409 Glass fuel filter bowl

[Iowa 409 Guy]

Back in the 60's we had a lot of industrial gas power units with the glass bowls. I spent a lot of time starting those little bastards with a hand crank. Never remember having one crack but do remember some leaking and having to change the gasket. If I recall correctly, we replaced the cork style with rubber. The cork would get old and hard. They worked fine but that was before modern gas.

 

[rstreet]

Back in the 60's we had a lot of industrial gas power units with the glass bowls. I spent a lot of time starting those little bastards with a hand crank. Never remember having one crack but do remember some leaking and having to change the gasket. If I recall correctly, we replaced the cork style with rubber. The cork would get old and hard. They worked fine but that was before modern gas.

Ditto

 

[rstreet]

Ditto

I realize this is off topic but besides the small cranked engines we also had a 2 cylinder 2 cycle Fairbanks Morse stationery engine that the flywheel was bigger than me. It ran the belt system throughout the 3 stories of the mill and was started every morning by one person only and was never cut off until end of long days. Noisy beast but is in a museum now.
Robert

 

[Phil Reed]

Noisy beast but is in a museum now.
Robert[/QUOTE]
May be like you some day Robert?????

 

[WINTERTEXAN]

 

[WINTERTEXAN]

A few more remarks about the glass fuel bowls.
The fuel systems on 348 and 409 engines are designed for no more than 5 pounds of pressure.
When you have vapor lock, the gasoline starts to boil so the pressure in the fuel line and fuel bowl gets higher.
That is why GM added a return line to the system in 1963. That allows the vapor and excess gasoline to return to the fuel tank. So if you have a fuel bowl with a return make sure you hook it up to get rid of that problem.
Make sure you are using the correct fuel lines from the tank to the fuel pump. If your car has a 5/16 fuel line, the front line is routed differently than a 3/8 fuel line and gets to close to the exhaust manifold. Any car with factory dual exhaust had 3/8 fuel lines.
If you are using headers, you may want to re-route the front fuel line if it gets to close to the header.

I have attacked pictures of both the 340 hp and 425 hp fuel line setup on a 63.

Bruce

 

[Jridge1]

The big block cars route the fuel line outside the frame to avoid the headers/exhaust manifolds where the small blocks are inside the frame

 

[Mr Goodwrench]

What keeps the fuel from taking the path of least resistance and fist circulating back to the tank? Is there some kind of pressure regulator in the head of that fuel filter?

 

[Don Jacks]

The by pass is a much smaller line that only bleeds off pressure when the float is at it's highest position and the needle and seat are closed.When the needle and seat are open,the path of least restriction is the needle and seat itself.

 

[427John]

427John, remind me how much you have invested in my car? My point, I can do whatever I like to the car, its the look I WANT, so relax dude.

ASS NINE, is kinda judgmental, The car is going to be kind of old school meets new school, if you stand on the side of Concourse cars only, good for you, I appreciate ya,But I do not, I want to build mine, to Drive, If you would be so kind to send, a check for 50% of the car we will go in 1/2 on it together, now......the catch is.............if you do not go in half, and I am the only owner, funding my car, I get to do it any DAM WAY I please.


Lets be Friends, not offending to one another, I like your posts and thank your a good guy, so lets just .....keep it cars.

Iowa,I think you misunderstand my post I have no position on whether you build your car as a concourse restoration or a restomod some of my favorite cars are day 14 or day 30 cars(In my opinion for a car to be a day 2 car the original owner would have had to have a pile of parts in the garage waiting on delivery of the new car)Anyway my point is if you have made the the decision to deviate from original in some areas take advantage of that leeway to update the fuel filter to a design less prone to a catastrophic fuel leak.While there are gaskets made from ethanol resistant rubber there is no readily available ethanol proof rubber and will require frequent changes.I personally have seen the results of what ethanol does to old fuel hose in a matter of days and what it does to ethanol resistant rubber over a longer period,it does not inspire confidence in me to trust it in that application.But you are absolutely right it is you car and whatever you choose to do I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Iowa409]

thank you 427John, , I agree with most of what you said there and think you are a pretty sharp guy on these old cars, so your opinion matters to me, I appreciate your input thank you.

 

[WINTERTEXAN]

The big block cars route the fuel line outside the frame to avoid the headers/exhaust manifolds where the small blocks are inside the frame.

This is partly correct. Any car with factory dual exhaust had the front fuel line on the outside of the frame and were 3/8".

 

[Iowa409]

Anyone got a picture of the routing?

 

[Phil Reed]

Get an assembly manual and it will answer most of your questions.

 

[Iowa409]

I bought one but it is like a crappy photo copy you cannot even read it That really sux

 

[Don Jacks]

Check Show Car's site.I believe that there are pictures there.

 

[Phil Reed]

I bought one but it is like a crappy photo copy you cannot even read it That really sux

Those are repos of original GM documents. I used to sell and use them....I know what you are saying but feel overall...they are the best things we have right now.

 

[Jim Sullivan]

I bought one but it is like a crappy photo copy you cannot even read it That really sux

I purchased several from Late Great Chevys years ago, they are very legible.

 

[Phil Reed]

They are ALL printed by the same shop.

 

[Iowa409]

I'd bet your right on the same shop, my book although I paid $60 for it, seemed legit, must have been copied in the bathroom of a gas station on a cheap Brother copier, cuz it is illegible....... I'll use as fire wood starter this fall, because I would not sell that book back to my enemy.

I was able to find a genuine GM parts manual, with the latest revisions, that is pretty spot on and OEM type manual, most people come here to talk about their passion of the 409, as I do. I'll get her figured out. I appreciate all the help, I am sure my questions must look simple to some of you, But look at it this way, "You get to look smart about something you love and understand" lol