engine tuning, freeing valves, fuel pump, etc) while we determine what the next steps are for the tank.

My question is, can we use a small marine gas tank as a temporary tank in the trunk?

We plan on cutting the hole in the trunk floor for servicing the sender. My thought is we can put a small 3-6 gallon tank in the trunk, then run 3/8" rubber line through the hole in the trunk and connect it directly to the hard line.

Is this a terrible idea?

-Kevin

I used Meguiar's Hot Shine. I used two rags and sprayed the shine on the rag, not the tire....one for the white only, and one for the black only. The black part of the tire gets filthy and you don't want the dirty rag getting onto the clean white.


I'm having a bear of a time getting the body gaps right on the hood/radiator. I've loosened all the bolts everywhere, but I can't seem to get the radiator to "twist" to open the gap on the driver's side. It won't push anymore to the passenger side....that whole side is super tight from the radiator back to the running board. Any tips?

-Kevin

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Not terribly important, but I spent what few minutes I had last night cleaning up the whitewalls and wheels. The whitewalls were covered in 8 years of dirt, dust, scuffs, and discoloration.

Steps were 1.) Wipe down with water to remove dirt, 2.) spray a section with Bleche White and scrub with Magic Eraser, 3.) Spray and wipe section with water, 4.) apply tire shine to white section, then different cloth for the black section.

Then cleaned and polished the wheels and chrome. Very happy with the results.

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Looking great Kev. Does that 115 have a bit of rumble to it? I like it.

Looks really nice. Did you redo the area that the fender skirts sit in? If so, did you check the fit of the skirts afterwards?

I ask because the previous owner of my Panama did body work in the area and didn't check the fit. I can't use fender skirts now, unfortunately.

-Kevin

TxGoat - the electric pump was installed by whoever did the restoration originally. I'm assuming it was done as a "in case it's needed" sort of thing. I say that because the wiring and switch were obviously all done at the same time the rest of the wiring was done, before the car was even running. I don't know that it's ever been needed. Certainly we've never needed to use it all. I've never experienced vapor lock.

The only reason I have a fuel filter between the tank and the pump right now is to see if I'm pulling any particles from the tank. I was able to get a borescope into the tank, but it was really hard to see what was going on inside. It didn't look bad from what I could tell. Couldn't see any rust. If the filter stays clean then I will likely remove it completely.


In other news, I'm continuing to put the front end back together. I've decided that fenders are evil and the fender welting is the devil. Working with that stuff is an exercise in frustration.

I need to fix some alignment issues between the radiator, hood and fenders, but I'm getting close.

-Kevin

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Kev - I had removed an existing fuel filter at the fuel tank, in front of the electric fuel pump. The concern before was that it was causing a loss of suction. I put a new one in tonight to protect the mechanical pump.

TxGoat - There is a glass sediment bowl at the mechanical pump. It looks clear from what I can see. The gas cap is a good question. I'll have to check and make sure the vent is clear. The gas tank neck was in good shape. I took a borescope down and everything was clean there. Hard to tell what's going on in the tank, but it didn't look terrible.


So tonight I removed the electric fuel pump completely. I was concerned that is was restricting flow, and I don't use it anyways. I've never needed one on my '54, so I figure it's not necessary here....assuming the fuel pump is working correctly. I replaced it with a plastic fuel filter so I could see if I'm pulling particles from the tank. And I replaced a rubber line I had missed with fresh rubber.

I replaced the fuel filter at the carb with a fresh one. I remembered that the filter I put on there a few weeks ago was the same filter I had used on my brother-in-law's car briefly (before we had found the fuel tank to be bad). There is a very high chance that the fuel filter was already clogged with debris and varnish.

Daylight ran out so I could only go up and down the gravel driveway, a distance of probably 400-500 yards. I really gave it some gas and it felt much better....no hesitation, no roughness or stumbling. And it didn't die. It's not a great test, but it's positive.

Next I want to rig up a gravity feed for gas, so I can check the fuel pressure and volume flow with the engine running.

-Kevin

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Thanks Kev and Bob. My first thought was fuel filter clogged. It's a metal unit so I have no idea what it looks like on the inside. I worry about the clear plastic ones being so close to the manifolds, but maybe they are okay? It would be nice to see how the filter looks on the inside.

There is an electric fuel pump near the fuel tank. I've read that they have a filter/screen internally....maybe it's clogged? I'll pull it tonight and see.

I'm not sure it's a carb issue because after it died it struggled to stay running at idle afterwards. It would start after a minute, then struggle at idle and die. And I had the car up to 40 mph before it started to die, so not sure the accelerator pump would be the problem.

I have a borrowed borescope that I'm using to look inside the tank. It's hard to get it in and see what's going on, but looks like possible surface rust.

-Kevin

-Kevin