On My Dime

[bertvorgon]

Ha..looks like Dave is saying you are SCREWED.....

As he said, I would check that the pump body is not touching anything, and that even the lines close to the pump are not transmitting any resonance. It does not take much on our tin cars.

[WxMan]

I just took a good look at my pump. Thanks Dave, that certainly must be the one I have. The rubber isolators are old and a little cracked but appear to still be functional. The pump body isn't contacting anything, and neither are the lines. When I grab the pump with my hand it feels softly mounted. I put my battery back in the car to run the pump to remind myself what exactly the sound was like and I'm pretty sure that what I'm hearing isn't normal. When I turn the key to the 'on' position and the pump starts priming it makes a LOUD chattering "this just in -- breaking news" news ticker kind of sound. Fuel pressure builds fine. Along with the chatter a more steady mid-high pitch whine develops. That is more like what I expect but it still seems very very loud. Maybe my pump has issues?

[bertvorgon]

Possibly... and maybe Dave knows these pumps better...when there is NO return line on a fuel system, and NO demand from the engine...a pump has a built in bypass valve, so it does not cavitate, this then almost lets it "free wheel" so to speak. The chattering sound to me is not good...but..it maybe the internal pressure relief. I used to use some VW pumps that were a vane style, and I think my early Holleys were too. The vanes would start to bounce around when the pumps got tired and make a chattering noise.

That all being said, maybe not worry about it till you drive the car around, see how it all works. If there is no pressure gauge in the car, it will be hard to see what it is doing under engine load and demand.

What pressure is going to the needle and seat(s)? You said the pressure builds..to what...and is it stable?

Just re-read how long the car sat...old fuel..maybe the pump gummed up a bit..has a vane sticking..

fresh fuel...drive.....

[WxMan]

When I bought the car I ran it with fresh fuel and it made all the same sounds. It is possible that the pump is somewhat gummed up from previous old fuel, a general lack of use, and age. The fuel pressure gauge is under the hood so I don't know what it does under load but at idle it reads steady, a hair under 5psi. For now I think I will leave it until I can address some of the other more pressing issues.

[bertvorgon]

You should come over for our epic drive, that way Murphy will be sure to show up, when your car dies in the middle of nowhere, but, you will be surrounded by some of the best 510 guru's there are, and we can diagnose the problem...... .

[WxMan]

I would love to come over for that but it's not going to happen this year. Having a 7 month old baby at home limits my time to work on the Datsun to a few interrupted hours a week. So far I've found making plans with a baby around is asking for trouble. I'm hopeful that by early next year I'll be good to go. For now I'm going to have to rely on those 510 gurus in internet form.

[Byron510]

Byron, I am very interested in getting some replacement seat covers. Thanks for the link to yours. They look great. I don't make it over to the mainland very often so I'd probably prefer to try have them shipped and install the covers myself. That said, I don't have experience in this area so I'd have to do a little investigation and see how difficult that might be.
.

I'll contact the guy that did mine - he has the fabric he used on file. Is the design ok with you. He matched my 71 seats very well.

I asked about the car because I recognized it, but I didn't know from where.

It looks in very good shape, and I like the fact that the bottom of the car was also painted - nice touch and it shows that whomever did the work really cared about it.

Byron

[bertvorgon]

I well remember what it was like to have a young one around! I also was very lucky to have a wife who understood my "need for speed", so I could hit the slaloms on a Sunday. I burned the candle at both ends, working on my car well into the midnight hours, after the kids were asleep. Balancing it all was tough, but.....I'm still married and have two wonderful children...

keep up the good work!

[WxMan]

Byron, I would be very grateful if you were able to contact your upholstery guy. Your seats turned out beautifully and I'd love to have mine looking like that.

Yes, I too believed that the previous owner did really care about this car. There are a few things that I would like to change but overall it seems pretty well sorted. It suffers most from age and lack of use. The couple I bought it from gave me a stack of receipts from about 25 years ago for most of the work done on it. Unfortunately most are hand written and pretty vague. For example there is a one there for the head from Specialty Engineering that just says "Cylinder Head $1200" I was told they ported and polished it, etc and I hope so. $1200 sounds like a lot, especially for that long ago.

Thanks Keith. I too have a very understanding wife. Our foray into parenting has been a long time coming and not an easy venture, not that we ever expected it would be. We've been in the chronic sleep deprivation mode for seven months now although things are slowly beginning to get better. Just having my 510 looking all pretty in the garage helps lift my spirits when I'm feeling helpless at times. I hope someday to use the 510 to teach my son how much fun cars used to be. He'll probably be the only one in his class that knows what that extra pedal is for and why that metal shaft is sticking up from between the front seats.

[bertvorgon]

If Andy did the head, it will have been done very well! Andy has done my head(s) and I have never had a problem with them at all. I have the same head on my car now for 31 years, having been howled through once in it's history!

If you could give me the name of the previous owner, I can ask about the head. PM me, if you are comfortable with who sold it to you, it will be tween you and I.

[WxMan]

PM sent.

[defdes]

On the Carter, I have mine mounted in the trunk and it is pretty loud, it has the same chattery style buzz (I think) that you are referring to. Only time I hear it is when I turn the key and pump the gas, after that my car is too loud to really notice.

trunk2.JPG (72.63 KiB) Viewed 4021 times

[WxMan]

Thanks. Sounds like my pump isn't likely failing then. That's good to know. When in motion my car is also too loud to notice the sound but sitting at a stop light idling it is impossible to ignore.

[Dave Patten]

WxMan,
I've only used Carters in a racecar whatever sounds they make during operation are pretty well masked when the car was in motion.

I have had one fail, the rotor spun on the shaft. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[WxMan]

Hey Dave, I appreciate your input. Any and all info and personal experience are helpful to me and anyone else who might come across this discussion.