1954 Vette question?

I don't know if there's a kit but a good mechanic can install it for you

You can install a modern frame, AC, nav, drivetrain so just a fuel pump should b a snap

Try www.corvetteforum.com

 

Lee,

I watched you buy that car a couple of years ago when Discovery HD was televising the auction!

The car has to have a fuel pump...didn't gravity-fed systems go away in the 1910s?


KevFla

 

When we need to fire up that blue flame six, we spray starter fluid in each of the jets for a healthy dose. Fires right up each time!

 

These cars have a mechanical fuel pump, it's down on the block (if memory serves me it's on the passenger side about 2/3 of the way down the block) and is activated by a lobe on the camshaft. Over a long time the fuel in float bowls is evaporating and it takes some time to pump enough fuel to get fuel into the float bowls. You could add an electrical pump and turn it on for few seconds to get the float bowls full before you start it, but the real cure is just run it more often... Letting fuel evaporate in the float bowls can leave varnish and deposits behind, so just run it more often and it won't be a problem. Some of those old mechanical pumps had a little lever on them that you could toggle up and down to prime the pump and carbs, but I'm pretty sure that feature was long gone by 54...

It's not such a bad thing that it cranks a bit before it starts after sitting for a long time. If it cranks for a bit you will pump some oil to the bearings and lifters and it won't be as much of a dry start. Just keep your battery charged and crank it for a bit. No big deal.

 

Guys, the fuel pump is just a stove bolt Chevy 6 cylinder fuel pump! There can be nothing special about getting a brand new, remanufactured or rebuilt pump for these cars. Forget the "Blue Flame 6" crap; it is the same engine in millions of Chevy sedans, etc from the forties up until Chevy stopped making that crap engine, in maybe the seventies or eighties. The only difference is the three carb setup and maybe, I say maybe, a hotter cam LOL.
I apologize, but I had a number of Chevys with that POS 6 cylinder engine, whose passageways to the head invariably clogged up, starving the lifters and rockers.
And I say Thank You Jesus for Zora Arkus Dontov, who woke up those idiots at Chevy with a V-8 in 1955. Sorry boys and girls, age 68 here, and I owned a lot of that early Chevy crap with the "stovebolt 6", Blue Flame or otherwise.
BTW, I still own a Chevy, a 2003 Corvette LS-1, 6 speed convertible and truly a work of art and engineering compared to all that came before it, be it called Chevy or Corvette.
First thing I would do with that fifty-four is an Art Morrison chassis, C5 suspension and brakes, an LS-7 with a 6 speed to wake that bad boy up. Love the style of the 53-55 Vettes, I must admit.

 

I took my Z06 to Bob Guldstrand in CA

He's a corvette guru so he may be able to help you

 

http://www.guldstrand.com/

 

If the car starts and runs fine with regular use there is nothing wrong with your fuel pump.

Sitting for that period of time however the fuel can evaporate from the float bolws.

Just hte other day I pulled one of my 1966 corvettes out of its yearly 6 month storage and it always takes a fair amount of time for that first start up after sitting.

Using fuel stabilizer will slow the evaporation rate.

One other thing to consider is if the car is running rich. As such on its last shut down there will be excess fuel that may create varnish (over the longish storage period) which will take a little time to wash off come the next starting attempt. Stabilizer will halp here also.

The small block chevy fuel pump is a pretty bullet proof little piece. It may leak when its seals are cracked or dry rotted, but as mentioned before its mechanically driven directly off the cam shaft via a rod and there is not a lot that can break.

 

I have found "corvetteforum.com" to be great for Vette questions of all eras. Go to the C1&2 section and pose your starting/fuel delivery etc question. You will be inundated with questions/answers from people who deal with these issues all the time-just like if I had a Ferrari question, I would come here to the appropriate model area-answers from people or experts who deal with Ferrari specific issues all the time.

 

I Know a guy that restores 53's Ill ask him if he has a trick or option for this issue.