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Re: I Was Wrong???!!

To: ssage@socal.rr.com
Subject: Re: I Was Wrong???!!
From: Steve Laifman <SLaifman@socal.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 17:52:12 -0800
Steve Sage,

Having been here at the time of your problems, and read your reports, I 
have some tentative alternate causes for you.

1) You reported seeing the gasoline through the gas filter.  I can only 
assume you have one of those pretty glass tubes with the chrome caps and 
sintered bronze filter, or the plastic kind with pleated paper. 
 Although not a primary cause, these are not as good as the original 
Ford large metal can filter.

2) As I recall we had unseasonably warm (hot) days at that time.  The 
gasoline companies, across the country, adjust the vapor pressure of 
their gasoline for the external temperature. They increase it for cold 
weather, and decrease it for warm.  This allows it to vaporize more 
readily in the cold weather.  If the temperature is unexpectedly hot, it 
can cause the gas to vaporize too easily and promote vapor lock that 
would not have occurred with gas blended for that air temperature.  You 
got winter gas in a summer day.  There is a much greater difference in 
those areas of the country subject to much lower temperatures, but there 
is enough here to cause this.

3) You may have gotten a bad tank of gas, possibly with some water in 
it.  Many gas stations have been torn up in the past 5 years from ground 
contamination from leaks. The flow goes both ways, and water can get in. 
 As a matter of fact I had to buy gas at an off brand station at TU Big 
Bear and my car could barely run until I had the stuff flushed out.

Of course line routing is important.  I have never had a "vapor lock" 
problem with an SU pump, as it would quickly pump any vapor through, as 
you can tell when you first turn it on and it pumps like mad.  That is 
NOT to say it sometimes refused to work at all, but when it did, it was 
fine.   :-)

Just a few extra points to ponder.

Steve Laifman

ssage@socal.rr.com wrote:

>Now I figure I probably had plain old vapor lock, as the car ran fine a 
>couple of hours after the failure, after it had cooled down. Has anyone 
>worked out a way to keep the fuel delivered to the carb cooler, and keep 
>it from boiling on very hot days?
>
>Steve Sage
>  
>
-- 

Steve Laifman
Editor
http://www.TigersUnited.com

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