Fuel pump failure suspected.

[barrett bonden]

Fuel pump failure suspected.
1973 Atomic 4 with mechanical pump. No gas leaves the pump for the carb.
Had some breaks in the line that sucked air into the system. (just two year old gas line; cracks developed under hose clamps near turns in the line) These are now fixed and still no gas.
At the pump I removed the gas line from the tank as well as the feed from the pump into the carb, and as I hand pump (that small lever under the pump) I can feel a suction on the tank side as it tries to draw fuel, but no exhaust pressure as I would expect it to have on the carb side
Should I be able to feel an exhaust with my finger over that line towards the carb ? (I would think so.) In any event as no fuel leaves the pump my next thought is to try to open it. Are there common points of failure ?

[Al Schober]

Barrett,
Biggest point of failure on the mech fuel pumps is the settling bowl on the inlet. Corrosion and leaks.
As for no outlet pressure, I can only envision that the outlet valve isn't opening. But I can't see why this would happen unless someone rebuilt the pump and installed the outlet valve upside down. The pump is like a mini manual bilge pump - inlet valve, diaphragm, outlet valve. And that's all.
Personally, I've gone with an electrical pump. But that's only because I couldn't figure out any way to saw off the settling bowl (it's NOT a filter) and re-tap the remaining pump body for an NPT pipe nipple. I'd much rather have a mechanical pump - except for that d..n settling bowl.

Al