Antique Auto Parts Cellar

Antique Auto Parts Cellar

Antique Auto Parts Cellar FUEL PUMP REPAIR KITS:

FRESH KITS for Mechanical Fuel Pumps (bolted to the motor & operated by an eccentric on the camshaft.)

(We also supply new Electric Fuel Pumps and are developing services for firewall-mounted Vacuum Tanks.)

Our kits contain all the parts usually needed to repair an old, tired pump. Diaphragms, gaskets, seals and valves are all new fresh stock of materials intended for use with today's fuels, including fuel with alcohol content.

Our diaphragms are made of fabric reinforced Buna-N Nitrile rubber- the correct choice of the more than 400 different varieties of synthetic rubber made today. It is the one, single, correct, material for use with today's fuels.

We've seen our kits in service after 40,000 miles and 10 years of driving and they show very little ageing.

Our line of kits continues to expand; we cover AC and AC-style pumps (by Airtex, Kem, Capac, Blackstone, etc.); English AC and French AC pumps; mechanical pumps by Stewart-Warner (made in 1928-33 only- not their electric pumps made later or their firewall-mounted Vacuum Tanks) and by Carter ("CAR-bure-TER") as well as some kits for SU, Fispa (Italy) and other foreign pump makers. Rebuilding services only available on others.

AC Marine double diaphragm pumps - rebuilding services only. No kits for electric pumps, sorry!

We now list more than 350 different kits, adding more constantly.

OUR FUEL PUMP KITS ARE NOW PRICED BY KIT NUMBER:

"SINGLE ACTION" (PUMPS FUEL ONLY) KIT: $29.50 to $44.50

(these do not cover dual diaphragm Marine pumps- see rebuilding below)

"DUAL ACTION" (PUMPS FUEL and Boosts Kit: $47.50 to $69.50

Manifold VACUUM for wipers and heater controls)

SHIPPING & HANDLING: $12.50 Minimum by surface

Third, second and next day services additional international shipment available.

All Our Kits contain, where applicable:

Diaphragms: diaphragm cloth if diaphragm was originally held

together by a nut and washer, OR complete staked assemblies

(cloth, metal protector plates, and pull rod) where

required as original.

(you are never expected to stake a diaphragm together yourself-

if you have a kit of ours and find you must- call us for help!)

Check Valves or Valve and Cage: whether the early flat plate and separate

spring style or one-piece, modern caged style

- Check Valve Gaskets - Gasket to cyl. block

- Filter Bowl or Pulsator Gaskets - Filte r Bowl Screens

- Oil Seals & Retainers - Rocker Arm Springs

Most Kits also provide:

Rocker Arm Pins and Rocker Arm Bushings (if they don't we don't

recommend taking the pin and the arm out. The old castings may

be too fragile!)

Kits Do Not Contain:

-fuel or vacuum pressure springs (most available separately at $ 2.50 to $ 4.50 each)

-fuel or vacuum linkages (most available separately, or repairable, inquire!)

-pump rocker arms (seldom available except with new pumps. Repair service available with pump rebuilding. )

-glass or metal fuel bowls and bails (most available separately $ 7.50 to $ 25.00)

-replacement castings are rare, especially in original AC Script or any Carter casting- inquire!

WHICH KIT DO YOU NEED?:

While pumps were being made there were often small

changes which change the repair parts needed. To send the right kit we need to know

which one you are working on! Take a Chevrolet 6: from 1937 to 1954 "the same pump

fits"- but in that time 14 pumps were issued originally requiring 6 different kits, even though most of the pumps look the same! Luckily most pumps have a number stamped

into the edge of the mounting flange as indicated. AC pumps may have 3,4,6, or 7 digits

stamped in. AC-style pumps have 3 or 4. Carter pumps say "CAR-bure-TER" on the side of the main body (or have a spot where a re-builder ground this off) and a cast-in body part number. The pump number is still on the flange, starting with "M" then 3,4 or 5 digits. No numbers? Call us with pump in hand after disassembling and marking the cover locations so you can put it back together. You can find casting numbers inside and we can ask questions and most likely figure it out! Worst case- send the pump in!

AC "UNITAC" OR CARTER CRIMPED COVER PUMPS: At present the only solution for these is to find a new pump.

Save the original though- it'll be an expensive nightmare trying, but someday we may come up with a repair sevice!

OTHER PARTS:

Single Action AC Type A Pump

Pump Screw Sets of to replace damaged originals:

1928-48 AC pumps - black enamel w/ washers

- 6 slotted fillister head Set: $ 4.50

- 12 slotted fillister head Set: $ 6.50

- 20 slotted fillister head Set: $ 9.50

1948-70 AC Pumps - yellow chromate w/washers

- 6 slotted fillister head Set $ 4.50

- 12 slotted fillister head Set $ 6.50

- 20 slotted fillister head Set: $ 9.50

1948-70 Carter pumps - yellow chromate

- 8 Phillips head Set $ 7.50

- 12 Phillips head Set $ 9.50

FLEXIBLE FUEL LINES: the short flex line from metal line to pump

New Fuel Lines for Most applications at:

$ 19.50 each

New Old Stock original lines from the 30's to 40's available, too.

PLEASE NOTE: Pre-Korean War fuel lines were made of a flexible brass tubing covered with rubber to prevent kinking. No rubber touched the fuel. Mid-50's fuel lines - especially those nice-looking flea market ones with the metal braid outside- are made of the old synthetic rubber which is apt to fail in today's gas. Careful!

PRESSURE REGULATORS FROM: $ 39.50

(Install inline near carburetors)

FUEL PUMP REBUILDING SERVICES: LAbor and kit parts

(Arm repair, linkage, spring and casting replacement extra.

SINGLE ACTION PUMPS: AC, AC-STYLE & CARTER: $ 85.00

DUAL ACTION PUMPS: AC, AC-STYLE & CARTER: $ 125.00

MARINE AC DUAL DIAPHRAM AND MOST FOREIGN PUMPS: $ 100.00

Your pump is disassembled, bead blasted, and re-assembled

with our new stock parts and tested for pumping action and leaks. Castings and arm and linkage are checked and repaired or replaced as required, sometimes at additional charge.

TYPICAL AC DUAL ACTION PUMP

FURTHER REPAIR INFORMATION SOURCES: The SHOP MANUALS from almost any car or truck from the 1930's to the early 1960's have fuel pump rebuilding sections. "MOTORS AUTO REPAIR MANUALS" or "CHILTON'S AUTO REPAIR MANUALS" (watch out- both of these publishers also sold "PARTS MANUALS" which won't help on this!) from any year near yours will have well-written sections on fuel pumps and other helpful repair specifications and instructions. They can be found in libraries, bought in flea-markets, or borrowed from other collectors and hobbyists. We can copy a section from one for you, but it's much nicer to locate the whole manual. Not great literature, but helpful as can be!

One Often Asked Question: "I bought a new old stock fuel pump in a flea-market for less that you charge for a kit- what should I do now?" After the victory dance, look it over carefully and consider when it was made and how long it is apt to run on your car before you have to rebuild it. The metal parts are still as good as they ever were, but the kit parts- diaphragms and gaskets and seals deteriorate with age, whether in service or not. Assembled in a pump the diaphragm is being stretched by the pressure spring. Eventually it is so stretched it can't pump well. Look at the edge of the diaphragm- can you see multiple layers? Is there tar oozing a bit at the edge of the diaphragm? That would say the pump was made before 1960 and is apt to be pretty tired already. On a pump worth trying you will see a single layer of diaphragm material, and be able to spot the white cotton reinforcement inside the black rubber. BUT: some pumps get to the flea markets by having been obsolete stock that was slated for return from the local auto parts store. Stores got credit for returning pumps they weren't apt to sell anymore, but the pump makers didn't want that stuff back either.

The solution? Give the sales rep a big hat pin! The rep pulls the return stock off the shelf, writes up the credit, and sticks the hat pin up through the vent hole under the diaphragm. The he leaves it to the auto parts store owner to throw it away. Most of them put the ruined pumps in the back room instead, and someday someone buys them and hauls them to a flea market… and you get a brand new in the box pump that leaks almost immediately. It can make sense to rebuild what looks to be a brand new pump. That flea-market guarantee ("30 minutes or 30 miles"?) may be why you got such a deal!

TOM'S BEST REPAIR TIPS: Air or Vacuum leaks are the enemy in rebuilding a fuel pump. The castings must be flat to seal against the diaphragm cloth, but these soft die-castings have been held together for a long time- and they warp. With the pump apart, put a piece of emery paper on a flat countertop. Hold the casting and rub the should-be-flat surfaces against it. At first the casting will shine up at each screw hole, showing you the amount of warp. Keep rubbing until the casting is shined up all over the sealing surface for a good seal.

Leaks occur at the fuel bowls too- the bail straps the bowl against the casting and eventually warps it. The bowl can become a lapping tool for the casting if sticky-one-side sandpaper is cut into a disc to stick onto it. Then shine up the casting where the gasket sits and see how warped it really is. You can rub the glass bowl on the emery paper too -sometimes these are uneven.

Use no sealers- the diaphragms seal perfectly by themselves. Liquid sealers leave blobs behind which will end up somewhere you don't want them!

Use no Teflon Tape- again crumbs get in, but Teflon lets you drive in a pipe fitting much further than you could with the same effort- and that risks splitting rare castings!

If you need a bit of sealer on old threads, use a small amount of the LIQUID TEFLON. Enough to coat the threads without squeezing out inside the pump.

A Bit Of History: The auto industry opted to no longer supply kits in the 1960's. The plan was to kill off the repair business, and force customers to replace entire pumps instead. Newer pumps were crimped together, instead of held by screws. Both individual re-builders and the factory re-builders who competed with big "original equipment" makers were to be cut off from part supplies. By 1980 kits were no longer in the catalogues. Since then sources of parts and availability of parts has steadily declined. When we started making kits available (1980), we bought in bulk parts and boxed up kits. Now we make more than 250 separate kit parts and gaskets, and can buy only a handful of items. The rest we manufacture in our shops or have custom made. Our diaphragms and gaskets are die cut in Massachusetts, and most machined parts are made here too. Diaphragm assemblies are staked together one at a time by hand on an ancient hand press. Nearly all our parts are US-made because we believe in using US parts in US cars.

MATERIALS:

It's easy to tell a 1920's to 1950's diaphragm from our new ones- back then the only material which could stand up to gas and still flex without stretching was 5 or so layers of tar-coated canvas. Today's gas takes that tar right off.

Trickier are the Korean War (oops, I meant "police action"!) surplus parts that are sometimes sold in flea-markets. They are black synthetic rubber, but an earlier formula which does not hold up well today. They may echo the tar-canvas styles and be multi-layered. They'll last longer than tar-canvas, but still are short-lived in today's gas and alcohol mixes.

Buna-N Nitrile rubber is the industry standard for a fuel diaphragm. We go one better than the auto industry today by using nylon reinforced cloth, rather than cotton, and doing both fuel and vacuum diaphragms in it.

"Neo-prene" was the name for the first synthetic rubbers made before WWII. Since then synthetic rubber has grown to encompass more than 400 varieties all manner of properties and uses. Now the term "NeoPrene" has become the stuff that wet suits are made of! "Viton" is another synthetic for use in fuels, but it does not bond to fabric. Diaphragms must be reinforced with fabric, or they stretch out quickly and fail to pump. Viton is used for the plates in today's check valves, but it cannot be used for either a diaphragm or a pulsator gasket.

Rubber is white to pink-ish, and is colored to make it look more attractive. Foreign diaphragms are often red.

In the US we like our rubber black, so the colorant is carbon- or "lamp black"(essentially soot) mixed in among the long rubber fibers. That's why a rubber boot leaves a heel mark on the floor, and why the top surface of your old diaphragm may look grey, not black as gasoline has washed out the lamp black over time.

Cork gaskets were used in the old days, and still seal better and longer than solid rubber ones. Solid cork gaskets dry out and become fragile. Today's cork is a rubber and cork mix, giving both rubber's strength and cork's compressibility to make a seal better than either can alone.