Ok so I've spent about 8 hours and $70 rebuilding my fuel and putting on and off 4 times and it just dosnt seem the be strong enough to suck gas out of the tank! It worked a couple of times but if it sat more than 10 minutes I had to disconnect the line use a hand pump to fill the line then hook up the line and start it before the gas drained back. I can pump gas out of a can by hand with a 2 foot hose hooked up so I'm pretty sure it works. So I can get an elestric pump at autozone for $72 but I've never done this before so I'm sure it's not an even swap, it probably needs a return line but I dont know. If your an expert please give me the dos & donts so I dont screw things up.

 

Absent blockage, there is absolutely no reason why the mechanical fuel pump should not function as designed. If the problem is blockage, going electric will NOT solve anything.

You are correct, going electric is NOT, as you say, "an even swap." There are a few specific wiring, routing and filtration requirements to deal with when going electric.

If you rebuilt your pump and it is not working, that makes me wonder if it is installed correctly, in terms of the the pump lever in relation to the camshaft?

 

What can go wrong between the cam & lever?

 

Maybe the eccentric is screwed up?

 

In the manual, it says:

"Tip fuel pump and position arm under fuel pump eccentric"
Diagram shows they have the pump at nearly 45 deg to get the rocker arm under the cam. Hopefully thats all it is.

In the removal/install procedure it says:
"Install jumper wire and crank engine until the distributer rotor points towards the cowl"

If this was not done the cam could be in a spot too awkward to catch the arm.

In the past I have either had luck at where cam stops for easy pump play or removed all belts and a few spark plugs to reduce compression and turned engine by hand by turning the harmonic balancer.

Hope this is all that you need to do.

 

Ok so I checked and I'm on the eccentric. I tryed to start it and nothing. So again I unhooked the line between the pump and the tank (at the pump), hooked up a hand pump and pumped til gas came out then shoved the hose back on turned the key and it started up. I let it run for about 15 minutes drove it to the neighbor's house and back. It stumbles alittle when it's in gear, seems like it's starved for gas you have to ease into it. SO all that being said, could it be a blockage in the tank that the pump is not strong enough to fight but hand pump is and then once it's primed the fuel pump can kinda work?

 

Same as a mates V8 a few weeks back here. Bought a V8 from out west where dirt roads are actually very talcy, a very very fine powder type dust. gets in everywhere.
Tank had this talc and fuel sludge in the bottom and was sucked up. Fuel lines had it in. He got me there to have a look for him and the fuel filter we cut open was blocked with the stuff. Your symptoms are the same as his, we'll see if its the same problem though. Indiana, is that a dusty area?

Go for your fuel filters in the line and the filter in the carby. I find older cars have had the carby filter thrown out and don't have one, that maybe the prob too, if so, flush carby and particularly the jets. Get the crud out as the dust will build up hard in the jets. Thats what was found when my mate took his car to be looked at.

Will take long, just remember how many turns you took to remove the jets when unscrewed and they will go back fairly well where they were. I count the half turns.