jph2275

Hi All,

Found a 1970 pontiac GTO by houston. Has a pontiac 350 in it. Prior, the owner had pulled the gas tank out and refurbed it, put new fuel in it. He said it ran a few months ago, even had cold AC....

I dont know about that... BUT

The car has good fuel in it. I put an air compressor in the gas tank and blew the line out, fuel makes it to the fuel pump. I put a new battery in it, and tried to fire it up. It would crank and crank but wouldnt ever fire. I than checked the fuel line leading from the fuel pump to the quadra-junk and it was bone dry, so the fuel pump isnt pumping fuel...poop. Just for fun i poured a lil fuel directly into the carb and cranked it, the motor would try to come alive and than get starved for fuel and die. So, I put a new fuel pump on, and it still wont pump fuel up from the fuel pump to the carburetor.
This was my first fuel pump install, and when I was trying to re-install the fuel pump it was a B**** to get into the block. I had to crank the motor over once or twice to fit the arm into the block.

SO my question is, what am I doing wrong? Any bases I did not cover? I really need to get her running so I can put around the property in her, im really tired of pushing cars.

ANY idea's/opinions/thoughts are welcome. Im going to be steady working on it all day, so if you have an idea i'll try it.

Thanks!

DBUS6

iTrader: (6)

Nice to find a car like that. I had a 69 and a 71 GTO many moons ago and wish I had never sold the 71 after divorce (69 was wrecked).
I can't think of much you missed exept for the fuel line from pump to carb. Is it clear? then I would check for pressure. Is there fuel in the carb? needle valve/float could be stuck. Did it sit for any time proir to you getting it?

jph2275

Yes sir I have always loved goats... I was happy to find her definitely... I have a 68 frame/body/title for a GTO if interested!

But back to it, I suspect the car has sat for 5 months or so

Too bad Im all alone here, else I'd stick my finger over the fuel line from the pump to the carb and check for pressure... but Thats a good point, I just plainly assumed the line was clear from the pump to the carb. I'll try that!

As far as the carb, no, no fuel makes it way, and the carb is bone dry. I am so in the dark ages when it comes to needle/valve floats and them being stuck. Any advice how to check this?

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Replace every piece of rubber hose in the fuel line
from tank to pump and pump to carb. I've had
cracks in fuel hose cause the pump to suck air
even though the tank is full and the system is
otherwise fine. There are soft lines back at the
tank as a minimum, and older cars often see a
bit more cobbled up by the motor too.

2thousand2

I would guess you did not get the fuel pump installed to the engine properly. It was hard to get in because the fuel pump pushrod was in the way, it needs to be up in the block while installing the pump. It will keep trying to fall while you are installing, you can put some grease on the pushrod to slow it down while installing. Hope nothing is broken, good luck man.

jph2275

Ok had to run errands but im back now

I took the line off in between the fuel pump and the carb, i could blow through it so its definitely clear


As far as incorrect fuel pump installation.... I really hope thats not the case. I did not see a fuel pump push pin when i took the old fuel pump out, but it was dark, and i just went under the assumption that the pontiac motors did not have them. The old fuel pump came out easily. Putting the new one in was hard, it wouldnt go in any way I tried to put it so I cranked the motor, and it fit "better", and than I cranked the motor one more time and hot dog the arm went right in.

Im going to try and prime it with fuel now, both in the line from the pump to the carb, and put a little in the carb. Ill post up the experience

To whoever suggested the new fuel lines everywhere method, If I cant get it going after a few more tries I'll definitely consider that one

jph2275

Would the motor sound terrible if such event occured? Like, even cranking it would sound awful? Im such a newb, sry. Im trying to learn

fleetmgr

You should do that first. You potentially have 40 year old fuel hoses, so from a safety standpoint, they need to go.

Something you can try:
Put a very small pressure in the fuel tank on top of the gas that is there. See if you get fuel leaking anywhere. If so, fix the leaks and then try the same thing again with the suction line disconnected from the pump. If you get fuel to the pump doing that and it still won't run, then the pump is on wrong.

Your next difficult trick will be finding the right motor to go with the car. It would have come with either a 400 or 455.

jph2275

I tried what you said. Fuel makes it to where the pump is... crap. Hope it just needs priming. here goes nothing!

jph2275

Shes Alive!!!!

I cut a coke bottle in half and put a hose on the end of it and syphoned gas into the line before the carb, put gas in the carb, and pressurized the fuel system with an air pump, cranked it and it started sputtering, I ran and grabbed the throttle and got it idling and running!!!

Thanks all for the help, Im happy as hell that shes running...

One problem, the throttle cable doesnt open the carb up. Anyone know how to adjust a throttle cable?

fleetmgr

Does the cable move at all when you step on the gas pedal? Does the pedal move? Probly need a new one.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to ditch that QJet. They make a great street carb.

jph2275

Got the throttle cable going! Now shes stalling out and i dont know why. Also, shes not cranking but the batteries good. crap

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

answer: 1970 quadra-junk

i think you're going to find a lot of problems, from deteriorated fuel lines to possible electrical wiring problems, and bad starter and/or solenoid and bad alternator. and you're definitely going to need a carb rebuild, might want to just buy a holley or edelbrock to replace the old quadrajet. it may not be easy finding a rebuild kit for the QJ, and they are generally harder to work on and require more knowledge to tune, and the main body casting has been known to warp which really makes it a quadra-junk then because at that point it cannot be rebuilt.