I think I got taken to the bank

[JARRETT LYNCH]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. Just bought a 69 Super Bee with a 383. I was told it has a mild cam, stock cast iron 906 heads. When I bought it, it ran ok but I didn't really get on it. It idled ok. It has a brand new fuel tank with a new 3/8 fuel sending unit, but had the old smaller stock steel fuel line. I did a compression test and the numbers were not too bad but not too good. Engine definetely has miles on. compression was 125 to 130 psi on all cylinders. It came with a edelbrock rvs2 650 with an old torqer 383 single plane manifold that had heli coils for the carb studs and it wasnt straight. Couldnt get it run right WOT from stop and I wanted a 750 and wanted to change to a dual plane manifold so I put a performer rpm manifold with edelbrock vrs 750 double pumper. NO more bog, but it still lacked power. I put a fuel gauge on it and found pressure would start up at 3-4psi and then slowly drop. I put a fuel pressure regulator on and tried to adjust pressure with no luck same thing. Also tried a different fuel pressue gauge. Fuel pump looked new but looked like a china unit, so I bought a brand new Edelbrock fuel pump. Same thing, fuel pressure way too low and would go down to 1 psi. Now I'm thinking the stock steel fuel line is rusty inside so I bought a brand new stainless 3/8 line from front to back and installed it. While I was replacing new hoses I blew through the sending unit feed line and it was not plugged so now I have brand new tank, brand new steel line, and brand new rubber hoses and brand new fuel pump. Same ****!!! Now I'm really scratching my head. Now I thought maybe the clown who installed the fuel tank did something wrong so i dropped the fricken tank and found everything looked good except it didn't have a sock on end. One more test I did was take a hose from the inlet for the fuel pump and put it directly in a fuel jug and still same thing, low fuel pressue. Now the only thing I can think of is either I have two faulty new fuel pumps or maybe the lobe on camshaft is wiped out. When I installed the new edelbrock fuel pump I did measure and inspect the fuel pump rod and it was 3.21". I did notice when I put some grease on the pump rod and slide it up into place it went pretty far up so I thought I just go lucky and had it on the low spot of the cam. When I bolted the fuel pump up there was very little pressure on the fuel pump rod. So I think this guy that sold me the car took me to the cleaners. Am I missing something and is there a way to know for sure if the cam lobe is bad without taking the engine apart?

 

[HEMIB]

Try an electric if you have 1 around if it works then at least you can drive it until you decide if you are going to repair the mechanical 1

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

Try an electric if you have 1 around if it works then at least you can drive it until you decide if you are going to repair the mechanical 1

Thats what I was just telling my wife lol. Any recommendations on electric pumps?

 

[OKDart]

You can pull the distributor and see the fuel pump pushrod and where it rides on the cam. You can also spin the engine and watch the pushrod move.

I watch a few Youtube channels of guys that work on cars, and they're all saying new mechanical fuel pumps out of the box are hit and miss. One of them will take them out of the box and manually actuate them and can tell if they're good or bad.

 

[CatDieselPower]

Try a different gauge.

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

Try a different gauge.

I forgot to put that in my first post, I did try a different gauge too. I will edit my original post and add it.

 

[WileE]

Thats what I was just telling my wife lol. Any recommendations on electric pumps?

 

[OKDart]

Thats what I was just telling my wife lol. Any recommendations on electric pumps?

Some people will use a pump like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L8IHM9K/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1M3N8TKC4WH0J&th=1
and plumb it inline with their mechanical pump, and when the car hasn't run for awhile, just turn on the electric pump and refill the carb fuel bowls so you don't have to crank and crank to get it to start.

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

View attachment 1899526

geez that baby is 500 bucks!, what about a good old Holley red?

 

[WileE]

geez that baby is 500 bucks!, what about a good old Holley red?

But... it's q-u-i-e-t. I gave up traditional pumps ( Holley red, blue, Carter, etc. ) many years ago. Too LOUD ! A gerotor pump is a different method of liquid delivery which results in substantially quieter operation.

 

[khryslerkid]

About your compression test, did you have the throttle plate wide open on the carb while doing the test?

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

But... it's q-u-i-e-t. I gave up traditional pumps ( Holley red, blue, Carter, etc. ) many years ago. Too LOUD ! A gerotor pump is a different method of liquid delivery which results in substantially quieter operation.

if you can hear your pump over your engine and exhaust then you're doing something wrong. lol

 

[440 4 speed]

My sympathies go to you.

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

About your compression test, did you have the throttle plate wide open on the carb while doing the test?

no, I heard that makes no difference

 

[khryslerkid]

no, I heard that makes no difference

It can. If the plate isn't open the cylinder doesn't get any air to compress, just a vacuum.

 

[JARRETT LYNCH]

It can. If the plate isn't open the cylinder doesn't get any air to compress, just a vacuum.

I saw video where Fryburger did a compression test with throttle open and then with it closed and the compression readings were identical.

 

[Moparfiend]

Id put a cheap electric pump on it and measure the pressure. Then run it. If it runs good then the only thing that might motivate a change would be the noise. But who dives these cars expecting a smooth ride that is quiet? I love the Madmax Interceptor noise…..
If it doesn’t you will need to keep debugging it…