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I bought a rebuilt fuel pump for the 53 patrician. There is one difference between the original and rebuilt one. Here is what came off my old pump,(PIC) the rebuilt one has the hole plugged and no screw threads. Do I need that piece

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In my opinion, not really but others may have different ideas. Packard did install them, after all. If your pump no longer has the fitting or a spot for it then not sure how hard it would be to find or make one out of modern fittings--so a consideration.

It is an air dome whose purpose is to smooth any severe pulsations out of the pump--sort of like an air chamber in the line eliminates the water hammer in a house. I guess if pulsations were really bad, it could cause the float valve to unseat sometime but not something I have heard being a common issue. Not all pumps had them and I believe they were pretty much eliminated by the 54 models.

If you want to use the expansion chamber with your new pump just get a 1/8" NPT "T". One side male, and the other two sides female. Male side screws into the outlet of the pump; a female side will take the fuel line fitting that used to screw into the pump; and the chamber will screw into the other female side. There is more than one kind of "T" with this arrangement, but you should be able to find the one that works. There is a name for this kind of "T" but I cannot recall it at this time. Simple enough.

(o{}o)

Per JW's suggestion, if you want to reinstall the dome and can't find suitable items locally then this place has one of the better assortments of the harder to find fittings.http://fittingsandadapters.com/ I don't know if there will be a simple or single fitting available with the correct threads that will just slide in but you should be able to make something.

We sell fuel pumps for all makes and models 1929-1980 and they all are built and operate the same way. There is a mechanical arm which opeates a flexible diaphragm. Soem early pumps have the air dome, later it was eliminated and the cars run just fine. I have no idea why they were on some cars and many aftermarket or AC brand replacement pumps eliminated the fitting for them. Sort of like an appendix.

You could put in fittings to add the air dome or you could have your surgeon put in an artificial appendix, your choice.

I found a fitting today that will work for the air dome going out of the fuel pump. I thank everyone for the information.