[FWDLK] Feeling fuelish: Adventures with Gasoline

["Dan Morton" <morton@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have a '55 Savoy that runs (barely, more about that later) when I connect
a hose from the fuel pump to a 2-gallon tank I sit inside the engine
compartment.  I started to explore my fuel problem -- when I put a vacuum on
the fuel line, I sprung a leak just fore of the rear tire!  Problem solved,
right?  Well, no...

There's a union under the driver's position, I disconnected and replaced the
line going back to the tank.  Then I cranked... and cranked...  Finally, I
put a pump on the line, just before the fuel pump.  I'm getting gas coming
out, but -- it doesn't run freely, as I thought siphoning the line should.
I went back to the union, loosened it, and I get gas coming out.  Hmmm...
I'm thinking, OK, there's an air pocket in the convoluted line from the
union to the fuel pump (which is also why I'm loathe to replace it, by the
way -- so many twists and turns), and if I just can get the carburetor
reservoir filled with gas, this will all work itself out.  A specious
argument, perhaps...

So I hook my 2-gallon tank back up again, and get the engine warmed up.
Then I reconnect the line from the gas tank, and voila!  It's running!
It's....it's stopped.  I've run the reservoir dry.  I disconnect the line
from the fuel pump -- no gas.

Then I start thinking:  Maybe I've got a bad fuel pump.  That's the most
plausible idea.

But I'm still bothered by the fact that, although I can pull gas from the
line, it doesn't run freely.

What's my next step?

    Dan
    '55 Savoy