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After a whole lot of work and trauma (I thought I had a bad crank seal at one point), having replaced my pan gasket and still managing to dump a cup of oil on my father-in-law's new driveway Saturday evening, I think I finally found out where my oil leak is coming from.

I crawled under the car *again* tonight, and after about fifteen minutes noticed that there was oil on the rubber fuel inlet tube into the fuel pump. Hmmm. I reached up and grabbed the fuel pump and sure enough, it wiggled. The bolts on both sides had worked loose.

I suppose, were it not for the fact that I use an electric fuel pump in normal operation, I might have noticed a problem sooner (like no, or not enough fuel pressure???).

Anyhow, I got them tightened up (what a job!) and now we'll see what's up. That HAD to be the source of all the oil. I hope.

Jay

Jay,
Nice find...makes me want to go out and make sure my fuel pump isn't dangling...I run an electric one as well...I wonder if theres a block off plate that can be installed where the old pump mounts...hopefully this ends your saga!!

Jeff-

If you look at the bolts that hold the pump to the block, there should be holes drilled thought the side of the bolt heads. This is for the safety wire that is supposed to be there. The recipricating vibration on the fuelpump will cause the bolts to loosen up without the safety wire in place. The fuelpump rebuild article I did has pictures of this.

Quote:

Actually, ANY GM or Mopar and some Ford block off plates that have the same footprint will work. I'm convinced that a fuel pump for a small block Chevy will also fit, but I haven't tried it yet. I do know it will bolt on.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2D402035&autoview=sku

Safety wire? No, there were no holes in my bolt heads, but what a great idea.

Before I got into the old car "business" I flew ultralights every chance I got. When I built my last one (a Quad City Challenger II) I safety-wired everything. So yes, that would be a great way to do it.

I'm inclined at this point to put a block-off plate there. That is, if the fuel pump ever loosens up again. I know that the purist approach is to use the mechanical fuel pump, but - really - the electric pump does so much to eliminate vapor lock and reduce cranking time in these old cars that I think it's really the way to go. I'd be giving up the vacuum boost, but I can always hook up the wiper motor line to the intake manifold.

Oil leak notwithstanding, I drove the car about eighty miles yesterday. Took it to work, to a restaurant, back home again. I took it by Earl Scheib (don't laugh, they did a great job) where I got it painted last year so they could see how it looks now. What a pleasure it was to drive. There's a lot of satisfaction in (as a complete amateur and beginner) taking an old "junk" car and getting it looking good and back on the road again. I really enjoyed it.

Oh, and I got 14 miles per gallon! That makes it half as efficient (but ten times the fun) as my Kia.

Jay

Jay, My 47 has the bolts with the holes drilled for safety wire. The bolts tend to loosen periodically no matter how tight I fasten then within reason so I suspect Packard used safety wire for this reason. I also have a 6 volt pump inline but use it only to prime the carb. I have thought of a block-off plate also however and just eleiminate the loose bolt/oil leak problem.

I just checked my bolts , and they do have holes for safety wire, but none is present. It looks like the pump was installed quite some time ago, and is still tight. Would safety wite really stop these bolts from backing out?

Jeff-

Safety wire is great. Be sure and put a good twist on the wires after you put them in. Use actual stainless wire. Aluminum wire and softer steels will stretch and not give you the result you want. If you can't find any I've got a bunch left on a spool. Just PM me and send me a SASE. I'll send you enough to do it.

Thank Jay, I appreciate your offer. I have some at work...I just have to remember to bring it home. Your right, tightness is the key for this application...I'm still tempted to find a block off plate, as I have a electric pump, and the mechanical pump is just there to stop the oil from spewing out...

when I got the car there was a brand new double diaphram style pump in the trunk...I'm assuming the previous owner was having some fuel troubles when he swithed over to electric..one can never have enough "extra" parts, is how I look at it now...

Jeff-

Well if you want to maintain the look of the factory fuel pump, but render it a "dummy", then just remove the arm from it and also remove the fuel pump valves inside, and then route the fuel through the actual body of the pump.

No one will be the wiser! Just make sure the main diaphams are still good.

Or if you want to maintain the vac section, the just remove the fuel valves from the fuel section and leave the arm in place.

Just throwing out ideas here.