I was looking at that sweet looking fuel pump in the Swap Meet section and Charles (MSeriesRebuild) brought up a good point. Pumps need to be rebuilt with diaphragms made of material that can resist todays gasoline. I know it's been covered before.....but who again supplies the rebuild kits with the correct modern material diaphragms? I'll write it down this time.....I promise.
Tuko,
Why only a 6 out of 10? I purchased my rebuild kit from Now and Then and I
rebuilt my pump 5 years ago. The quality is good. Every thing I needed was in the kit.
I was just curious.
Rich Szklany
Then-Now pump kits are the only ones that are compatible with today's gas that I know of. Sometimes they neglect to put in the second diaphragm pull rod oil seal that is needed in the military pumps with the vacuum boost chamber. Other than that, we have had no issues.
my issue was related to the fuel pump diaphragm. Ill do my best to explain this, if you can picture the top of the pump how it has all the flat head screws to secure the top to the pump that also go through the diaphragm, the holes on the diaphragm were not punched out the exact same as the fuel pump. this made the thing ill fitting, and made the shaft that goes to the lift pump cam lever slightly off and had caused the shaft to pop off the cam lever while the engine was running. I re-attached it once and i have since shitcanned the fuel portion of the pump out of frustration from lack of enough fuel flow and installed a 24v Facet fuel pump by the tank and have never looked back since.
Tuko wrote:my issue was related to the fuel pump diaphragm. Ill do my best to explain this, if you can picture the top of the pump how it has all the flat head screws to secure the top to the pump that also go through the diaphragm, the holes on the diaphragm were not punched out the exact same as the fuel pump. this made the thing ill fitting, and made the shaft that goes to the lift pump cam lever slightly off and had caused the shaft to pop off the cam lever while the engine was running. I re-attached it once and i have since shitcanned the fuel portion of the pump out of frustration from lack of enough fuel flow and installed a 24v Facet fuel pump by the tank and have never looked back since.
Sounds like the diaphragm pull rod was pressed onto the diaphragm out of correct time. They would have sent you a new one I feel sure if they made that mistake.
Could have also been an issue with wear on the activation arms is why it came off, I have seen that also. Or you may not have had it slipped on the arms far enough, that can easily happen as you can't see in the pump cavity really well; it is mostly do it until it feels right, comes with experience in building pumps.
it wasnt only the shaft though, it was the holes would line up well either. I pulled the pin and c clip and checked out the arm and no wear had occured. This was the only experience I have had with the company, and the only report I have. people ask for opinions on products, I not shy to give mine. I could have called for another but I got the arm to stay on, and was still having problems with getting enough fuel psi at the carb so thats when I put in the facet pusher pump and truck has never run better.
I prefer the electric pumps also; but was just wondering why you didn't take the problem up with the vendor.
I'm going to share an opinion also. You are sharing your experience as not too favorable; which does not shine well on the vendor. If a vendor doesn't make it right after you make them aware of an issue, then they deserve what ever may follow. It's the sharing of bad reports when the vendor was not given a chance to replace a bad item that just isn't right. Give them a chance and see how or if they respond before you unload on them.
as I said I got frustrated with the whole pump not supplying the fuel even after the rebuild. The Vac part works great. If i wanted to keep it all original and continue to mess with the stock pump I would have gone to them and asked what was up. My post is something to look out for for the next group of folks who order from now and then, a heads up you may have to deal with this problem also.
Would you like to know why you had a fuel delivery issue? Bet I can tell you; that was their mistake also. That is also why you had the issue with the pull rod not staying connected. I have dealt with that one before, and after a lengthy discussion about it with Tom, the pump builder at Then-Now, we got it worked out so they send us the correct stuff in the kits now. I haven't had it happen again.
i honestly thought its because i switched from the steel lines to rubber hose from tank to pump and the pulse was getting lost in the rubber line flexing. but if you have other theory I would love to know! Im not on a mission to put them down or out of business just relaying my experience. I appreciate the fact that they are the only game in town for the folks who want to keep it original, and without them them there would be no other option. and a usa company, 1 state away!
I've relayed this info here before. There are 2 different diameters of diaphragm back up plates that were used in similar pumps. One is approx .125" wider than the other. The larger plate will not work in the M37 pump because it is too wide to fit down into the cavity in the pump housing like it needs to in order to get a full stroke on the pull rod. The edges of the plate hit the housing limiting movement, thus limiting the volume of fuel it can pump. In some cases it will pump when using the primer lever, but not when activated by the cam lever. Dimensions of the diecast housing components varies to some degree, so you get some that will work partially and some that won't pump at all as a result of the same wrong plate. It is likely that the plate hitting the housing interior is what pulled the rod off the activation lever that you mentioned. What you experienced sounds exactly like the wide plate was the deal. There is also some possibility that you could have had a slight leak around a check valve gasket, etc.
They sent us the wrong plate several times way back, but after having a conversation with Tom; they made a note on our information in their computer to always send us diaphragms with the small plate. We have not had issues with any since.
with the priming lever it would run for about 10 seconds. then it would stall. i bought this kit 4 months ago. i provided the pump casting # to get the right kit. It sounds like they still sent the wrong one which is why I didnt have appropriate fuel PSI. another nail in the coffin. Just sayin.
I agree this certainly shouldn't be happening with parts they are sending out. I had the talk with the person who answers the phone and talks "funny"; or to me he does. I could tell he didn't have a clue, and sounded rather goofy. With that kind of stuff I have near 0 patience, and it runs out quickly. That is why I proceeded to talk to Tom in order to explain the situation to someone who had a clue. If there were another source; I'd likely be using it for this very reason; but since we have already established there is no other (that I know of); then getting the issue solved with what we buy worked well for me, at least to this point anyway.
So the deal is the goofy guy with no technical knowledge who knows no better than to pick up the bag from bin # so and so; who was put together by another goofy guy who has no technical knowledge and doesn't pay attention to what he throws in the bag. When you speak with them saying the backing plate isn't correct; they think they know it all because this kit is # so and so, which is the correct one and you don't have a clue; you know the drill, if it doesn't fly out of the computer screen and strike him across the face, he just never gets it. After talking with Tom, this explaination was basically verified in as many words; good help is hard to find, enough said I suppose.
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