Reply to "priming the fuel system"

The original fuel pick up metal tubing in the tank has a nasty habit of rusting through at about the level the fuel is kept at in the tank.

These are pin holes that are hard to find or even see some times.

The lines are steel, so they have a clock running on them as to when they will do this, but it seems they all will eventually.

The significance to this is that if you had a pin hole at around 1/2 tank, if you filled the tank, it would act normally until the fuel level reached the pin hole, then you would tend to have erratic fuel delivery.

Putting a full cartridge filter in line between the pickup and the pump will further amplify the issue since the fuel line looses the continuity to the suction to the fuel when the level reveals the hole.

Put a screen filter before the pump(s), then a cartridge filter before the carb(s).

Drain the tank occasionally and slosh the tank with tank cleaner and use the liquid Teflon coating.

You can't slosh the tank with the engine in the car though but when you do a rebuild best do it.

When you store the car, make sure you store it with a full tank of fresh gas in it also to reduce the oxidation to the interior exposed surfaces of the tank. That helps.

If you have the early tank with the intergal fuel pickup, put a new pickup in. The replacement pickup will be on the float assembly and is also larger in diameter then the original.

With the early tank and pickup design you have the potential of the fuel pick up finally rusting through somewhere out on the road.

If you do, you are just plain stuck out there. If you were quick enough to think on your feet and realize what just happened you might be smart enough to figure out how to rig up a Cheech & Chong type emergency pick up, but it won't be easy to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4t8FhYPE8

You don't want that happening to you.

Leave the original integral alone and just plug it externally. It makes a great return line if you go to fuel injection in the future and won't hurt anything left in place.