Our 49 Sedan vapor locked Saturday in all the heat. Is there a simple fix for this?
Our 49 Sedan vapor locked Saturday in all the heat. Is there a simple fix for this?
The best and sure way I have seen to fix it is an electric fuel pump. Back in the eighties I was racing a dirt track stock car and we hauled in and old school bus that we converted to haul the car and all of our equipment. That bus was a vapor locking fool!! We tried everything, we finally tried taking the hood off and packing ice around the manifold, didn't work. So we finally was told to put an electric pump on it. Never done it again! Some of the Crosley generator motors had a heat shield under the carb too keep heat away from it, if you could find one of them it might help.
You guys know Crosley's a lot better than I ever will. I'm new to the group and just a looker, but I fought a vapor lock problem once for over a year on an 85 Chevy and it turned out to be the weights in the distributor for the mechanical advance were a little rusted and binding. It wasn't allowing the engine to advance the way it should and was creating just a little extra engine temp. and that was enough to cause the vapor lock. Check your timing. Also watch the type of gas you run in it, no alcohol.
A couple of other things to check:
1. Do you have a fuel filter before the fuel pump in the engine compartment? If so you may want to move it to a another location, such as under the drivers seat or back by the tank. The reason being some times it causes a void and the added heat will magnify the vapor lock.
2. Are all the fittings tight from the tank to the carb? if it leaks air it will not suck the gas out of the tank, thus appearing as vapor lock.
3. Are the card board baffles in place the channel the air through the radiator, this will cause it to run hotter than it should thus again, causing VL. As a last resort install a electric fuel pump, but again it too needs to be installed back by the tank. Crosley's aren't widely known or prone to vapor lock.
Several of our Crosley Vendors have a small heat shields for the fuel pump.