FE Fuel problem SOLVED!

[mj_duell]

Hi Everyone,
A few months ago I was having problems with the carburetion on my newly acquired 428FE I am running in my build. Under braking or intermittently during acceleration, the car would either attempt to bog or just plain shut off. I went through my first 750 Speed demon with Don Gould (www.4secondsflat.com) and it was decided that I had the wrong carb for the job. I ordered a blueprinted 750 Mighty Demon from Don and was sure that this would solve the problem because it was the right carb for the set-up I was running. I bolted the carb on when it arrived and began the tuning process. The first thing that struck me as odd was that the engine ran great at idle but would cutout intermittently when the primaries were opened. During driving tests the response was all over the place. Sometimes it ran perfect and other times it would cutout, sometimes both. I decided to recheck everything with Dons help. After I was positive that the carb was set-up 100% correctly, I looked to other areas. The timing checked out and was set to 38 degrees total; Idle was as smooth as it could be with my cam. I checked my fuel pressure, 5.5 to 6.5 gauged at the carb. Then it happened. While checking the fuel pressure during a throttle opening, I noticed a quick drop of the needle. When I let off it came right back. I continued the testing and found this was not a predictable event. I finally traced the problem to my Jaz fuel cell. I pulled the filled neck off and reached in to check the intake tube position. I figured that maybe I had installed it backwards and the fuel was being sucked from the front of the tank. This would cause a fuel loss on a low tank. Nope, that’s fine, but wait what’s this..... The stock inlet rubber tube is faced against the rear wall of the cell! Meaning that the stock length of tube that comes with the cell will touch its face against the rear of the cell, which will cut-off the fuel. This happens even more under load when more fuel is demanded. After cutting the tube down slightly and placing a notch in the end my problem went away. I fact the FE runs as God intended. Sorry, if this was a long-winded post, but wanted to pass on some info and maybe help some others. I think it is funny sometimes how the entire show can be stopped by a .50-cent part.



--Mike