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Unless clogged, very doubtful that filter or those hoses are an issue since they are so new. Don't know what the connection between the pump and metal fuel line looks like at either end on a 38 but if it has a hose, then unless that is fairly new too it would still be a consideration.. Another fuel filter like issue that could cause issues could be in the fuel pump. It there are any fine rust particles in the tank there is usually a screen arrangement in the pump fuel bowl that can get clogged very quickly if the rust problem is bad enough. Also the usual cautions of making sure the vent for the tank located in the filler cap is present and open and making sure nothing is in the tank that could be moving around and intermittently being able to block the fuel intake opening.

If the coil is acting up, it can take quite a few minutes to cool enough to work again. If you can almost immediately start the car after it quits, not as likely to be a coil issue but along that line, capacitors also can have heat issues and there have been far more problems with new capacitors than coils. Usually those fail hard and the car would not be as likely to start again if it is the culprit. If the car has an internal distributor advance plate, sometimes the flexible wire connecting the points and condenser to the outside terminal can lose a chunk of the fabric insulation. The advance plate when moving can short the bare spot in the wire and mess up or even kill the engine only to have it start again when the plate moves back to the resting spot and clears the short.

Thanks Howard. The fuel bowl before the fuel pump looks clear, no real signs of debris. From my understanding any debris is supposed to fall to the bottom of the bowl. On the '38 Supers, there is a hard fuel line that goes from the pump around the front of the engine and to the carb. The original one has cloth over it. I still have it, but replaced it with a new hard line so I could cut it and put a filter inline. I don't think I'm dealing with vapor lock. I will buy a Carter fuel filter/bowl and put it in front of the carb to get a visual of how much fuel is flowing.

Condenser is new. Points are new, but had burned some. The distributor was sent to Parker's Packards where they cleaned everything up and tested it on a Sun machine. Everything worked normally after they went through the dizzy. So I'm not sure I'm dealing with a problem within the distributor.

That leaves the carb, valves, and timing. Carb has been rebuilt, valves were adjusted cold when the engine was rebuilt, and timing is unknown until I get a better timing gun. Valves are going to be a pain to adjust running. There is no access hatch in the inner fender, so the whole thing needs to come off.


My fuel gauge is inoperable. I'm considering getting a gauge from Autometer and mounting it under the dash as a temporary measure. I have no idea what the operating resistance range for the '38 fuel sender is. Just need to confirm that to be sure it works with the gauge.

I'm digging around under the dash, trying to make sense of the nightmare that is the wiring. What in the world are these? Resistors? Obviously not original, and so far I've been unable to trace the wiring on them.

What do they go to and what's on the other side? They look like variable resistors or rotary switches, much like the blower fan switches on your 56.

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I thought the same as you, that there were rotary switches. I don't think they are. There's nothing to turn underneath. Here's the underside:



One wire is connected to the center non-factory rheostat. The rheostat on the left side is not connected to anything.



That wire goes to the "things", which are then connected in series, and the outgoing wire is cut. I can't find the other end of the cut wire. There is another one of these things mounted to the steering column. I haven't traced those wires yet.




I'm trying to make sense of what everything is under the dash. I'd love to clean it up. Plus there are a number of things that don't work. Most of the lights don't work on the dash (they turn on but I can only tell that they are on in complete darkness....barely visible), the clock doesn't work, the fuel gauge doesn't work, etc.