[61-63]

I replaced the aircraft fuel filler with a much more agreeable screw on cap type filler on the fuel cell in my '63 Lemans. As I did this I knocked off some of the dried rtv that was on the inside of the tank and it is now on the bottom of the tank at the sump where the Holley Blue Max pump pulls fuel from. There is no filter between the tank and the pump. Do I need to drain the tank or will the pump just pull those pieces through it without hurting itself? There ARE filters between the pump and the carburetors.

[steve25]

There should be a fine screen on the inlet side of the pump if I am not mistaken.

[Joe's Garage]

If you don't want to do that, then maybe consider running a temporary 'loop' line from the output of the pump, through a good inline 'sacrificial' filter, and then back into the filler neck of the fuel cell.

I'd think if you run the pump over several bursts of maybe five minutes each, that any debris floating around in the cell is going to be sucked up and deposited into the sacrificial filter.

Then hook everything back up, toss that sacrificial filter, and whatever debris is left will be deposited into your working inline filter pretty quickly.

Good luck!

[61-63]

Thanks for the replies.

[JSchmitz]

You should add a 100micron filter on the suction side.

[Schurkey]

Almost all RTV Silicone formulations are extremely allergic to gasoline.

[VCho455]

Originally Posted by JSchmitz

You should add a 100micron filter on the suction side.

Times two on this.

With no inlet filter you risk jamming the rotor a locking the pump up, or getting a piece of debris stuck in the relief valve. One will leave you dead along the road and the other could leave you limping home with very low fuel pressure.

Worst case is if your not running a separate regulator with a return line the jammed pressure relief could cause the fuel pressure to skyrocket and over power the needle valve in the carburetor. That of course leads to a flooded carburetor and fire danger.

Not that that any of that has ever happened to me in my perfect world.

[VCho455]

Originally Posted by JSchmitz

You should add a 100micron filter on the suction side.

Times two on this.

With no inlet filter you risk jamming the rotor and locking the pump up, or getting a piece of debris stuck in the relief valve. One will leave you dead along the road and the other could leave you limping home with very low fuel pressure.

Worst case is if your not running a separate regulator with a return line the jammed pressure relief could cause the fuel pressure to skyrocket and over power the needle valve in the carburetor. That of course leads to a flooded carburetor and fire danger.

Not that that any of that has ever happened to me in my perfect world.

[61-63]

I reached down into the tank and removed the two larger pieces of hardened rtv with one of those spring loaded grabber things and left all of the little bitty stuff alone since I couldn't grab them anyway. I've now driven the car several times and all is good so if the little pieces got into the pump I have to assume the vanes just chewed them up and sent them on their way. The car runs fine it has a big Holley on it and makes ?? 500hp or so. I am going to put another fuel cell in it anyway and move the fuel line plumbing so I can put a bathtub on it with authentic routing etc.

Again thanks for the input. I probably should have drained the fuel cell but it looks like I got away with not doing it. I get away with very little so was due for a break imo.