Carb Vapor Lock No More - Simple Fuel Return Line

Solving the Holley carb or any other type of carb vapor locking issues. made my own return line for next to nothing

holley carb
holley carburetor
edelbrock carb
edelbrock carburetor
holley double pumper

[jeremythomas]

I love how many steps it takes to start the car lol Only you can just get in it and crank it up . Old cars have so much character

[Coatchawa]

It's funny. I've always ditched the return lines on vehicles with carburetors with mechanical fuel pumps. Did for many years with many cars. Always thought the return line on cars with mechanical pumps was some sort of gimmick. Only had one vehicle develop the vapor lock issues you mentioned, and sure enough, putting an old 2-output fuel filter on it and using the fuel return line fixed it.

Didn't click in my head until I watched your video, though. Thank you. Saves me from messing with carburetor spacers and junk.

[shannono]

fan shroud, save your knuckles.
My '63 Nova Wagon has a 283, but I remember painting the tips of my fan blades white, just so I could see where not to put my knuckles,
it really does help.
This set up you have is great!!
She sounds and looks great~

[BKMDano]

Well I ran a big Holly on my last Ford 460 and I suffered with vapor lock all the time. But I never realized what it was or why it was happening. I had an electric fuel pump with no return line which was part of the problem. And another video pointed out that I could get a vapor/ fuel separator filter. Between the other video and what you shared here I think I solved the problem. Thank you for making this video!

[williamcharles]

I like the emergency repair that you came up with. Especially when you're pretty far from home and you've got to come up with a working solution. This shows me that you're a good man who knows what he's doing, even when the world sucks around you. Back before an ethanol neutralizing fuel additive was easily available, I had that "Blue" pump and the returnless "dead head" regulator set up. That was the noisiest and most problematic POS that I ever wasted my money on. The ethanol, in the gasoline, even at 10% per volume was enough to corrode all of the internal aluminum workings of that pump. This was because my Mustang sat up in high humidity Florida for 2 weeks. I'm sure glad that I decided to put the mechanical fuel pump's eccentric back on the cam timing gear when I went to the electric pump. Even though I wasn't going to use it, I recommend that a one piece type eccentric gets installed, "just in case", you get sick of the electric pump's noise and/or the reliability problems that go with it. I recommend the one piece eccentric, available from Ford Racing, versus the generally available, wider two piece because there's a chance that the two piece, being wider, will rub on the inside of the timing chain cover.
As for keeping the fuel as cool as possible, I have a 1/8" to 3/32" phenolic spacer mounted between the engine block and the mechanical fuel pump, a 5/16" thick fiber base plate between the carb and my aluminum intake manifold and finally the exhaust heat riser ports are blocked at the intake mfd. gasket.

[sohc]

I just installed a fuel return line on my 65 bigblock Corvette. My plumbing was much simpler than yours but accomplishes the same thing. I have the same Holley non-return regulator and the same fuel log as you. I simply installed a 1/'4" hose barb in the port on the fuel log where a pressure gauge normally goes. I then drilled a .060" hole (actually 1/16" because that is the closest size I had) into a 1/4" nylon screw and inserted that into the rubber return line. Even though I have a mechanical pump fuel pressure was unaffected, probably because, unregulated, my pump was putting out 11 psi. The first thing I noticed was that the needle on my mechanical fuel pressure gauge is now rock steady whereas before it bounced around wildly at idle.

[thegaminghdchannel]

THANK U JUST FIXED ALL MY PROBLEMS!!! OTHER THAN NEEDING A NEW RAD MY FUEL WAS VAPOR LOCKING 5.9 V8 AMC

[banesgarage]

They make a vapor lock fuel filter with the bypass built in that will help clean up all the extra hoses/fittings

[sharky]

Good that you were able to sort the fuel issues out & i love the old school, no airs & graces look of your motor ; )

[TheToxcant]

Thanks for making this video, i just did a carb conversion on my third-gen Firebird and this video looks like it will help one of the problems ive been having.

[Iconoclasher]

I added a return line to my 54 Nash when I dropped a 350sbc in it. Instead of the orifice, I installed a brass needle valve. That allowed me to fine adjust the flow and the fuel pressure.

[JamesMcCutcheon]

Good luck on your internship. I like your video's. I like the 289 Engine. I really like the way it sounds just like I remember when my Dads' 2nd cousin purchased the 1st Year Mustang 2+2 Fastback awesome car 1967 with rear window louver cover.

[vincespinelli]

Hey guy - excellent video. I did the same thing. Installed a brass tee, but much closer to the carb inlet. Basically I've got about 4 inches of brass going into the carb inlet, and in front of that is the regulator (set at 4-1/2 pounds). On the inlet of the regulator is a tee, which has a 3/32" ( 90-thousandths ) hole drilled in a bolt stuffed in a short section of hose (almost all of this is 3/8 nickel-copper hard-line). That runs back and tee's into the mechanical fuel pump's vapor return line to the tank (which is 1/4" stainless steel - about 20+ feet back to the tank). Anyway, the stock (Carter M6622 is a reproduction of the OE pump on my car) fuel pump puts out about 7 pounds at idle, 8-1/2 or better at 1, 500+ RPM. Running a mildly hopped up 500 Cadillac big block with an 800 CFM Edelbrock carb (took quite a bit of tuning to dial that carb in), and it maintains about 3-1/2 to 4 pounds at idle (lopey 750 RPM idle with a respectable street camshaft), and 4-1/2 pounds at about 1, 100 RPM and above. Car never starves for fuel. I think that's the key here - you've gotta put the return tee *before* the regulator, and then put the regulator just a few inches from the carb. That'll mitigate any problems you were having with starving for fuel by putting the return tee after the regulator.

[bobrobinson]

Hey thunderhead thanks for the heads up for the return line. It makes sense, I know now what cooked my Holley blue pump.

[KC-vpwn]

Great idea!
The sound of that 289 is music to my ears!
Thanks for the video!

[TheKustom]

Awesome man. Just ran a return line on my 59' F100. Fuel would boil on days above 90 and it would die while idling. Now runs like a champ.

[cutlsenc]

Great video! (Highly recommend a fan shroud, both for safety and efficiency)

[GorillaCookies]

My dad bought a 67 Shelby GT 500 used in 1969 when he returned from Vietnam. Well his brother ( my uncle ) was hit broadside in the Shelby and the car was Totalled. My dad bought it back from the insurance co for $55 dollars and took some of the insurance money and bought a 1965 Galaxie 500 Convertible. 390 / 4 speed car. Well he took the 428 PI with dual 4 barrels and the 4 speed out of the Shelby GT500 and swapped it into the Galaxie. 50 years later he still has the Galaxie 500. Convertible which we call the Galaxie GT 500 and that 428 dual quad 4 speed shelby running gear . The car still has less than 50 k original miles and the running gear even less. Fun car

[regpeeler]

Wow nice sound when you start car. I see this is about 5 years ago. I am having vapor lock issues on my 64 impala. I just got done watching a video in glass fuel filters installed in or around the engine. Becareful with that. Hope it hasn't happened yet. If that glass breaks, fuel will go everywhere and ignite.
Secure that thang!!! Hehehee anyways hope all is good with your car and stay safe these days.

[texflick]

I realize this is an older video, but my question is related to the subject. I have a 1959 GMC 150 with a 1972 Chevy 350 with a 2 Barrel Holley 4412 carburetor. I recently got it running after it sat for about 10 years and put a new fuel pump and a brand new Holley 4412 on it (It had a 4412 on it before, so I just stuck a brand new one on it since I had one on the shelf.) It started and ran really well. I pulled it out of the shed it was sitting in and idled it up towards the shop. I stopped it in front of the shop and let it idle for a good 15 minutes then shut it off to go get lunch. I came back and started it and decided to drive it to my dad's place which is about a 1/4 mile away. It ran really good until I pulled it into the driveway and let it idle to let my dad check it out. As it was sitting there it started to run kind of rough and died. I jumped back in to start it and it wouldn't even try and start. So I pushed it into his shed for the night and didn't come back to it for a couple weeks. When I got the time to look at it again, I thought I would get in and try to start it just for shit's and giggles. It started right up with the temp outside being 50 or so degrees. It sat there and idled like a champ for a good 5 minutes. Then I shut it off and restarted it, it took right off. I let it idle for another 5 or so minutes and shut off then left. Could my issue be vapor lock since it started right up after the motor being completely cooled down? I think I can firmly disregard it being a carb or fuel pump issue since they are both brand new. What are your thoughts? If you do think it's vapor lock how could I go about remedying or fixing it without installing an electric fuel pump? I want to keep this as mechanical as possible. Any tips or suggestions would be great!